Valentine's Day is coming right up. This holiday is a great opportunity for parents and kids to spend some time together creating crafts that celebrate love. After all, Valentine's Day shouldn't just be about celebrating romantic love. Times continue to be unpredictable, and it's possible that many kids won't be coming home with adorable construction paper valentines to present to us that they made in school, but that doesn't mean we can't help them put together something special for family members and friends to help mark the celebration.
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There are a ton of cute Valentine's Day craft ideas floating around the internet and social media that don't require much more than paper, glue, and craft paint that little ones will have lots of fun creating with their parents, older siblings, or even on their own. Here are some of the most adorable Valentine's Day crafts for kids we've found on Instagram to help inspire you and your kiddos this Valentine's Day.
Got any leftover candy canes?
Use them to make candy-cane hearts! All you have to do is unwrap a couple, have your kids shape them into hearts (cracking off any extra parts of the candy canes), then melt them together in an oven for about 4 minutes at 200°F.
These heart suncatchers are dreamy.
These pretty heart-shaped suncatchers are a great option for families with kids of different ages. It's easy enough for toddlers, but open-ended enough to keep even young teens engaged—and hopefully spark their creativity.
Handprint art is always a winner.
This love tree is such a cute take on the classic toddler handprint art. The handprint cutout makes up the tree's trunk, and hearts of various shapes and sizes are pasted on to look like leaves or flowers. It's sweet and simple.
Make a love chain.
Paper chains are a classic craft for the elementary set, and we love this Valentine's Day twist. It's the same process of creating rings out of strips of construction paper and then stapling or taping the rings together to form a chain, except you pinch the circles in two places to create heart shapes. Easy peasy!
These love monster puppets are adorable!
Inspired by the children's book Love Monster by Rachel Bright, these paper bag monster puppets are absolutely hilarious. We can't think of a kid who wouldn't go crazy for them. It's a simple paper craft, too, so most families could make them without a trip to the store.
Love bugs are cute, too.
Another cute one is these love bugs made out of paper hearts and pipe cleaners. Because this one uses googly eyes and pipe cleaners, a trip to the craft store and a little more parental intervention might be required, but it'll be so worth it to see your littles enjoy playing with them.
This Valentine's Day relief art is so simple.
You can't get simpler than this Valentine's Day relief painting. It just requires paint or markers and paper. Dot markers are recommended, but this craft can be easily modified using regular markers or even craft paint and a paintbrush. Any color paper or paint and markers will work.
Who says gingerbread houses are only for Christmas?
There's nothing in the rule book that says gingerbread-house fun has to be limited to the Christmas season. Even if you can't find a kit, you and your kids can construct a simple Valentine's Day "gingerbread" house with graham crackers, icing, and conversation hearts or other Valentine's Day candies.
Get creative with household goods this Valentine's Day.
Crafts for kids don't have to be overcomplicated. Even if you're trying to come up with a Valentine's Day craft for your kiddos to do on the fly, it's definitely possible. This sweet heart is made out of dry beans glued to a heart-shaped cutout from a cardboard box. It's great for motor skills and practically free.
You are sweet!
This construction paper craft is absolutely adorable and perfect as a homemade valentine. In addition to the paper, all you need is some cotton balls, scissors, glue, and some items to use to decorate the cupcakes, such as pipe cleaners and cotton balls.
Get to stampin'.
This Valentine's Day heart stamp craft is perfect for even the youngest toddlers. Parents just need to bend an empty toilet paper roll into a heart shape and set out some paper and a small dish of paint so little ones can create a festive painting or decorate a gift bag.
This aluminum heart painting is great for older kids.
Though similar in appearance to the toilet paper roll stamp, this aluminum heart painting is a bit more complex, but so much fun. It involves creating heart shapes with glue on aluminum foil and then filling them in with festive colors. It's such a cool way to bring in some texture and play with light.
Paint with what ya' got.
This Valentine's Day-inspired tree painting is so pretty and would be perfect to hang up as a holiday decoration. And get this—it's painted with cotton swabs. So cool, right? The flowers on the trees are created by holding three cotton swabs together and dabbing them in paint and onto the paper.
These craft stick puzzles are so much fun.
For some reason, kids really love getting creative with craft sticks. These Valentine's Day craft stick puzzles are something the whole family can do together. Older kids can paint or draw on the designs, and younger kids can play with them and assemble the puzzles once they're dry.
This Valentine's Day craft is great for fine motor skills.
We love when kid projects serve double duty! This simple Valentine's Day craft uses a bit of cardboard, a hole puncher, and some string to create homemade lacing cards that can double as holiday decorations. Too cute!
Create a keepsake.
If you have enough craft sticks, you can also help your kiddos create an adorable Valentine's Day keepsake. This craft stick project is simple to put together with a bit of glue and either foam or cardstock hearts. You could even use stickers if that's what you have on hand.
