If you are stuck inside and looking for something to do, this is a very easy and incredibly fun activity.
You probably have all the ingredients necessary.
"Marbled Valentines out of Shaving Cream and Food Dye."
Shaving Cream.
Food Dye.
Paper.
Tooth-picks or a butter knife.
Cardboard.
Paper plate or pie plate.
Be prepared for a big mess!
Directions
Cut some Hearts out of paper (make sure they fit in the envelopes you are planning on using...giant envelopes cost more to send, which I forgot about last year).
Lay out either newspaper or an old table cloth or better yet do it in the tub.
Fill plate with shaving cream (about an inch thick).
Squeeze a few drops of food dye into the shaving cream (fun for little ones to do).
Swirl around with tooth picks or a butter knife (my 3-year-old particularly liked this part).
Squish Heart onto shaving cream.
Scrape off with a piece of cardboard (I ended up doing this part, you may go through several pieces of cardboard depending how thick your pieces are).
Let the Heart dry (it only takes a few minutes).
It's like Magic, how the marbled effect appears!
Yup, I enjoyed the process as much as my 3-year-old.
I would say this activity would work from age 18 months and up (as long as they are no longer putting things in their mouth).
What a terrific Sensory Activity!
Very small ones will love to just squish and squish their hands, particularly if they have never played with shaving cream before.
Nye-Nye loved to pretend she was making peanut butter sandwiches with the butter knife.
I have a feeling this will be a MUCH requested activity over the next few months!
Especially in the Winter, when you are can't take the Kiddos outside for hours at a time. They are particularly great for making and containing Creative Messes!!!
I wanted Anala Bears to be able to participate SOMEHOW in our Valentine Makin' Fun this year. But, I didn't want to deal with the crumbly finished product that Nye-Nye made when she was 11 months.
So, this is what I came up with and whoa....was it a hit with BOTH girls!
Materials Needed
Hearts cut from good quality watercolor paper
Large container
Yogurt cups
Food Dye or some Color Bath Dropz (non-toxic)
Directions
Add water and Food Dye or Color Bath Dropz to the yogurt cups (add about an inch).
Cut Hearts to size (remember not to cut them too big, if you are planning on mailing them...I've made that mistakes SEVERAL times).
Put Kiddos in an empty tub.
Give them a container with a Heart (or two) and the Colored Ice Block (these are small enough for little hands to hold BUT NOT TOO LARGE TO BE A CHOKING HAZARD LIKE ICE CUBES).
Keep taking out the finished Hearts and giving them new ones.
When finished put on the Shower and watch all the colors drain away.
This can take as little or as much time as you would like. You can have some pretty Valentines in about 5 minutes of the Kiddos working. This was one of the least stressful Art Projects I've done with Nye-Nye in awhile. The biggest stressor was worrying about the baby falling in the tub. But, clean-up was such a breeze.
Cutting out the Hearts takes the most time, but well worth it my opinion.
I love how pretty Anala Bear's First Valentines turned out! This was her first Art Project, so I am very excited.
I am happy with how my daughter's Valentines turned out this year. The home-made paint I made dried quickly and ended up having a little bit of shimmer to it. This paint didn't flake off and crumble like last year's straight cornstarch and water recipe.
Nye-Nye had a blast gluing the hearts to the folded cards and then adding with magic markers some illustrations of cats, flowers, fish and tractors to the cards.
2 tablespoons of clear vinegar (we were out, so I just used wine vinegar and it was fine)
2 tablespoons of baking soda
1 tablespoon of cornstarch
1 teaspoon of corn syrup (luckily, we were at my Mama's house and she had some in her pantry)
food coloring
I put all of the ingredients (except the food dye) in separate yogurt containers. Nye-Nye dumped the vinegar and then the baking soda directly into the blender. We had fun watching it fizz.
Then, she added the cornstarch and the corn syrup and turned on the blender when I gave the okay. She did an excellent job making sure it was thoroughly blended together. I poured the paint into some yogurt containers and then added the food coloring. We ended up with two shades of red.
I dumped the red paint onto paper plates and let her go to town with the potato stamps.
Before, preparing the ingredients, I had spent less than 10 minutes carving out heart stamps from some sprouting potatoes my Mama had on hand.
The next day, I spent 30 minutes cutting out the hearts from the paper my daughter had stamped (she's still learning the concept of how to stamp and not just smear the paint). My Mama cut down some Scrap-booking paper to size and folded them into cards, while I cut.
I put some Tacky Glue into a pie plate and called over my kiddo. I showed her how to put glue on the back of the heart and then I let her put the heart wherever she wanted to on the card. She had loads of fun with this part (especially peeling off the glue from her fingers). I only moved the hearts, if they were hanging off the page and were not going to fit in the envelope.
After the cards dried, I gave her a marker to add some "details" to each card. I also showed her where to "sign her name" in the inside of the card. My Mother said I was working her too hard. I think she was fine.
I'll post a video of the final products on Valentine's Day. Here is a video of my Mother showing Nye-Nye how to stamp the paper...
This was the first real Art Project I attempted with my eldest daughter. (She was 11 months old at the time). She painted hearts that I had cut out of some of my old prints and taped to small pieces of card-board.
I use the word "painted" lightly. Mostly, she had fun dumping the bowls all over herself and the card-board. It was an awesome sensory experience for her.
I made the paint out of corn starch, water and food dye, which meant is was safe for her to put in her mouth. Just make sure you stir cold water and cornstarch vigorously together immediately to prevent lumps. I got the recipe from First Art : Art Experiences for Toddlers and Twos
When the paint dried it cracked and crumbled a lot on the paper and fell off in spots. I ended up making copies of the original hearts and sent those out instead.
Doing this project in the bath-tub is key. It makes clean-up, so much easier! Enjoy!
February is one of my favorite Months (and not just because it's my Birthday Month). It's a Month full of Chocolate, Paper Goods and Love. Three things guaranteed to make me Happy.
Creating Valentines is one of my all-time-favorite things to do.
During this Month of Love (here on Catoctin Mountain Mama), I will be sharing some ideas on how to make Valentines with Kids, a few Home-made Gift Ideas, a delicious Soup Recipe (or two) and several books that have really floated my boat, recently.
