Making and giving cards is a Valentine’s Day tradition that children and adults both get to participate in. For children, the giving of cards often happens in the classroom. Many schools support classroom parties where each child brings a card for every other child in the class. There are even special craft boxes that children can make to hold their Valentine’s Day notes and treats in. For adults, the tone of a Valentine’s Day card is very different. So, in this article we will stick to the kid-friendly ideas for making unforgettable Valentine’s Day cards.
Doilies and other materials
There are definitely some classic Valentine’s Day craft materials that you can use to make Valentine’s Day cards. Heart shaped doilies are particularly popular and undoubtedly will be sold in the seasonal section of most craft stores. Other materials that you can use to decorate your cards include foam shapes (also available in the craft section of the store). Foam shapes with sticky backs are especially appropriate for children as they are harder to tear and to fold over on themselves. They are also more easily repositioned so even mistakes can be corrected with ease.
Pop-up cards
Pop-up cards add something special to traditional cards and can be done quite simply. You can either find a pattern for how you can cut the paper in such a way that a shape pope out when the card is opened or you can use something to prop your pop-up shape from the page to give the card more visual interest. For example, a scrap piece of the sticky foam lettering can be placed under the pop-up shape and secured to both the card and the shape. That shape will then be raised up from the page when the card is opened. This makes pop-up cards a little simpler for children to make on their own.
Cut-outs and stickers
Don’t be afraid to give your kids a little help when they need it by allowing them to work with cut-outs and stickers. Younger children who may have trouble drawing recognizable pictures on their own can make beautiful cards of their own with the use of stickers or cut-outs from magazines that they can then paste onto the page. Your child will likely not feel cheated out of not drawing every picture themselves and may have more fun because of all the different shapes and drawings that will be at their disposal when other materials such as these are available for card making.
Pre-cut letters
As the popularity of paper crafts has increased (due mostly to the relatively recent renewed excitement over scrapbooking), certain craft materials have become more accessible. Nowadays even the super centers carry traditional scrapbooking supplies that make for very simple card making materials. Pre-cut letters on perforated sheets make putting messages on your cards simple. Simply punch out the letters and paste them onto the page. This is especially good for young readers who may be able to recognize a letter but not yet be able to write it themselves. Look around in that scrapbooking section of a store near you to get other ideas for how you might be able to decorate your Valentine’s Day cards.
