Crafting Valentines Cards with your Child
Crafting with your child can be one of the most rewarding experiences of parenthood. Children love to create and family and friends love to receive the results of a child's work. With the most basic of materials it is possible to create Valentine's Day cards which the recipient will cherish.
A couple of points before we begin.
1 - Children adore getting messy as it isn't allowed to happen very often. The following activities are likely to be messy. This will make for a happy child and it is important to batten down the hatches, pretend the purple paint on the dining room chair doesn't matter, smile and worry about it later. Your child is only young once, allow both of you to enjoy it.
2 – We know real cows are not neon green with yellow spots, but try to stifle your urge to make your child create 'realistic' objects. There's nothing wrong with clouds made out of blue flowers, polka-dotted rabbits and people with yellow skin, one eye and ten legs. Your child is exercising its imagination and this should only be encouraged. This is art and anything goes. Real life can wait a while.
Let's begin with one of the simplest ways to create a card. Collect plain or coloured paper, two large potatoes, some poster paints and a few coloured crayons. Adults only – Cut the potatoes in half. Cut a heart shape into the flesh of one half, leaving the shape raised to create a stamp. Cut simple flower and leaf shapes in the remaining potato halves in the same way. Cover the work surface with newspaper. Place shallow dishes filled with paint on the table alongside the potato stampers.
Collect your child (suitably attired in an old t-shirt or painting apron) and show them how to press the potato stamp onto the poster paint and then print it onto some spare pieces of paper. Once the child has the hang of printing, slip in the sheet you are going to use for the card and let them create their unique patterns. Leave to dry. Fold the paper in half to create the card, putting the plain side inwards, and help the child write their name on the card. Older children can write for themselves, create more complex stampers and patterns before adding suitable messages.
Result – Uniquely personal cards with a loving touch and an extremely messy but happy child.
For a different style, but still printing, gather paint, a couple of shallow plates or bowls, a couple of paint brushes, paper and a black marker pen. Pour a selection of paint colours into the containers. Collect your child, protect their clothing, paying special attention to rolling sleeves out of the way, and begin. For younger children, help them paint their palms and the underside of their fingers. Show them how to print their hands onto the paper to create patterns. Feet can also be painted and printed if you are feeling particularly adventurous.
Older children can be shown how to paint individual fingers and to use the resulting prints to create patterns and 'finger people/animals'. Print four vertical fingers for legs. Lay a horizontal print across the top for a body, a thumb print for a head and another diagonal print off the head for a trunk and you have instant elephant. Use the same idea but print a vertical 'neck' between body and head for a giraffe. Your child will soon get the idea and begin creating fantastical animals from their imaginations alongside cows and lions. Use the black marker to add eyes, mouths and any other small touches. Fold and sign as above.
Result – A very messy, happy child and a recipient who has a permanent record of the child's hands (or feet) at whatever age the card is created.
A third option is equally simple but wonderfully effective. Collect brightly coloured glossy magazines, preferably with animals, flowers, food, drink and pretty objects depicted within, scissors (safety scissors for older children) pva glue (will act as a type of varnish) and stiff paper or card. This is less messy, but more sticky than the preceding activities. You may not need an apron, but it's a good idea to keep wet wipes or a basin of warm water and a towel close by to deal with sticky fingers. There is nothing more frustrating to a crafting child than finger malfunction as everything sticks to the fingers and not the paper!
For younger children, help them choose images they wish to stick to their card. Cut these out for them, or help them to do the cutting. Older children can do this independently, but with discreet supervision. Spend some time helping the child arrange the images on the card without gluing them yet. This allows rearrangement and swapping in and out of images. Once everything is satisfactory, let the child glue the images to the card. Paint a layer of glue over the finished article to 'set' it in place and preserve it. Leave to dry before signing. A cute touch can be for the child to write their name using letters cut from magazines.
Result – A sticky, happy child and an absolutely unique card which money cannot buy.
These ideas are the tip of the iceberg. Once you begin both you and your child will begin to have many more ideas and you may find yourself creating cards for half the neighbourhood as your child enjoys messy, creative crafting. Enjoy it.
