Love is in the air and what better way to spread love than with a handmade gift or craft that doubles as a Valentine's Day gift. These nature-inspired crafts for kids are simple to make and perfect for all ages!
1. Heart Shaped Seed Bombs from Dabbles and Babbles
Supplies Needed:
- Seeds – a collection of seeds of your choice – we used mostly wildflowers but added in some extra seeds as well (note: the larger seeds don’t always stay in your seed bomb easily so use smaller seeds if possible – I used some sunflower, nasturtium and sweet pea seeds that were pretty big and I had to work hard to keep them in the seed bomb)
- Colored paper torn into pieces – 2-3 pages (I used 3 pages of paper; red, orange and pink)
- Newspaper torn into pieces – 2-3 pages
- Blender
- Silicone mold – if you don’t have a mold you can also just form into balls with your hands
- 2 cups of water
- Mixing bowls
- Strainer
Directions:
Step 1: After you’ve torn up all your paper, put the pieces into the blender.
Step 2: Add 2 cups of water to blender and blend everything until pulverized.
Step 3: Place a strainer over a small bowl and pour the entire contents from the blender into the strainer. Allow to sit for about 5 minutes so the water can drain out of the pulp.
Step 4: Scoop a handful of paper pulp out of the strainer and add a small spoonful of seeds to your pulp.
Step 5: Gently mix up the pulp and seeds and squeeze out any excess water over a bowl until the seed bomb is fairly compact.
Step 6: Press the mixture into a mold, squeezing out any excess water and draining it from the mold. Continue until you’ve used up all the pulp.
Step 7: Finally, using a paper towel, press down on each seed bomb to soak up any left over moisture in the seed bomb – we want to remove as much water as possible to prevent the seeds from germinating.
Step 8: Allow seed bombs to dry for 24-48 hours and then gently remove from mold.
2. DIY Birdseed Feeder from Rainbows and Fireflies
Supplies Needed:
- Twine
- Birdseed
- Cardboard
- Peanut Butter
Directions:
Step 1: Cut hearts out of cardboard
Step 2: Poke a hole and tie a string for hanging
Step 3: Spread peanut butter on the hearts
Step 4: Dip in seed
Step 5: Hang them outside and watch the birds enjoy!
3. Nature Finds Valentine's Cards from Magic Homeschool Bus
Supplies Needed:
- Thick card stock
- Hot glue gun
- Nature finds (pinecones, sticks, leaves, etc)
- Googly eyes
Directions:
Step 1: Print off the FREE PRINTABLES HERE
Step 2:Gather nature finds.
Step 3:Hot glue the nature finds onto the stock card.
Step 4:Have fun decorating.
4. Flower Clay Hearts from Little Pine Learners
Supplies needed:
- Flowers- Pressed flowers will last longer!
- Parchment paper
- Air Dry Clay
- Heart cookie cutters
- Straw (If you want to hang it)
- Twine (If you want to hang it)
- Mod Podge
Directions:
Step 1: Roll out the clay on parchment paper.
Step 2: Choose a cookie cutter design and cut out your clay hearts!
Step 3: Grab some flowers from a bouquet.
Step 4: Once your valentines are finished, put a generous layer of Mod Podge over the flowers. This will help the petals stay in place.
Step 5: If you want to hang, make sure to make a hole before they dry. Drying time is about 48 hours.
For step by step pictures and more details clickHERE
5. Pinecone Rose Bouquet from Sustain My Craft Habit
Supplies Needed:
- Pine cones
- Acrylic paint, colors in baby pink, white and fuchsia
- Paint brush
- Wooden skewers
- Green paint or green floral tape
- Drill with small drill bit (same diameter as wooden skewer)
- Mod podge
- Glitter, extra fine (optional)
Directions:
Step 1: Using a paint brush, paint each pine cone in the color of your choice. Put aside to dry between coats and apply as needed to achieve desired coverage.
Step 2: Once dry, drill a small hole about ¼” deep into the bottom of the pine cone using a small size drill bit (the same size as the diameter of the wooden skewer).
Step 3:Paint the skewers green or wrap the wooden skewer with green floral tape starting at one end and finishing at the other.
Step 4: Insert one end of the wrapped or painted skewer into the drilled pine cone. Add glue if necessary to hold together.
Step 5: Glitter your pinecone flowers by applying mod podge to pine cone tips and then pouring glitter over top. Shake off the excess glitter and set aside until dry.
Step 6: Arrange the pine cone roses inside a vase for a beautiful alternative floral bouquet.
6. Adorable Leaf Envelopes from Mother Natured
Supplies needed:
- Large green to gold leaves with plenty of flexibility & thin stems
- Leaf to write a letter to a fairy
- Craft glue
- Scissors
- Sealing wax (optional)
- Permanent fine tip marker
Directions:
Step 1:Cut out a 5cm x 5cm square out of your leaf (you can make these as big or small as you want :)
Step 2: Take two sides of your leaf and meet the corners in the middle. Gently score the edges with your finger tips. Be gentle or your leaves might rip.
Step 3: Fold one of the unfolded corners up to make the the envelope.
Step 4: Unfold your leaf square and cut the little corners of the folds that have overlapped. Only the bottom is fine but you can do it for all four side if you want a really clean look.
Step 5: Fold the two side corners back up again and paint the sides with good quality craft glue.
Step 6: Fold the bottom corner up and hold it tightly.
Step 7: Slip a blunt knife or small plastic ruler into the middle of the leaf envelope while it dries to ensure the inside of the envelope doesn’t stick together.
Step 8: Cut a leaf, for your letter paper and write on it using a permanent fine tip marker. Then slide it into your envelope.
For step by step pictures and more details click HERE
7. Love Tree from Easy, Peasy and Fun
Supplies needed:
- 2 sheets of white paper
- ink pads – reds and pinks (you can also use finger paints)
- black marker
- scissors
- pencil (optional)
Directions:
Step 1: First we need to make a heart stencil. The easiest way to go about it (in our honest opinion) is to fold a sheet of paper in half and draw a half-heart shape. You can easily cut the heart out then, just by cutting along the line.
Step 2:Place the sheet of paper with the heart outline on top of a regular sheet of white paper. For younger kids you can secure it with some tape so it won’t move around while they get creative.
Step 3: With a black marker, draw a tree with the heart shape.
Step 4: Now it is time to get messy with your fingers. Dab your fingers (thumbs and fingertips to get different shapes) in the ink pads and “stamp” them all over the heart shape. Do this until you are happy with how thick the leaves on the tree are :).
Step 5: Remove the sheet of paper with the heart outline.
Step 6: Draw the rest of the tree trunk, if necessary.
You can use sticks you've found outside and glue them on as the trunk and branches instead of drawing them to make this more of an outdoor activity.
8. Pinecone Heart Wreath from Simple Nature Decor
Supplies Needed:
- Cardboard
- Scissors
- Glue Gun
- Pinecones (Pick them from your back yard)
- Garden Clipper
- Wire
Directions:
Step 1: Take a piece of cardboard and draw a shape of a heart any size you want. With scissors cut the valentine out.
Step 2: With the garden clipper cut the pinecone in half. This will make the pinecone easier to glue flat on the cardboard surface. Once you have all of them cut in half, glue them flat along the valentine shape.
Step 3: Fill the center with pinecones of any different sizes. You can stack them on top of each other to fill the gaps where the cardboard shows.
Step 4: When you are done filling up the valentine wreath. Make two small holes in the back of valentine one on each end and string the wire through the holes to create a piece of wire for hanging. Make sure that you tie the length of wire short and taut.
Now your pinecone Valentine wreath is ready to be hung. Add it on your door or a wall.
For step by step pictures and more details click HERE
9. Valentine Love Tree from Simple Nature Decor
Supplies Needed:
- Branches (Go outside!)
- Scrapbook paper in pink
- White spray paint, or regular white paint
- Pink and white twine
- White pitcher
- Heart Puncher
Directions:
Step 1: Use scissors to cut out the hearts or use a heart puncher if you have one.
Step 2: Paint the branches white and let dry.
Step 3: While the branches are drying, take some time to ask the kids what they love and write their answers on your paper hearts.
Step 4: Tie the hearts onto the branches and put the branches in a vase. Place the vase somewhere in your house to admire daily.
10. We LOVE Nature Activity Guide from Nature Supply Co
Our newest nature-based education is HERE and includes fun activites that are perfect for Valentine's Day!
Nature is Neat - We LOVE Nature
This digital download is jam packed full of information for your little ones and includes reading, writing, science, art and of course - nature exploration.
What's Inside?
- Fun Facts About Nature in February
- Big Information for Little People - We LOVE Nature
- A Few New Words
- A Poem to Ponder: February
- Big Projects for Little Hands #1 - Love Potion Experiment
- Big Projects for Little Hands #2 - Heart Nature Weaving
- Big Projects for Little Hands #3 - Owl You Need is Love
- Big Projects for Little Hands - Younger Learners - Scavenger Hunt
- Big Projects for Little Hands - Older Learners - We Love Animals Research
- Worksheet: We Love Nature Word Search
- Reflect and Review
- Dive Deeper: Book and Video Resources
Additional Info:
- Each Nature is Neat packet is approximately 15 pages long and is an open and go type format! Simply print out the packet (or view on your electronic device) for a fun, educational, and simple mini-lesson on the topic at hand.
- Designed for children ages PreK-5th grade
- All of the activities inside each packet utilize supplies you typically already have in your home or backyard.
Happy Valentine's Day! Sending you all the love!
PIN HERE
