Easy Valentine’s Day Craft for Kids

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Whether you’re looking for a cute & easy Valentine’s Day craft for kids or need a sweet “I love you” gift for a grandparent or family member, you’re in the right place! This super cute Valentine’s Day craft is ridiculously easy for kids, is easy on the wallet, and…bonus…is a great way to include some simple math concepts and OT skills into your homeschool day!

When it comes to making crafts with my kids, I tend to lean towards making pieces that will stand the test of time. I mean, I’m all for a cute construction paper project, but I definitely aim for something that can be appreciated for years to come and consider it a success when I get to display the pieces in my home.

Call me crazy, but, when my boys are ready to leave our home and live on their own, I totally picture them bringing along crafts they made when they were little. I’m probably nuts, but whatever. I’m sentimental like that, so it’s possible they’ll be the same way. If anything, I’ll continue decorating with their “works of art.”

This tissue paper Valentine’s Day canvas checks all the boxes for me. It follows our goal of “fun, meaningful, and memorable” and, you gotta be honest…it’s so cute!!

Supplies Needed

To make this tissue paper Valentine’s Day craft, you’ll just need a few supplies:

• A stretched and stapled canvas, your choice of sizing
• Standard white squeezable school glue
• Water
• A foam brush (we used 1-inch brushes, but any size you have/can find should work)
• Tissue paper (the non-bleeding type)
• Scissors

Ok, so before you get started, I’m totally recommending either putting a vinyl tablecloth on your table or doing the project at a table that can be easily cleaned. As with most kid’s art projects, there’s always a chance of something spilling, so…be ready for that. 

How to Make the Tissue Paper Valentine’s Day Craft for Kids

To get started, you’ll want to do what the chefs do on all those cooking shows: get your supplies “mise en place.” If you don’t take every opportunity possible to watch cooking shows like I do, don’t worry. “Mise en place” loosely means that you want to get your supplies and materials ready to be used.

Next, select a few colors of tissue paper for the kids. (You might even want to join in, too and that’s totally cool – I made this Valentine’s Day craft with my kids!) I choose to do an odd number of colors on my canvas because one of my college art teacher always said “decor is best presented in odd numbers,” but, really, do whatever you want.

After you’ve selected the tissue paper colors, use a pair of scissors to cut the bigger sheets of tissue paper into thinner strips. The tissue paper I purchased was sold folded up, so I just cut down the creases. The width does not need to be specific, but I found widths of about 4-5 inches to work best.

Then, fold that tissue paper strip in half lengthwise. Take the scissors and, starting on the creased side, cut half a heart. Once cut, unfold that half a heart and you (should) have a full heart! Continue this process with all the tissue paper colors selected until you have enough hearts to just about cover the surface of your canvas.

TIP: I totally overestimated my kids ability to cut out heart shapes for this Valentine’s Day craft. About halfway through the project, I made them little half-shaped heart stencils by cutting the shape out of an index card. Then, they used a pencil to trace the shape onto the tissue paper before cutting the hearts out. Easy & quick fix!

Once all the hearts are cut out, stir together a mixture of about half white school glue to half water in a small container (we used a heavy-ish paper plate for easy clean up). Dip the foam brush into the mixture and start spreading a small layer of this glue mix to the canvas. If a larger canvas is being used, the surface can be brushed with the mixture in sections because you don’t want it to dry before you apply the hearts.

Aha! That’s what’s next!

Ok, so, once the canvas (or a portion of the canvas) is glue-y, start placing the hearts on the canvas. After placed, gently brush some more of the glue mixture on top of the heart.

At this point, you’re pretty much good to go! Continue this process until the canvas is filled or until the kids are plenty happy with their creation. You could have them place the hearts in a certain pattern or design, but we liked placing them wherever our hearts (literally) desired! The end result was eclectic and so fun!

Learning Opportunities

While the kids are working on their Valentine’s Day craft, you might consider getting the most bang for your buck by sprinkling in some learning opportunities! When I was working on this project with my kids, we chatted about all sorts of things. Here are some of the more educational things we chatted about:

• Symmetry
  • Because the tissue paper was folded in half when we cut the half heart shapes, our hearts were symmetrical
• Color Wheel
  • What would happen if we layered different color hearts on the canvas? What new colors could we make?
• States of Matter
  • Because the glue mixture was going from a wet liquid to a dry solid
• Patterning
  • Even though our hearts were pretty random on the canvas, there are opportunities for patterning!
• Opague vs. Translucent
  • When the white school glue was wet, it’s opague. When it dries, it’s translucent.
  • Tissue paper is a translucent material – that’s why we can make other colors by layering.
• Vertical/Portrait vs Horizontal/Landscape
  • I let the kids pick whether their canvas was horizontal/portrait or horizontal/landscape.

While we did chat about plenty of educational “things” while doing this Valentine’s Day craft, we also chatted about the typical Valentine’s Day topics: love, kissing, and how we wish Cupid would wear more clothes. You know, those sorts of things.

All in all, the boys and I all agree that this was a super successful Valentine’s Day craft. I’m thinking we can keep the canvases up year round, they’re thinking they’re “only” for Valentine’s Day. We’ll have to see. Either way – a fun craft to do and one that won’t break the bank!

Until next time, stay safe and enjoy quality time with your family,