Double Handprint Heart
We used watercolors to paint our hands and applied them with paintbrushes. E thought the sensation of the paintbrush on her hands was hilarious, and she went along with my suggested placement for her hands willingly.
By the time I was done painting them, the watercolors on my hands had already started to dry, so not all my fingers show up that well. That’s okay, though, the pointers and thumbs are what counts, anyway
I originally wanted to cut up one of E’s works of art to glue on but I just couldn’t do it. I guess we still don’t have enough artwork stored As an alternative, I simply cut a piece of pink Origami paper.
I have to say, I was really charmed by the result – one of my favorite Valentine’s crafts we’ve done!
While I was finishing off our project, E took off, and I was later able to track her path through these different kinds of handprint “hearts” on our door and coffee table
What I learned:
If, like us, you use watercolors, make sure to work quickly and check that they haven’t started drying by the time you make your prints. You could simply use tempera or roll-on paint for more solid results that don’t dry quite as quickly.
Additional suggestions:
- Make a heart from one of your kid’s paintings to glue in the middle of the handprints < if you can bear it>.
- Cut a photo of your child (or your family) into a heart shape.
- Paint a heart directly on the paper.
- Get Daddy involved as well, for a third set of handprints.
The basic idea: The idea of a handprint heart had been going around my head for a while, and I was just gonna make one with E’s handprints until I realized that my hands fit exactly around hers for a Double Handprint Heart.
Handprint Heart Canvas
Not only is this handprint heart canvas practically fail-proof, but it is a great way for the kids to help with the gift making. Plus you’ll be able to look back over the years and see how much your kids have grown.
Handprint Heart Canvas Supplies
- Canvas
- Washable paint (for example, tempera paint)
- Cardstock
- Scissors
- Masking tape or painters tape
The first step is create a heart stencil using the cardstock paper. Select a piece of paper that is roughly the same size of your canvas. I’m using a 12″x9″ canvas and I trimmed down a sheet of 12″x18″ cardstock to be the same size.
Cut out a heart from the cardstock and then use masking tape or painters tape, something easy to remove, to tape it down to your canvas.
For the handprints I decided it would be easiest to fill a paper plate with a thin layer of paint, have the kids dip their hand in the paint, and then press it onto the canvas. You could also use a paintbrush and paint their hand.
The handprints will go inside the heart shape and we can pull off the green paper when we are done.
I have three kids whose handprints I wanted to include on the canvas. started with my oldest child who also has the largest hands. He selected the color he wanted for his handprint and then added them to the canvas. Then I went to the next smallest hand size, and finally the smallest hand size.
Each child chose a different color for their handprints. Once all of our handprints were done I pulled up the tape and took off the scrapbook heart.
The finished result was a nice handprint heart silhouette on our canvas! If you want you can write a note to go along the side of your heart, like perhaps the year it was made.
Valentine Art : Hand print hearts garden
This is a simple Valentine art activity we did *last year*. Yes, last year! I remember the children being borderline obsessed with those foam stickers,(they still are) LAST year was insane – every time a new season rolled around we had to buy a new set. Well, I did buy them a bunch because the kids did cool things with it. The kids created numerous cards, designs and art. < all our art activities here> This activity is one such we did as a family and I can’t believe it has been one whole year!
The idea is so simple.
First I set up a long paper covered table as the canvas and supplied the kids with paint, markers and stickers and invited them to create a hearts garden scene with those heart stickers. The kids chose to do both the hand tracing and the hand prints.
On the long table ( notice that the kids had gone crazy with the tape! ha!) I set out the green paint and they printed their tiny hands with green paint to their hearts’ content..
Then it was time to create a beautiful hearts garden with stickers. They sorted the stickers and peeled the backs fine motor workout > to create a lovely garden of hearts. The Valentine art was coming along nicely and the children were having lots of fun with their favorite material – stickers.
Doesn’t that butterfly and the cute face on the heart look darling?
More baby hand print flowers!
Our completed Valentine art with hearts stickers.
Thanks for reading and feel free to pin this image
Do you have toddlers or babies in your life and feel coming up with baby activities are so challenging? We, in collaboration with other bloggers have put together a book with GREAT activities for babies and toddlers.
Some highlights
- There are 25 unique baby/toddler play ideas
- The activities for babies and toddlers are explained very thoroughly with bright pictures and clear step-by-step instructions.
- The ideas are very simple and perfect for busy new moms of babies and toddlers.
- You will get exposed to 25 new blogs where the women behind the blogs share so many ideas for baby play, toddler play, preschooler play and up.
- There are additional 50 links to whole new ideas for play.
- There is a wide range of activities with classic baby play, sensory play, homemade toys and many learning activities.
On to our Valentine’s spirit
Check our collection of Valentine art and crafts
For more Valentine Art stop by our Valentine art and crafts category
More Valentine art inspiration on our Pinterest boards
