Not only is love in the air, but so is creativity! My son woke up and immediately began crafting. Before I was even properly caffeinated, he’d made this cute little love bug out of construction paper, heart stickers for wings, and pipe cleaners for antennae. It is so cute! He made it almost all by himself–he needed a little assistance with cutting the pipe cleaner. He used more heart stickers to hold the pipe cleaners onto the back of his paper. I love that he felt inspired to craft and came up with this cute little Love Bug idea! While he has enjoyed making Valentine crafts with me, he was really happy with how his own Valentine creation turned out.
The other day, my son saw the cupcake wrappers and while he was holding one, said it looked like a butterfly wing. He then ran to the craft supplies box and took out a jumbo craft stick and his crayons. Using his favorite color, blue, he colored the craft stick to be the butterfly’s body. Then he added the cupcake wrapper wings with glue dots to the back of the craft stick. After a little help with cutting the pipe cleaner from me, he bent the pipe cleaner piece into a u-shape and attached it to the back of the craft stick with a glue dot too. It’s kind of hard to see, but he also drew a face on his butterfly! He asked me to put this on my website so other kids would see it and want to make one 🙂
More Preschool Valentine Crafts
Heart Dog Craft: print off the template, color the hearts, and assemble them to form a dog.
2. Wooly Sheep: Say “I Wooly Love You” with this cute pom-pom sheep craft!
Wow, this beaded heart craft turned out awesome! And it is so easy too! All you need are 2 pipe cleaners and pony beads. This is one of the crafts that I want to keep forever and display all year. I think my son did such a fantastic job making this heart 🙂
Supplies Needed:
2 pipe cleaners
lots of pony beads
How To:
Begin by twisting the 2 pipe cleaners together so that they form 1 long line. Gently bend your pipe cleaners into a heart shape, with the connected ends being at the top. Leave the bottom ends unattached so your kiddo can add beads.
Pick beads and being stringing them onto the pipe cleaners. We had a variety of beads -shiny, sparkly, metallic, heart shaped, and an odd large one with a heart on it. My son just picked whatever ones caught his attention without making any kind of pattern. Fill up one side of the heart with beads, but leave some of the pipe cleaner free at the end so it can be connected to the other piece.
String beads along the other pipe cleaner. I helped hold the pipe cleaner to that the beads didn’t spill off when my son switched sides.
When your child is finished stringing beads along the pipe cleaners, carefully twist the 2 bottom ends together to form your heart.
I adore owls and love making owl crafts with my kiddo. We had made a peel and stick owl craft (a kit from Oriental Trading) and it got me thinking about other Valentine’s Day owl crafts that we could make together. I am thrilled with how cute this “owl you need is love craft” turned out! Print out the owl template, add a cupcake wrapper, and let someone special know that they are loved this Valentine’s Day!
Next, cut out the pieces and glue them altogether to form an owl. You’ll notice that the beak and feet are hearts for some extra love in this craft! Glue your completed owl onto a piece of construction paper.
Take one cupcake wrapper and cut it in half to make the owl’s wings. Glue the wrappers onto your owl. We chose Valentine cupcake wrappers to use for our owls to add to the cuteness!
Add a message to your project and give it someone special! Happy Valentine’s Day!
Whether it’s February or not, it is always a good time to read about love. Here are 12 picture books about love that are perfect for preschoolers! Check your library for these books and ask your librarian for other book recommendations.
My family loves this book! The dog in this story reminds us so much of our own. Just like the doggy in this story, ours loves LOVE! Plum the dog loves her family so much, but she also loves playing with pillows until they are destroyed, splashing in the pond, and eating ice cream that doesn’t belong to her. Just like Plum, we all make mistakes sometimes, but the love from our family is unconditional.
This book is short and sweet. Diane Adams uses the story of a little girl who is caring for a duckling as an analogy of the love a parent feels toward their child. The girl raises the duckling until it is big enough to join the other ducks in the big pond. Preschoolers will like the gentle illustrations and touching story.
The Beatles’ song is now a picture book! Marc Rosenthal adds beautiful pictures to the words of the song, “All you need is love!” Though sparsely worded, preschoolers will see love in action across the pictures as a cute little blue bird leads the reader through the book. Check your library for this one!
A young robot discovers a message in a bottle that is signed “Love, Beatrice.” The robot asks the older robots what love is. “Does not compute” they reply as they read the young robot its favorite bedtime story, tuck it in, turn on a nightlight, and give a goodnight kiss. The young robot sets on an adventure to find Beatrice and learn the meaning of love. Along its travels it finds other animals and people who try their best to explain what love means to them, but none of these explanations compute. Finally, the robot meets Beatrice. Beatrice says that love makes her feel safe and cozy and cared for. The young robot realizes that it knows that feeling! Now it has a name for it — love.
This story is a children’s classic! Little Nutbrown Hare and the Big Nutbrown Hare take turns saying how much they love each other. Preschoolers will enjoy the hares’ analogies of the size of their love–as high as they can jump, to the tips of their toes, and to the moon and back! This is a lovely and reassuring bedtime story to read with your little love.
Pete the Kitty is so cute! My preschooler loves this young kitty and your kiddo will love this little guy. In this book, Pete names all of the things he loves. He loves his family, his friends, his guitar, ice cream, and playing. This is a great conversation starter for you and your little one to talk about all things that you love.
Jane Yolen’s rhyming How do Dinosaurs series does a great job of breaking down concepts and demonstrating good behavior for preschoolers. Mark Teague’s illustrations are full of humor and the dinosaurs species are listed inside the book’s cover. In this dinosaur book, the families say I Love You in a variety of ways. Even when young dinos misbehave, their parents reassure them that they will always be loved. You’ll find that you and kiddo will be telling each other how you much you love them after reading this book together.
I discovered this sweet story at my library and fell in love. This book is a beautiful representation of a dad’s love for his son. It reminds little one’s that their dads’ love is as powerful as a rocket ship flying into space, as big as a whale swimming in the ocean, and loud as lion’s roar. Kids will enjoy the illustrations filled with fire trucks, rockets, and race cars, and all sorts of animals. The text is short and melodic, making it a great choice for bedtime.
This is a great story about the loving bond a family shares. Kids will enjoy the rhyming text and the silly animal antics. The cows go to the moon, the yaks take a Cadillac, the sheep set sail, and more silliness. The continuous refrain of “I will love you” will gently reassure preschoolers of their family’s love. A great choice for bedtime!
My son loves this book and its sequel, Zombie in Love 2 + 1. Mortimer, a zombie, is looking for love, but without any luck. DiPucchio’s story and Scott Campbell’s illustrations make this funny book a winner! Preschoolers will giggle at the kid-appropriate zombie grossness, such as of a limb falling off in another of Mortimer’s failed attempts at finding love. The reader will cheer for Mortimer through all of his dating attempts and be delighted when he finally meets the zombie of his dreams.
Love Monster is this cute, hairy, kinda googly-eyed monster. He lives in Cutesville which is full of the cutest little animals. Love Monster finds that it is hard to fit in here, so he heads out to find a friend. Preschoolers will giggle as Love Monster searches high, low, and inside. Just when Love Monster thinks that there isn’t anyone out for him, a friend pulls up in the bus headed for Cutesville. It goes to show that friends and love find you unexpectedly. Preschoolers will love this sweet story and adorable illustrations!
Olaf is full of love and we love him back! In this sweet Olaf story, our favorite snowman goes around the kingdom of Arendelle, pointing out everything he loves. He loves flowers, hugs, and his friends most of all.
Check your local library for these picture books about love! If not, I have included links to purchase them on Amazon. To help cover the costs of this site, I joined Amazon’s Affiliate program. If you buy a book through one of my links, then I get a small percentage of the sale (at no additional cost to you). Thank you for your support! Happy Reading 🙂
Oh my goodness, this little heart hedgehog craft is so adorable! We bought lots of foam heart stickers at Target and we have been having so much decorating with them.
Supplies Needed:
cardboard
scissors
heart stickers
googly eye
pom-pom
glue
marker
How To:
Hedgehog cut out
First cut out a hedgehog shape from a piece of cardboard. We reused one of the Target boxes that had recently arrived. It doesn’t have to perfect, so don’t stress about the shape. Just make sure that it has a rounded back and a snout. Your heart stickers will cover most of the cardboard.
Sticker time! We put our heart stickers on in layers. For the first layer, we put stickers along the top, from tail to head. The tops of the hearts stuck up past the cardboard to make it look more like quills. For the second layer, we also started at the tail end and worked toward the face. The second layer overlapped with the first to cover all of the brown cardboard. We continued our layers until out hedgehog was covered in heart quills. It took us 5 layers, but yours will vary depending on the size of stickers you use and how big your hedgehog is.
For the hedgehog’s face, my son stuck on 1 googly eye. Then he glued on a blue pom-pom nose (we used the white glue, but a glue dot would work too). Last, he added a smile with a blue marker. All we had to do then was let the pom-pom dry.
I think this craft turned out so cute! My son and I loved making this hedgehog together 🙂 Check our Paper Plate Hedgehog Craft and our Fingerprint Heart Craft for more fun things that you and your little one can make together.
Valentine’s Day crafts are so much fun! I love all of the puns 🙂 Make this “Bee Mine” craft with your preschooler and give it to someone special or make it part of your Valentine Day decorations!
Supplies Needed:
construction paper
scissors
glue stick
crayon or marker
white tissue paper
How To:
First pick a back a ground color for your project. Since my son wants to give it to his Grammy for Valentine’s Day, he picked pink paper. Next, cut out a medium sized oval and smaller circle from yellow paper to make your bee.
Glue your oval and circle onto the background paper. Now you have your bee’s body. Draw on the black stripes and the stinger. For the face, give your bee 2 large eyes, a sweet little smile, and draw on the antennae.
To really make this craft Valentine’s Day themed, cut out 2 heart shapes for wings. We used white tissue paper for our wings and my son loved how they looked on the bee! Since the tissue is delicate, we put the glue on the paper and then gently pressed our heart-shaped wings down on the glue. To finish the craft, my son wrote “Bee Mine” and he drew a heart on the top of his paper. Now the craft is finished and ready to give to someone special!
More Valentine Crafts:
My son and I have made a lot of Valentine’s Day crafts and we are sharing some of our favorites with you! We have cute animals, more puns, and lots of hearts for you to make.
–Heart Dog Craft: print off the template, color the hearts, and assemble them to form a dog.
–Wooly Sheep: Say “I Wooly Love You” with this cute pom-pom sheep craft!
–Lacing Heart:Â work on fine motor skills with this fun lacing heart craft.
–Heart Wand: make this super cute heart want and sprinkle love around!
Sprinkle love around with this cute Valentine’s Day heart wand craft! My son and I had a blast making these. We really liked mixing and matching our ribbons! This is a great craft to make with preschoolers and other young kids as it gives them a chance to add some whimsy and magic into their creative play!
Color your hearts and cut them out. Glue them onto a piece of construction paper, leaving space between them. Next, cut out a circle around each of the hearts, creating a border of the construction paper.
Tape one of your hearts to the dowel rod. Next tape or glue your ribbon to the back of the heart. We used a variety of ribbon that I had at home. My son and I each picked out favorites. As you can see we mixed and matched colors, widths, and textures. Be creative with your ribbon choices and cut them however long you like them.
Now that your ribbons are in place, it is time to put the other heart onto the wand. Using your glue stick, cover the back of the other heart in glue. Attach it onto the back side of the heart that is already taped to the dowel. Now your wand is ready for playtime!
 I’ve joined Amazon’s Affiliate program to try and help cover the costs of this site. So if you buy something through one of my links on Amazon, then I get a small percentage of the sale (no extra cost to you). Thank you for your support! Happy crafting!
I love this happy, mosaic smiley face craft! It is perfect for giving to a friend or family member. While I had originally come up with for my son to mail to his friend, with Valentine’s Day just around the corner, I think it would make a great Valentine too! Mosaic crafts are a great way to use all of those little extra pieces of construction paper leftover from other crafts. Plus these crafts are great for fine motor skills, shape recognition, and spatial awareness too.
Print out the “You Make Me Smile” sheet if you’d like to use my template. Otherwise, draw a large circle on a piece of paper.
Now it is time to make all of the little mosaic pieces. Cut the construction paper into a variety of shapes. I have a sandwich bag full of extra scraps of paper that I keep for mosaic crafts, so my son just pulled out the pieces he wanted. Having lots of different shapes and sizes to choose from helped him get the look he wanted without having to use pieces that didn’t fit well. So if you are cutting them specifically for this project, cut some extras so that there are lots of choices for your kiddo. I had to round a few edges for him since our craft is circular.
Now that you have your pieces of paper ready, glue them all over your paper to make your yellow face. Let your mosaic pieces dry.
Paint 2 eyes and a smile on your face. I like to use Crayola Washable Paints. These paints are so easy to wash off of my son’s hands, the paintbrush, and our table.
Let your mosaic smiley face craft dry before giving your project to a friend or family member!
I’ve joined Amazon’s Affiliate program to try and help cover the costs of this site. So if you buy something through one of my links on Amazon, then I get a small percentage of the sale (no extra cost to you). Thank you for your support! Happy crafting 🙂
I LOVE this hug craft! It’s my son’s actual arms and handprints! I hung this in my office so I could always have a hug. This craft turned out so great, and it is pretty simple to make!
Supplies Needed:
3 different colors of construction paper
scissors
pencil
glue
How To:
Pick 3 different colored pieces of construction paper. We ended up with primary colors, but any colors you pick will make a great hug.
I asked my son to lay his hands and arms across the blue paper and I traced their outlines. Then I cut them out. Next, I cut out a heart shape from the red paper. I wanted the heart to be large enough so that it could be seen under the hands, but not so big that it took up all of the space.
My son glued the heart to the middle of the yellow paper. Next he glued one hand on the heart, with the arm at a downward facing angle. Then glued the arm down. The blue arm paper is longer than the yellow paper, so fold it and glue it to the back of the yellow sheet. This makes it look like the arm is wrapping around, giving a hug.
He glued the second hand slightly on top of the first hand and glued down the arm portion. Like the first arm, he had to fold it and finish gluing it to the back of the yellow paper.
Once it’s dry, you have this awesome hug to take to work or mail to a family member.
Check out my Crafts Pagefor more things to make with your kiddo! Here is a list of HUG Stories to read with this craft.
Snuggle up together and read these hug stories with your little one! Hugs are sure to follow 🙂 These sweet stories are perfect to read with preschoolers. While none of them are holiday stories, they are great for Valentine’s Day and all year-long!
Hank is a grumpy cactus who sits in his pot all alone. He looks out at the desert and watches as tumbleweeds, cowboys, lizards, and other creatures go by. Hank does not like being disturbed and he does not want a hug. He yells at everyone to leave him alone. When they do, Hank finds the being alone has become lonely. A hug sounds pretty nice now. He devises a plan to make friends with Rosie the tumbleweed. Hank grows a beautiful flower to give her. The next time Rosie tumbles along in the wind, Hank offers the flower. Rosie happily excepts the flower and hugs her new friend, but now she is stuck to Hank. They find that stuck in a hug with a friend is a great way to be stuck!
My coworker gave this book to my son and oh my gosh does he love it! This story is about a little boy who calls himself the Hug Machine because he loves, loves, loves to give hugs. He hugs everyone and everything, including porcupines and blue whales. This book is full of humor and heart and ends with a special hug just for the Hug Machine. Check your library for this sweet story.
Join Olaf in a game of hide-and-seek. This is a fun interactive book, where the reader gets to “play” with Olaf. Olaf’s joy is contagious as he asks the reader to give him a hug. Olaf runs splat into the book page and bonks his nose. He mistakenly thinks that the reader is playing a game and that he can’t get a hug until the game is over. Olaf suggests Leap Troll and Ring Around the Reindeer before settling on hide-and-seek. All right, no peeking as Olaf hides. I hope you can find him because Olaf really wants a hug!
Tiny T. Rex’s friend, Pointy, is a sad and Tiny wants to give him a hug, but his arms are not very big. Tiny goes around asking his family for advice. While everyone offers ideas, none are quite right until Tiny asks his brother and sister. They tell him to practice. So Tiny puts everyone’s advice together, makes a plan, trains hard, and practices hugging. Kids will laugh as Tiny mistakenly practices on a cactus and the leg of a flying dinosaur! In the end, Tiny hugs Pointy and Pointy declares that it is the biggest hug ever.
Kai, a little mer-boy, loves to give hugs, which he and mama call a squish! He hugs all of his ocean friends with exuberance. But one friend, a puffer fish, doesn’t want to be squished! Kai learns that everyone shows affection in different ways. Turns out puffer fish likes to give fin-bumps! This is a sweet story that helps little ones understand that we have to respect our friends’ boundaries.
In this story, a hug between a slug and a beetle turns into a giant group hug, as more and more animals find themselves in need of some comfort! Preschoolers will love the pictures in this book and enjoy seeing their favorite woodland animals. The author’s rhyming text gives a quick overview of each animal before they join in the group hug. Along comes bear and suddenly, all of the animals are scared. Will anyone hug bear? Slug will! Soon all of the animals are back in the group hug 🙂
A little porcupine wants a hug, but no one dares hug these spikes! Poor porcupine. But then porcupine meets snake, who isn’t scared of porcupine’s quills. Finally, it is hug time, and what a lovely hug it is! There is a friend out there for everyone. Preschoolers will enjoy this short story and expressive illustrations.
I hope you enjoy these stories as much we do! Just so you know, to help cover the costs of this site, I joined Amazon’s affiliate program. So if you buy the book through one of the links on my site, I get a may small percent from the sale (at no additional cost to you). Thank you for your support! Happy Reading 🙂
