Valentine’s Day: Card Making with Kids!

Will you be my Valentine (from six feet away)?

The mail has been a bit slow this year (we’ve all felt the pandemic related delays…), but that shouldn’t stop your kids from making a Valentine’s Day card for someone they love. We’ve got some simple steps from Busy Little Hands: Art Play! to get you started. And don’t let the snail mail delays and social distancing get you down. You can even make your own super-special place to send and receive mail right at home with these easy step-by-step instructions!

Make a Card Photo © Mars Vilaubi, excerpted from Busy Little Hands: Art Play!

What you’ll need:

  • A cardboard box of any size
  • Scissors
  • Paper
  • Colorful tape
  • Markers, crayons, paints, and oil pastels
  • Stickers
Mailbox Slot Photo © Mars Vilaubi, excerpted from Busy Little Hands: Art Play!

Grown-up steps:

  • Cut a mail slot into the cardboard box.
  • Create a simple card-making station with a stack of blank paper, stickers, markers, crayons, colorful tape, pastels, or whatever you have on hand.

Kid steps:

  • Decorate the cardboard “mailbox” with tape, stickers, markers, and paint.
  • Fold a piece of paper in half to make a card.
Folded Card Photo © Mars Vilaubi, excerpted from Busy Little Hands: Art Play!
  • Decorate your card with markers, crayons, oil pastels, and stickers.
  • Put your cards in your special mailbox.
Mailbox Photo © Mars Vilaubi, excerpted from Busy Little Hands: Art Play!

Who will you send a card to? If you try card making with your kids, let us know. Share your Busy Little Hands: Art Play! inspired projects with us @storeypub and @homegrownfriends on Instagram with the hashtag #ArtPlay.

Excerpted and adapted from Busy Little Hands: Art Play! © Meredith Magee Donnelly.


Meredith Magee Donnelly

About the Author

Meredith Magee Donnelly holds a master’s degree in early childhood education, specializing in children from birth to age 8, from Bank Street College of Education in New York City. A former preschool and kindergarten teacher, she runs Homegrown Studio, a play-based art studio in West Hartford, Connecticut, and Homegrown Friends, a blog focused on hands-on activities and process art. She is the mother of three children who fill the family home with creativity, laughter, and just the right amount of chaos. Find her online at homegrownfriends.com.

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