Hi, friends! As I posted before in “Where Am I When I’m Not Here” I am in full-blown mom life. My son Carter will turn TWO next month, and I pretty much can’t believe how quickly the time has gone by. My days are full of toddler antics and I find myself drawn more and more to early learning because of it. When I resigned from my third grade position before having Carter, I pictured myself going back. During my year off, we decided to go on and start a family. But the teacher in me can’t rest! So Carter and I spend our days doing lots of crafts and early learning activities.
I wanted to share one of our most recent projects with you, crossposted from my little family blog. My plan is to share more of our learning-focused activities here on Ms. Fultz’s Corner in the future. I hope my teacher-friends in early learning can benefit from them with their students, as well as my mamma friends with their littles at home.
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We’ve kept up our tradition of making handprint/footprint art for each holiday with Carter, and I think our Valentine one this year is my favorite one so far! The best part? It is super easy!
You’ll need:
-plastic bags
-paint (we used acrylic)
-cardstock
-scissors
-ink pad
-glue dots (or glue, tape, etc)
Step One:
Put a few drops of paint on the cardstock and then gently slide it into a gallon sized Ziploc bag. Be sure to seal the bag!
Step Two:
Let your little artist go to work! Carter loved swirling the paint around. He even rode his little trucks and buses over his project a few times. The best part? No mess!
Step Three:
Immediately remove the cardstock from the bag. You can cut down the side of the bags and gently lift up the plastic, which is easier than sliding it out. Let these draw all the way.
Step Four:
Once the art is completely dry, cut out heart shapes. I like to get a mix of patterns, swirls, colors, and white space.
Step Five:
I opted to print the design instead of writing it by hand, but either is cute. When Carter gets older, I’ll have him write things like this himself. You can download my free dated printable if you’d like it. I also have a variety of other, nondated, options in my shop here. Carefully use an ink pad to stamp your toddler’s footprint onto the paper. Then attach the painted hearts. I used glue dots, but anything would work here.
That’s it! You end up with a thoughtful and cute Valentine’s Day keepsake with very little mess, my favorite part!
For more craft ideas and toddler antics, follow me on Instagram and Pinterest.
