Friday, February 11, 2011

Valentine's Day Happy Hearts Mobile craft

Valentine's Day paper heart mobile craftHere's a sweet and easy Valentine's Day craft of a construction-paper heart mobile you can make with your toddler, preschooler, or young child.

Our son is three and a half, so the finished quality of our heart mobile reflects both his skill level and that of his mother, because I am no craft genius. I think this would be fairly easily adaptable for different age levels.

Full disclosure, I got the idea from {affiliate} High Five magazine, the preschool version of Highlights for Children, which I remember from when I was a kid!1

Grandma subscribed to it for Mikko when he was 2, and she almost canceled it a year later when we told him he was just then beginning to really get it. No, no, we protested, he likes it now! And he really does. (And I like it, too, because it gives me good, simple ideas of activities like this to do with him!) It has hidden pictures, which he's surprisingly good at; silly pictures, where I'm always amused to see what he thinks is strange about the illustration (like, a horse going to the movies is fine, but a man wearing brown shoes? "They're too little!"); and plenty of opportunity to cut things. Mikko loves cutting things.

So this craft was perfect for us.

All you need is some construction or other suitable paper, scissors, glue, tape, and markers. Pretty much what you'd have around the home anyway, right?

Here's what our individual hearts look like:

Valentine's Day paper mobile craft mosaic heart
This one was lots of fun. Mikko picked out the colors he wanted. I cut out the base heart in black. (If your craft skills are being refreshed after a long hiatus, let me remind you that it's easiest to cut a more-or-less symmetrical heart by folding the paper in half and cutting half a heart, then unfolding.) Then we both cut and tore scraps of other colors of paper to make a mosaic. Mikko wielded the glue.

Valentine's Day paper mobile craft white heart
This was the easiest heart (for me), because Mikko chose what markers to use on this white heart I'd cut out, and he decided on the pattern himself.

Valentine's Day paper mobile craft person heart
This guy was pretty fun to make. I had to cut out the main heart as well as the smaller ones for the eyes and nose. Because they're so simplistic, you're probably thinking Mikko cut the other pieces — um, nope. They were scraps that I just purloined and trimmed as needed. Gives it that preschooly vibe. And the big dark mark down the heart man's face? That was Mikko's finishing touch.


Your hearts can look like absolutely anything, of course! Have fun with stripes, polka dots, cut-outs, tissue paper, painting, chalk, whatever!

The one thing that cracked me up was how exactly Mikko wanted to follow the directions in the magazine, matching even the colors they'd chosen. I tried to convince him we could be a little more spontaneous (and use what we had on hand and could manage!), but I'm not sure he believed me.

When you've made all the hearts you want, simply tape them to a ribbon, yarn, or string, and hang your mobile up for display!

Happy hearts!

Update: I found out Highlights has an affiliate program,
so I joined and popped in some links!
I also contacted them to see if they'd be interested
in sponsoring a subscription giveaway, as per
Maman A Droit's suggestion in the comments.
Keep your fingers crossed!
See my full disclosure policy here.



1 I still reference Goofus and Gallant to Sam, even though he always just stares at me blankly.

8 comments:

Becky said...

Cute stuff! That magazine seems to have a lot of good ideas in it.

Nadia said...

Thank you for sharing something EASY :)
So many blogs that share arts and crafts ideas come up with ridiculously complex things that always look so perfect that I wonder just what part, if any, a child actually did (of course, it also depends on the age of the child)... but THIS, we can do! ;)

Momma Jorje said...

Your co-craft is adorable! :-D

Lindsay said...

You should see if they'll let you give away a free subscription, 'cause you're making me want that magazine now! lol. Anyway, super cute craft. I can think of ways I could adapt it so my toddler could even do them despite not being ready for glue or scissors quite yet, like crayon scribbles on one and stickers on another.

Darcel @The Mahogany Way said...

Very cute! I love seeing what others do as far as crafts go. I'm certainly no craft genius either :)

Lauren Wayne said...

@Maman A Droit You inspired me — I emailed and asked. :)

Lauren Wayne said...

@Nadia Exactly! Or they require you to have oodles of specialized craft supplies. Some of us can't be bothered… :)

BeaMa said...

My daughter is just starting to get into crafts, so I love this. Simple and fun!

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