Valentine's Craft Projects They'll Love

You can’t get away with just a gift for your significant other these days. Your kids will also want in on Valentine’s Day, too. They may be keen to show their love to their parents, or grandparents, or even their teacher or friends. You could spend a small fortune on cards, chocolates and other gifts, but helping them to craft a homemade gift is cheaper, more fun and all the more special. Here are a few ideas.

A bunch of shop-bought Valentine’s flowers is always welcome, but how about crafting your inflorescence instead? Home-made artificial flowers come with more of a personal touch, will never wilt, and don’t need any looking after. There are as many ways to make paper flowers as there are species of real flower. Use cupcake cases or paper plates as the flower heads; make hand print-flowers in different coloured paints; scrunch up tissue paper to make a floral scene; or make your bloom from softer materials like felt and pipe cleaners. We’ve put together a dozen ideas… take your pick of the bunch. Alternatively, try your hand at these beautiful ribbon flower designs, or these rather impressive 3-D paper flowers.

How can you make a heart-shaped cake when you don’t have a heart-shaped cake tin? It’s actually a doddle. All you need is a regular square tin and a separate round one of similar size. This guide shows you how to put the cake together, along with various ideas for decoration and frosting. Eat your heart out.

Ah, salt dough… Is there anything it can’t do? With some plain flour, salt and water, you can make a moldable dough that’ll take on any shape and, once dried out, hold it. Making then painting salt dough hearts is a project even the youngest children can join in with. Of course, you don’t have to limit yourselves to making hearts. Try simple flowers, two people holding hands or the initial letters of the person the gift is for. If you have an infant, you could take a salt-dough imprint of their feet or hands, as a simple but powerful gift to the other parent, or the grandparents. 

If you’ve got younger kids, and they’re anything like mine, then they’ll generate a lot of pictures. Pencils, crayons, paints… just give them something to make a mark, and they will. For Valentine’s we need to up the game a little, so that the artwork to be gifted stands out from the crowd. Needle felting is always a good option. You’ll need a special needle and various colours of felting wool called roving (kits are available), but otherwise, it’s something anybody can do. You can build up quite lovely pictures by pricking the roving onto a felt background, and it’ll definitely stand out from the usual doodled artwork.

Home-made Valentine’s cards live in the memory long after shop-bought greetings. Case in point… how many older readers still remember Ralph Wiggum’s “I Choo-Choo Choose You!” card, some 30 years after he made it for Lisa on The Simpsons? The whole scene was based on the show-runner’s own childhood memory of a Valentine’s card with the same message. That’s the power of homemade love. We’ve put together a guide to crafting unusual or creative cards for any occasion, including Valentine’s. 

This is a fun project for slightly older children who are able to write confidently. The idea is to create a memory jar or box filled with positive, loving memories of the person you’re giving it to. So, for example, if you’re putting together a memory dipper for mummy, your child could write down 10 occasions when mum has been particularly appreciated. “That time when I badly grazed my knee and you were there to give me lots of hugs.” “I loved it that day when you surprised me with a trip to the seaside.” etc. Decorate the container however you like. The person receiving the gift can then use it, whenever they’re feeling a bit down, to be reminded of how loved they are.

An alternative way to do this is to create a memory tree, filled with happy photos and keepsakes related to the person, or your family as a whole.

And finally, one of the simplest, but no less affecting options is to throw open the Lego or Duplo box. A Lego heart is easy enough to make, so long as you’ve got plenty of red or pink blocks. Plus, when you disassemble to model later, you can revel in dad jokes about ‘don’t go breaking my heart’.