Valentine’s Day crafts express children’s love
Although Valentine’s Day may not seem like a time of year to think about nature, it is an appropriate time to help your child get excited about spring blooms, have fun and make beautiful flower-related presents for someone on their Valentine’s list.
Here are three family-friendly activities to beat the winter blues and look forward to spring.
Daffodils (narcissus) are spring blooming bulbs that present themselves not long after the snow has melted. Named after the Greek mythological figure Narcissus, their beauty represents renewal, rebirth and hope. Giving someone a bouquet of daffodils is considered good luck, but only giving one daffodil may bring bad luck, so plan on creating a bouquet of daffodils to share for Valentine’s Day!
This fun craft transforms toilet paper rolls into a bouquet of Valentine daffodils. You will need toilet paper rolls, scissors, markers or paint, and green chenille pipe cleaners.
Cut one end of the toilet paper roll into petal shapes (about four or five) that extend about halfway down the tube. Turn the toilet paper roll over and cut about 3/4-inch long snips to make a fringe. Fold back the “petals” and the “fringe.” Color or paint the petals yellow and the fringe orange. Or peruse books and websites for photos of daffodils to find different combinations of colors, since there are about 200 species and 13,000 varieties of daffodils.
When the toilet paper roll is colored or dry, poke a hole in the tube near the petals and thread the green chenille stem through. This activity is appropriate for school-age children; younger children may need assistance with cutting the cardboard rolls. “Building” the daffodils is an opportune time to teach children about the daffodil’s anatomy, like the stem, petals, corona, rim and eye.
Another craft for Valentine’s Day, which could easily be completed by very small children, is to make a flower card or picture for someone they care about. This project requires sheets of white paper, small pots of acrylic or washable craft paint and a paintbrush.
Paint your child’s hand a color of their choosing. Direct your child to press the painted hand onto the top one-third of the paper. Turn the paper and have your child make another handprint, with the base of their hand touching the base of the handprint on the paper. Continue this process three for four times to make flower “petals.”
After washing the paint from your child’s hand, offer your child green paint and a paint brush to draw a stem and leaves. This activity also provides an opportunity to talk about flowers, plants, and nature.
This final activity makes use of old magazines and seed catalogues and requires scissors, glue or tape and paper. Together, search through discarded magazines and catalogues and cut out pictures of flowers and plants that interest your child. Arrange the photographs into a collage.
The collage could be made into a Valentine’s Day card or poster. Researching the plants and flowers and learning about their characteristics may give you a head start on planning your spring garden.
Although February’s weather is not conducive to gardening, the cold and snowy days provide us with the gift of family time creating handmade gifts that give us hope for spring and presents for Valentine’s Day.
