Water + Marker = Easy, Magical Art Project (not just for Valentine's Day!)

Make some hearts with your kids + mail them to your socially distanced family + friends!

Always dreamed of having your kids make their own Valentines?

Need a fun weekend art activity?

Want an open-ended engaging, project for your class?

Great! Here’s the deal…

Part 1:

Step 1 - Have your kids draw all over a big paper (or a couple of papers if you don’t have a big one), preferably a paper with a little substance to it (like watercolor paper). The trick to this is to put out only red, pink, and maybe orange or purple markers. These colors are all in the red family so they will blend together when we get to the next step.⁣⁣
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Step 2 - Take out brushes and plain ol’ water. When the kiddos paint with water the marker will turn to paint. Then just let it dry!

Tips:

• Test your paper to make sure the marker + water trick works on it. Most do but once in a while certain papers rebel. ⁣

• This does not all have to be done in one sitting! My kids started drawing on the papers one weekend. Then a few mornings later they had a scribble fest all over the other drawing. After breakfast, we turned it into a painting. ⁣⁣

• This is also an easy thing to leave out for first thing in the morning or post-nap. ⁣
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Part 2:

Step 1 - Cut out a heart tracer or two from an empty cereal box, something that is sturdier than paper but doesn’t have to be cardboard. (You can see ours that I made from an Annie’s  Mac + Cheese box in the photo below.)⁣

Step 2 - Trace the hearts all over - try to maximize your space - and then cut.

This is great practice for your little ones. To help them out, cut down the large paper around the heart shapes a bit so they are easier to hold and cut into. ⁣My 4-year-old actually did some of the tracing + cutting on her own.

*If you’re thinking “tracing + cutting sounds just awful to me” cut the big paper down into rectangle or squares + skip the hearts!

Step 3 - Decorate!

Use stickers, glitter glue, or whatever you like. We got some cute valentine-y foam stickers which my kids and every kiddo I know are always a fan of.

For extra fun, we also did some stamping on the big paper before we cut it down. Quick tip: you can color on stamps with marker + stamp them if you don’t have a stamp pad or your stamp pad is kinda dead.

Step 4 - Writing their name

Having your child write their own name on the Valentines is amazing practice for them! Writing 15-25 names can be a daunting task though. Make sure you chunk it out. Leave out 5 or so at a time so you don’t overload them.

Addendum: As with most things I do or come up with, this concept could be altered. Last year My daughter painted all over a paper with pink paints, stamped with toilet paper rolls, and then I cut them down into hearts. This even inspired a few friends to do something similar in a last-minute pinch… So you do you! And if you do, pretty please with Valentine heart sprinkles on top, tag me ;)