DLTK's Holiday Crafts for Kids
Paper Strip Heart

This is a simple cut and paste paper craft that lets young children practice pattern making to create a pretty heart for Valentine's Day. You could also use it as a card/gift on Mother's Day or the birthday of someone you love.

You can easily turn this craft into a home made Valentine's Day card -- once the glue is dry, simply print a message on your heart and give it to a friend.

Materials:

• a printer,
• a piece of paper,
• some crayons, paint, markers or pencil crayons,
• scissors,
• glue
  
   
• Optional:  patterned scrapbooking paper or construction paper - Kaitlyn used three colors of construction paper for the one she made

Instructions:

• Print out the template of choice -- there are two template pieces:
  • the heart (which everyone needs - only comes in black and white as we just need the outline of a heart for this project) and
  • the paper strips - only comes in color (instead of using the paper strips template you cut out your own strips of paper from scrapbooking paper or construction paper. This is good scissor skills practice for preschoolers).
• Do your best to make your strips all the same width (it doesn't really matter that much, but it's good hand-eye coordination practice)
• Before you start the craft, you can sort your pieces into different colors, count them and even practice a little addition (we have 8 red strips and 7 pink strips... how many strips do we have altogether).
• Flip your heart template over so the lines are lying on the table and you are looking at a blank, white sheet.
• At this point you can practice making a pattern (decide what pattern you'll use and lay them out) or if you're an expert pattern maker (one red, one pink, one red, one pink!) you can just start gluing the pieces on.
• Remember that the more colors you use, the more complex it will be for the children to make a pattern so don't be shy to just stick with two colors.
• Create your pattern and glue it onto the white side of the template.
• Let dry.
• Flip over and cut out the heart shape (this might require an adult's help).
   
• Optional: hang on your fridge to decorate or print a message on your heart and give to a friend.

Printable Craft Templates:

• After printing, close the template window to return to the main page.
• If the template doesn’t fit on one page, adjust your printer margins:
  • In most browsers: Print → More settings → Margins → Minimum
  • Or use Page Setup / Printer Setup in your printer dialog

 Heart Template    (B&W)

Paper Strips Template   (color)

The flowers template is a good alternative to the heart template for a spring-y Valentine's Day option.