kids Archives - The Ramblings of Lottie

6 Handprint Art Projects for Kids

Since Lock Down, I’ve had to fill my afternoons with activities for my toddler. Going to the park or soft play or seeing friends/family isn’t an option, so I started doing things like: music time, story time, more garden play, messy play and painting! Olivia gets bored of painting quite quickly and she’s still too little to do proper art projects. So why not have some fun with it? So we tried some handprint art!

I found ton of handprint art for kids ideas on Pinterest so, I thought I would recreate some of my favourites. You can do these in paint or card. You can make these into greeting cards or gifts for loved ones. I love these because not only is it a fun activity for you and your kid but it’s also a treasured keepsake. Something you can look back on and reminisce on when they were small.

All you need for these crafts is:

kid-safe paint
coloured card
scissors
tape/glue
felt tips
pencils/pens
child’s hand

1. Flamingo Handprint Card

Make an outline of your child’s hand on pink card.
Draw the neck and head of the flamingo to roughly the same size as the hand.
Cut both out and attach with tape or glue.
Draw some legs, cut out and attach with tape or glue.
Write your message on the back.

2. Dinosaur Handprint Card

Make an outline of your child’s hand on card (colour of your choice) ensuring your child’s fingers line up with the edge of the card.
Fold the card so the fold lines up with the edge of your child’s wrist.
Cut out hand ensuring you cut through both layers of card while keeping the fold by the wrist. You should be left with a hand shaped card.
Draw head and neck of dinosaur in the same coloured card. Cut out and attach to the back of the card with the hand facing down (so the fingers are like the legs and tail).
Draw on eyes, nostrils, mouth and any other features of your dinosaur. You could even use goggley eyes for your dinosaurs to make them extra cute!
Write your message inside.

3. Family Handprint Art

This one is my favourite and makes the perfect gift! You can also do this with paint but I preferred it with card)

Draw an outline of your child’s hand in their choice of coloured card. Cut it out.
Do the same with members of your household until you have a collection of different coloured handprints.
Layer them so the smallest is on top and the largest is on the bottom. Secure together with glue.
Frame for a gift. This would also look great in the centre of a wreath for the holidays or a Christmas ornament. You could write people’s names on them and the date on the back for a memento that will last forever.

4. Volcano Handprint Art

I think this one is so cute! Again, can be made into a card or gift. This can also be done with paint. Instead of cutting out your child’s handprint just get them to make a handprint in paint.

Make 2 outlines of your child’s hand. One on yellow card and one on orange card. Cut them out.
Draw and colour in a volcano. You could print one off or get your kids to draw one (even better).
Use the handprints as lava spewing out the top of the volcano. Glue the card cut-outs or get your kids to make a handprint in paint at the top of the volcano.
Decorate how you wish.

5. The Hungry Caterpillar Handprint Art

We had the most fun making this one!

Paint your child’s palm green with kid-safe paint and their 4 fingers (not their thumb) in blue kid-safe paint.
Make a handprint on white paper/card.
Repeat until you have 3 handprints next to each other.
Paint a red circle for the caterpillar’s head (or use a round sponge stamp like we did).
Once fully dry, draw on the antennae and nose. I made the eyes with yellow card and drew on his pupils then attached with glue.

6. Seasonal Tree Handprint Art

I love the idea of this project because it would be a great activity to teach children about the seasons. You could get them to make 4 of these (one for each season) and make their tree look different for every season. For example, Spring could have light green and pink/yellow dots, Summer could have dark green, light green and red dots, Autumn could have orange, red and brown spots and Winter could have none (make it a snowy scene). I made an Autumn one because it’s my favourite season.

Place your child’s hand in the middle of the page. Draw around your child’s hand and arm. Colour or paint it in brown. This will be the trunk of the tree.
Using your chosen colours, create the leaves making it more crowded around the trunk of the tree and gradually getting more spaced out away from the trunk. I used felt tips to make the dots but I love the idea of kids using cotton buds and paint to make this.

If you liked this, you may also like: Fathers Day Crafts For Kids
Super Easy Valentine Crafts To Do With Your Kids
At Home Activities For Toddlers
Mickey and Minnie Mouse Cupcakes

If you want to see more fun things to do with your little ones, check out my Pinterest! I have a “Kids Activities” board and a “Toddler Activities Board”: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/ramblingsoflottie/boards/

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. It really does mean a lot. Keep your eyes peeled because I have some very exciting things coming out on the blog in the next week. Two posts in particular I am incredibly excited to announce to you! See you soon! xx

Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

Need I say more? 🍌🍫Seems like everyone in this pandemic has made banana bread. Well, this is an alternative. Whether it’s for breakfast, an evening treat or a basket you want to drop off to a loved one while socially distancing, these muffins are perfect.

This recipe uses chocolate chips but I recently ran out and used Cadbury dairy milk, chopped up and I think I’m going to do that from now on. It made the chocolate much more creamier and slightly melted in the middle. Way better than chocolate chips. Plus, its Cadbury!

I particularly love this recipe because it’s an all in one method. For those of you who dont know, that means you bung all the ingredients in one bowl and mix it altogether. No separate bowls, no creaming method and so much less washing up. As a Mum, all in one method and one pan meals are the saving grace to my sanity. Just makes things so simple and easy in a time that may not be. Plus, less washing up. Can I get a hallelujah?🙌🏻

Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

Only the best banana muffins ever.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20 mins

Cook Time 25 mins

Total Time 45 mins

Course Breakfast, Dessert, Snack

Servings 12

Equipment

Mixer
Measuring Scales
Small Bowl
Fork
Muffin tin
Muffin cases

Ingredients

100 g Butter room temp
2 Eggs medium, free range
175 g Caster Sugar
225 g Self-raising Flour sifted
1 tsp Baking Powder
3 tbsp Milk whole
2 Bananas very ripe, mashed
100 g Chocolate chips or chocolate chopped into small chunks

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan, Gas Mark 4) and line a 12 hole muffin tin with muffin cases.
Mix all the ingredients in one bowl until fully combined and smooth.
Spoon the mixture evenly into the 12 cases and bake in the oven for 25 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
Once fully baked, leave to cool on a cooling wrack.
Optional: melt more chocolate to drizzle over the top of the muffins or add a square of chocolate to the top of the muffins.

Keyword Banana, Chocolate, muffin

It is literally as simple as that! Thank you for taking the time to read this post. I would really appreciate it if you could share it on your socials and to all your friends. It would help me out a lot!

Also, while you’re here, go ahead and follow my blog and sign up for the email list so you will be the first to know when I upload. You can get the first scoop on any yummy recipes I share!

Simple But Cute Easter Treats

So, in the midst of this chaos, here’s some normality. 4 simple treats to make at home to celebrate Easter. There’s nothing fancy required or ingredient you need to brave the shops for. You won’t be elbowing Hugo or Biffy in the wholefoods shop for the last Madagascan Dodo Bird Feather to make these. Just your normal baking supplies. I really hope some of you can create these and find some escape in these recipes. Baking, for me, can be really therapeutic and, if that fails, you can always stress eat your bakes. Whichever way, I hope this helps.

1. Easter Bunny Sugar Cookies

These are great to make with little ones because you can make the dough ahead of time and they’re really simple and quick. If you don’t have any Easter cookie cutters because ever other Mum in the country has bought them, then this is for you!

What you will need:

A batch of sugar cookie dough (see my recipe here).
Rolling pin
Gingerbread man cookie cutter
Chocolate eggs with a sugar crisp shell

Method

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to about 1 cm thickness.
Cut out your ‘gingerbread men’.
Place cookies on a lined baking tray upside down. The ‘legs’ will be the bunny’s ears.
Place a chocolate egg in the centre and bend the arms over the egg so it looks like the bunny is cuddling the egg.
Using a cocktail stick, give the bunny some eyes.
Bake in a preheated (160ºC fan) oven for 10 minutes.
Leave to cool on a wire rack.
Once cool add a nose with a blob of chocolate or a sprinkle.

2. Easter Nest Cupcakes

Everyone knows how to make the traditional chocolate Easter nests. Well, they inspired me to make these in cupcake form with a difference.

What you will need:

A batch of 12 cupcakes (I used my vanilla cupcakes but you could make chocolate ones to make these treats even more chocolatey)
A batch of chocolate buttercream (bought or homemade)
Chocolate sprinkles
Mini chocolate eggs

Method

Fill a piping bag, fitted with a round piping nozzle, with chocolate buttercream (if you don’t have a nozzle, just cut the end off to size).
Pipe two rings (one on top of the other) of buttercream onto the top of the cupcake.
Dip your cupcake (gently) into a shallow dish of chocolate sprinkles until the buttercream is coated in them. It should look like a sprinkle covered doughnut!
Place two mini chocolate eggs in the centre of your nest.

3. Lemon Shortbread Bunnies

These are just so delish! Again, these are so simple and great to make with kids. Get creative! Pick your favourite sprinkles and unapologetically decorate!

What you will need:

125g butter (room temp)
180g plain flour
1 tsp lemon zest (I put in more because I love the lemon flavour)
65g caster sugar
Bunny cookie cutter
Small flower cookie cutter (optional)
Icing sugar
Your favourite sprinkles

Method

Preheat oven to 150ºC.
Mix the butter and sugar together until creamy. Then add the lemon zest.
Sift in the flour and combine. Using your hands, form into a dough. Wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
Remove from the fridge and roll out the dough on a floured surface to about 5mm thickness.
Cut out your bunny shapes and place on a lined baking tray. You could also cut out some small flower shapes for the tail! If you don’t have a flower cutter, don’t worry! Continue reading!
Place the baking tray of cookies into the fridge for 10-15 minutes. You could also put a large hole in the top of them if you with to put ribbon through them to hang.
Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the edges of the cookies have a golden tinge.
Allow to cool completely on a wire rack before decorating.
Mix together icing sugar and water to make a simple icing (you could also add lemon juice to give it more lemon flavour).
Cover the flower shaped cookies in the icing or carefully spoon/pipe the icing onto your bunny to give it a tail. Add your sprinkles to the icing to create a tail made of sprinkles or simply leave it as it is! If you’re creative, you could give him sprinkle ears!

4. Floral Bunny Ear Cupcakes

These are slightly more challenging but I think they’re so cute! I used these reusable cupcake cases that are silicone plant pots which I think were perfect for this design! You can use whatever you like.

What you will need:

A batch of your favourite cupcakes (or you can use my vanilla cupcake recipe)
A batch of vanilla buttercream
Piping bags
Variety or piping nozzles
Food colouring
Candy melts or chocolate

Method

Melt your candy melts in a piping bag (I used a microwave. Heated for 30 seconds then squeezed the bag to mix the melts. Then heated for another 30 seconds and repeated until I got my desired runny texture). Then snip a small piece of the end of the piping bag off. You can use chocolate, however, it is not as stable.
On grease proof paper, pipe bunny ear shapes. (I draw my design before hand and placed it underneath the grease proof paper so I could trace it).
Leave to harden on a flat surface for 24 hours.
Separate your vanilla buttercream into different bowls and colour. I used yellow, pink and violet as I thought they were nice spring colours.
Put your buttercreams into separate piping bags with different nozzles.
Apply a base of green buttercream to look like grass.
Carefully peel your candy melt bunny ears off of the grease proof paper and delicately push them into the buttercream.
Pipe a variety of flowers and shapes onto the cupcake. You can always just pipe swirls and dots! Try to pipe them onto the cupcake in a way that supports the ears.

And there you go! Very simple and quick Easter treats. I hope this brings some joy to your household. If you do create these, please share pictures with me! I would love to see them!

Be kind. Stay Safe.

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Instagram: @charlotterose293
Twitter: @Cook2903

Lock Down Daily Routine For Toddlers

Here in the UK, we have been told that, as of this week, we are on lock down. This means we are to stay in our homes as much as possible and only leave for essential reasons. The introvert in me wants to celebrate but the mother in me dreads this time. How do people cope with their kids at home all day, every day. I can’t be the only one that is filled with the anxiety of the thought. Maybe this is the time we’ll be sympathetic to people who commit family massacres. Well, have no fear! I’m here too share our daily routine to make things a little more bearable during these hard times.

I always find routines (especially with children) make the day go faster, more fun and far more peaceful. Children thrive in a routine as they know what to expect to happen when (and let’s be honest, we could all use that in the uncertainty that we’re all living in now). It also ensure you can fit everything you want to into the day and be productive. I always find that being productive really helps my anxiety as my mind is distracted and it’s something small I can control during a situation that is totally out of my control.

So, here is our daily routine. My daughter is nearly 18 months old (just for reference). I hope this is helpful to you mummas right now, feel free to tweak the schedule any which way you like.

If you don’t have a dog, you can use this time for a walk around your neighbourhood or outside play in your garden. Either way, I think it’s really important our little ones get some fresh air.

Also, you may think that is a lot of time for ‘Free Play’ but we break up this time with: singing songs, reading stories, imaginative play and I let my daughter do her own thing while I watch her and drink my morning coffee.

I hope this was helpful to you! For ideas for “Planned Activity” you can read my blog post At Home Activities For Toddlers. You could also check out Easy Easter Brownies as something else to do with your slightly older children.

Stay safe and watch this space for more content during this tough time. Stay strong mummas, click this link if you need some Mum-tivation!

Thank you for reading!

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Instagram: @charlotterose293
Twitter: @Cook293

At Home Activities For Toddlers

With all the chaos of the Corona Virus, a lot of people are isolated at home with little ones. While this seems stressful, this is the perfect opportunity to have some fun! I thought I would create a post with some ideas of what to do with your little ones during this time.

Also, sorry for the silence recently! I spent the weekend in Wales for my best friend’s wedding and had an absolutely amazing time!

The following activities are really simple and you probably have everything you need to do all of these. No need to venture out. While all of these activities are simple, children should be supervised at all times.

1. Paper Chutes

These are super easy to make. You could even use the toilet paper tubes that you’ve bulk bought in panic. I used craft card because I didn’t.
All you need to do is tape the paper tubes to a free wall (I used the back of a door) and show your little one how to drop balls into them. If you have any ball-pit balls, these would be perfect. We don’t, so we used play fruit! Get creative! You could use balled up socks, tennis balls or even pompoms!

For older children, you could colour code the tubes and get them to sort different coloured pompoms into them to help them learn their colours.

2. Indoor Croquet

For this you will need: craft card, tape and scissors.
Cut strips of card long enough so small balls can pass through them when you bend them. Fold the ends over and tape to the floor. Little ones can have fun pushing the balls through the arches and older children can play a game with points or use things to hit the balls through.

3. Feet Painting

This is my personal favourite (although probably the messiest). We have a huge roll of paper bought from IKEA but you can use craft paper taped together or old wrapping paper. Dip your little ones’ feet in paint and let them walk across the paper. Older kids could try and spell their name with their feet or make pictures! Fair warning, you’ll have a lot of cleaning up to do!

4. Kitchen Messy Play

My little girl is still too small to help me in the kitchen or do baking together but we love to do kitchen messy play to introduce her to it. Olivia has a play kitchen so we gathered some of the play pots and pans, some rice, pasta and flour, measuring spoons and small toys to use.

I keep this big Tupperware box of messy play in the cupboard so we can get it out to use any time. We scoop flour into different pots using spoons and mix dry pasta and rice in bowls.

5. Water Play

This is an obvious one but this is my daughter’s favourite! Water play can be messy but you can use this to your advantage! Sometimes, I like to make a washing up bowl of warm soapy water and get Olivia to help me clean her plastic toys. She thinks it is a lot of fun and it gets them clean! Otherwise, the usual things are fun in water: her plastic tea set, measuring spoons, play pots and pans, etc.

Make it extra soapy and play with the bubbles!

6. Other Ideas

Just because you’re in isolation, doesn’t mean you can’t leave the house. Play in the garden and get muddy, plant flowers, go to the park, have a picnic lunch in your garden or paint the fences with water (you’ll be amazed how entertained kids are by this). Remember to pull together in these times. Help a neighbour, look out for those who can’t get out, text that Mother that is home alone with all the kids. Show some support.

Top tip! Everyday, put on some music and dance with your kids. It’ll cure boredom, lift spirits and give a little laughter which is something that is priceless in times like this.

Stay safe. Wash your hands. Make the best of the rain for the storm will pass.

Thanks for reading!
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I am the creator and owner of all above content.

Save Time and Money

Hello Readers,

I don’t know about you but I found this last winter very taxing on the bank account. Especially being a Mum, we are scrimping and making savings wherever we can. One huge saving we have made is on our energy bills. Saving even just a bit of money on gas and electric has made such a difference to our bank accounts and I don’t have to tell you how much that means when you have kids!

I had a very exciting email sent to me this week from the people at Look After My Bills, asking if I would like to join their Affiliate Programme. This name may ring a bell to you. You may have seen them on Dragon’s Den (BBC) in 2018 where they won over all 5 Dragons with their collective energy switching service website that they set up in University together. Since then, they have fully immersed themselves into helping people save money on their energy bills.

How? A really simple and easy website. Unlike other price comparison websites, Look After My Bills do all the tedious work for you. Instead of having to use the site regularly every year to look for a better deal, Look After My Bills do it for you and automatically sign you up to the energy deal that will save you the most money based on your circumstances.

Too good to be true? Not at all. Using the link below, you can get this service for free. No joke. All you need to do is fill out some information about your energy, what you use, what kind of tariff you’re currently on, etc. It takes about 2 minutes (the only form you’ll ever have to fill in) and they will help to find you a different energy deal that will save you money on your gas and electricity bills.

After you have completed your 2 minute sign up, LAMB (Look After My Bills) do all the work to find you the best deals. They will then let you know when they have found you a deal and will switch you over to the new supplier. You don’t have to do anything! And once that deal is up? They’ll switch you again to make sure you always get the best price. You don’t even need to contact your old supplier to switch payments. They do it all for you. You will be contacted when they are looking for a new deal for you and when they have found that deal for you (with all the details). Don’t worry, you can always cancel the Look After My Bills service whenever you want! If you don’t like the supplier they switch you to, then you will have a 14 day cooling off period with them to cancel the switch. You’re always in control!

Click here for this free service guaranteed to save you at least £50!

Disclaimer: This post contains an affiliate links.

Fluffy Bunny Pancakes

Tomorrow is Pancake Day! It’s the perfect excuse to have a fun dinner or a sweet treat.

Since this is the first Pancake Day Olivia can take part in, I was trying to think of ways to make it fun. I always love pictures of people making animal pancakes for their kids. There are no rules. You can make teddy bears, butterflies and everyone remembers the pancake art trend. Olivia is still too young to appreciate full blown pancake art but I wanted to practice a simple design that I can make her on Sunday mornings or a grey day to cheer her up and I thought one of the most simple (and cute) designs would be a bunny!

Although I had a lot of fun making these, I can’t wait until she’s a tad older and can decorate her bunny how she likes. Whipped cream tail? Chocolate whiskers? Strawberry teeth? Banana eyes and blueberry nose? If you do make these, please share your designs with me! I would love to see how you (or your children) decorate them.

Not only is this adorable, but they actually taste so good. I had some left over batter, after making these, and decided to have some for breakfast (as it was just there, and honestly, they’re so delicious!). I topped mine with strawberries and honey (how grown up am I?) but I kind of wanted to cover it in Nutella, whipped cream and sprinkles. Not gonna lie.

The recipe is perfect and you don’t need to run to the shops to get anything ‘special’. Chances are you’ll already have everything you need in the cupboard. So, without further adieu…

Fluffy Pancake Recipe

Ingredients

135g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp caster sugar
130ml milk
1 egg
2 tbsp olive oil

Method

Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar into a large bowl.
Lightly whisk the milk and egg together in a seperate bowl, then add the olive oil.
Pour the milk mixture into the large bowl with the flour and whisk with a fork until completely combined.
Leave batter to rest for a few minutes.
Heat up a frying pan with 1 tbsp of oil to stop the pancakes sticking (you’ll need to add oil as you go).
Add a ladle of batter to the heated pan. For the bunny you will need 1 large (body), 1 medium (head), two small (feet) and two ear-shaped pancakes. You’ll want to make several of each so you can practice and pick the best ones.
Once the top of the batter begins to bubble, flip the pancake over and cook until golden brown on both sides.
Arrange into a bunny shape and decorate!!!

And that’s it! It’s literally that simple! These are perfect for a spur of the moment pancake craving or a spontaneous weekend breakfast.

Thank you for taking the time to read. I hope you all have a very yummy Pancake Day!

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I am the owner and creator of all the above content.

You Can’t Bubble Bath and Candle Your Way To Self Love

After the devistating news of Caroline Flack hit the media this week, my social media has been bombarded with #BeKind and Self love content. I would like to clarify I 100% support the #BeKind movement however a lot of content advising people about self love is unhelpful.
As I scroll through my feeds, I see beautifully illustrated posters informing people how to achieve self love like: have a bubble bath, light your favourite candle, make a cup of tea, meditate, drink water and get some sleep. While this is all very good advice for SELF CARE, this will not help you achieve SELF LOVE.

Self love is accepting yourself for who you are. No exceptions. It’s the art of being kind to yourself. I say an art because it’s more of a skill than you think. Everyone has that voice in their head telling them “You’re not good enough” or “Why are you so pathetic?” or even “You don’t deserve to be happy” and some voices might be louder than others. Self love is recognising that voice and turning your thoughts around. It’s harder than you think because we have such a nasty habbit of being cruel to ourselves. We would never say these things to someone in real life (I hope) or if we heard someone saying this to somebody else we would think it was incredibly cruel, so why do we talk to ourselves in this way?

As someone who struggles with these voices (some days are louder than others), I am trying my hardest to turn them around. I’ve noticed they come more frequently since becoming a mother. I think this is because being a good Mum is so incredibly important to me. I constantly think, as long as I’m a good Mum, nothing else matters. It doesn’t matter if I’m struggling, it doesn’t matter if I haven’t had 10 seconds to myself and it doesn’t matter if people judge me for being a stay-at-home Mum (and boy do they!). This means, as soon as Olivia has an ‘off’ day or is grumpy, I instantly hear those voices. “You’re a rubbish Mum”, “You can’t do anything right”, “You’re her Mum and you can’t even make her happy”. This is when I have to stop my train of thought, notice I’m being harsh on myself and turn it around. “You’re not a rubbish Mum, she’s clean and healthy. You’re doing fine”, “There are kids much worse off than she is”, “She’s just having a grumpy moment, it’s nothing you’ve done”.

It’s hard to reverse bad habits as anyone who has tried to quit smoking, cut out sugar or stop biting your nails, knows. It’s even harder to reverse bad mental habits. Especially when you don’t even notice them happening.

A lot of these voices can be prompted from Social Media. Seeing perfectly sculpted and airbrushed models and comparing your body or seeing that person’s ‘perfect’ life and comparing yours, can make you feel fat and ugly or like your life is a mess or not good enough. One woman you should follow to break up your ‘perfect’ feed and inject it with realness and self love is Chessie King! She promotes a lot of body confidence, healthy habbits, self love and anti-bullying. She is such an inspiration on how to keep smiling through this messy life and enjoy it! She is planning her wedding at the moment so I’m loving watching her process on how to enjoy wedding planning rather than getting stressed. Not to mention she recently became a Doula too. She’s just incredible.
So definitely follow @chessiekingg on Instagram!

So please remember to #BeKind to others but also remember it’s equally important to #BeKind to yourself!

Images taken from Pinterest.

Super Easy Valentine Crafts To Do With Your Kids

Simple and fun crafts to do with your little ones.

These are all really easy and simple, fun crafts to do. All of the following activites have no more than 6 steps and you probably already have everything you need to do them in your home.

I love doing holiday crafts and as my daughter gets older, I look forward to being able to do more crafts with her. I have very fond memories of sitting at my dining table with my Mum doing different crafts throughout my childhood and I hope to give my daughter the same memories. I am also hoping that doing themed crafts will get Olivia excited about holidays just like me.

Here are some of the crafts we did this week and some I hope you can have fun with your kids too.

Valentine Card

This is one of the easiest cards to make with your baby or toddler and it looks so good. It’s perfect to keep as a momento and is super fast to make during painting time.

What you will need:

Blank greetings card
Craft card
Tape
Finger paint

Method

Cut out a heart shape out of craft paper.
Using tape, attach the cut out shape to the center of a blank greeting card. This can be done by folding the tape against itself to create a piece of double sided tape.
Let your baby/toddler fingerpaint over the shape and on the card. You can use paint brushes, sponge stamps, paint rollers or simply their hands.
Before the paint drys, carefully remove the shape and tape from the greeting card and leave to dry.

LOVE Canvas Art

I really loved making this. Not only is it a perfect gift for Valentine’s but it’s also a great decor piece for your home. Is there anything better than having your baby’s hand and footprints to look at years later when they’ve all grown up?

What you will need:

Blank canvas
Finger paint
Acrylic paint/sharpie

Method

Mark out on your canvas where you would like the handprint and footprints to go.
Paint your baby’s hand and gently press it onto the canvas.
Paint your baby’s feet and gently press them onto the canvas in a V shape.
Draw out the L and E and, once you’re happy with them, go over it with black paint or a sharpie (I used a black felt tip and a fine liner to go around the edges of the letters).

Hanging Paper Hearts

These are so simple! This is probably something to do with slightly older children but they sure do brighten up the place. You can hang them on banisters, door handles or even a small decorative tree or branch. I have hung them on my ugly serving hatch as we’re having it patched up at the moment before we remove it and redo the whole wall! For now it will hang these paper hearts.

What you will need:

Coloured craft card (I used pink and red)
Stapler
Scissors
String

Method

Cut coloured paper of various lengths and widths. I started with red strips of 2cmx21cm to create the chain of hearts.
Fold strips equally in half.
With the fold at the bottom, bend the ends together to make a heart shape and staple together. If you want to make a chain, tuck the fold of the next heart in between the edges of the first.
If you are making a nest of hearts, join all edges of hearts together, bend and staple all together with one end of a piece of string in between.

You could even use the chain method to make a wreath or a long paper chain to wrap around your banister or hang on your mantle.

Woollen Heart Garland

I love how this turned out! Again, this is probably something to do with older children (or by yourself like I did) but it looks so cute. I did different sized hearts along the garland just because I thought it was pretty but you could do the same sizes, different coloured hearts or even different shapes like stars!

What you will need:

Cardboard
Scissors
Stapler/tape
Red wool

Method

Cut out several heart shapes from the card board (or double up craft card).
Staple the end of the red wool to the heart.
Randomly wrap the red wool around the cardboard shape until no cardboard is shown.
Secure the end of the wool by tying it off or using a stapler.
Repeat the above until all shapes are covered.
Measure out desired length of wool and attach the hearts in equal lengths.

I hope that you try some of these crafts. If you do, please take a picture and tag me in it so I can see your creations!
I will shortly be uploading a Valentine Treats post so keep your eye out for that!

I am the owner and creator of all images in this post.