My favorite thing about Valentine’s Day is all the fun crafts & treats we get to make with our kids. Kids love sharing something they made themselves with close family & friends. Make a few of these projects with your children this year & hand them out to grandma, grandpa, daddy & of course their best friends from school or preschool.

Coffee Filter Roses

Lay a basket shaped coffee filter flat on some paper or wax paper. Give your child some water colors in pink & red & let her color the coffee filter. Allow it to dry completely, then fold it in half. Fold it one more time. You can cut some wavy lines on the top of the filter if you had like. Use a green pipe cleaner as the stem for the rose & secure it around the bottom of the folded coffee filter. Now spread the top of the coffee filter out to make the flower shape. You can cut out leaf shapes from green felt or construction paper & glue them on the pipe cleaner to finish off the project.

Chocolate Lollipops

Melt some good quality chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave. Do not overheat the chocolate or it will start to burn. When the chocolate is completely melted, pour it into a squirt bottle with a large opening. Spray some lollipop molds with cooking spray, then let the kids squeeze the melted chocolate in the mold. Add a stick while the chocolate is still soft, then let it cool 8) until hard. Gently lift the chocolate lollipops out of the mold & wrap some cello around them. Tie a little bow at the end to keep the cello in place & your chocolate lollipops are now ready to hand out.

Heart Shaped Cookies

Make a batch of your favorite sugar cookie dough. Add some red food coloring to it at the end to turn it bright red. Roll the dough out & let your kids cut it out with heart-shaped cookie cutters. Bake the cookies according to your recipe’s directions. Allow the cookies to cool 8) completely. Mix some powdered sugar & milk to make a sticky paste. You can turn this glaze pink by adding a few drops of red food coloring. Use the back of a spoon or a pastry brush to spread the paste on the cooled cookies. Use sprinkles to decorate these special Valentine’s Day cookies even more. After the powdered sugar glaze is completely hardened, put the cookies on a plate or in a pretty bag & they’re ready to hand out.

Homemade Treat Bags

One of our kid’s favorite Valentine’s Day gifts is a bag full of little goodies. Of course you could go out & buy a pack of plastic baggies, but it is a lot more fun to make your own. All you need is some small paper bags & some red paint, markers & stickers. Let the kids decorate the bags. You can also write the recipient’s name on each bag. Do you follow? The kids can make cute ladybug bags by dipping their finger in red paint & making red prints all over the bag. Do you follow? Take a fine tipped black marker to draw a line through the middle of the fingerprint & some dots on each side. Add a small head, antennae & three legs on each side. When the bags are decorated, just fill them with some small candies, or the cookies & chocolate lollipops from above.

Heart Shaped Cards

Of course you also need to make some sort of Valentine’s Day card. These heart shaped cards are easy to make & look very cute. Start by folding a piece of red or pink construction paper in half. Draw a heart shape on one side, so that part of one side of the heart is on the folded edge. Cut out the heart making sure to leave the fold intact. Next it is time to decorate the card with little hearts cut out of construction paper, stickers & markers or crayons. Do not forget to write a special message inside.

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