In February, it is my month to host our neighborhood music/play group, so I have been trying to decide what the crafts will be. We tested this one today to make a sample. It is the cutest little Valentine frame that is so easy and fun! Ruthie loved it, and now I have a handmade frame that I love too!
Here are the supplies I gathered:
- Foam hearts (this box cost about $5 at Walmart, and I'm sure there will be plenty of hearts for all the kids in playgroup)
- Cardboard or foam core
- Craft knife
- Picture
- Thick book for cutting on
- Pen
The first part of this activity must be done by you, the adult. You need to make the structure of the frame, and then the kids can attach the foam hearts.
First I traced the picture onto the foam core to make the structure of the frame. You can use the photo you plan to place in your frame, or a sample photo. I used a 4x6, but any size will work. Trace it so that the board is about 1/2 inch thick. There is not a perfect size, it just needs to be thick enough to hold the picture, but thin enough that it is easy to cover will foam hearts.
Then place the board on top of your thick book and use the craft knife to cut out the rectangle.
Next, cut out the inside of the frame. IMPORTANT: don't cut it exactly over the traced line, cut a little bit inside the line. Remember that you are putting a photo behind it, so there needs to be an edge to sick the photo to. It is not crucial to get the lines perfect though, they will be covered by the hearts and won't be seen anyway. - This is good for me because my cutout was less than beautiful! I couldn't find my X-acto knife to save my life, so I had to use a box cutter.
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| These are foam stickers, so this project is super easy! And the hearts are 4 different sizes. |
After you have made the frame structure, let the kids go to town with the foam hearts! And I mean go to town! Ruthie wanted to load her frame up with hearts! I eventually had to stop her, but I gave her the piece that was cut out of the middle of the frame and let her continue sticking hearts!
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| Here is her finished plaque! She said she made the frame for herself, and the plaque for me! We put the frame on the wall in her room, and the plaque on he wall in my room! She was so thrilled with herself! |
Here is the frame Ruthie made. I did help to keep her from putting all of the hearts in the same place, but she had a blast and I love it!
We put our frame and plaque up on the wall. I use Command Velcro strips a lot, especially for things that don't weigh a lot. They work perfectly for these Valentine frames.
I think this activity will work well with a bunch of 3 year olds, what do you think? They would also make great grandparent gifts.
-Anne
Yes they would! :)
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