The transition from January to February means that Valentine’s Day is approaching! During this time of year, we see hearts all around us – reminding us to celebrate the loving and meaningful relationships we share with the special people in our lives. In early learning programs, Valentine’s Day offers an opportunity for little ones to get creative with heart-themed process art activities that invite exploration, expressiveness, and playful learning!
Process art projects are open-ended experiences that encourage children to explore and express themselves creatively. Because process art activities are not limited by defined goals or end products, children are free to enjoy trying out new and creative approaches. Process-oriented projects are fun for little learners, while also supporting key aspects of early development, such as the following:
Below, you will find fun, budget-friendly, heart-themed art activities for preschoolers to enjoy around the Valentine’s Day holiday and beyond! The artistic creations can be hung in your classroom as festive decor or become Valentine’s gifts the children can give to friends and family members.
This simple art project uses a classic Valentine’s day decoration: heart-shaped doilies! To set up the project, just place each child’s doily on a plastic tray and offer a variety of watercolors to the children. Invite them to paint their doilies using any color or combination of watercolors they like. Once the painted doilies have dried, help them glue their doilies onto pieces of white construction paper.
If you would like to turn these colorful doilies into valentines, invite children to decorate the paper by writing simple love notes to family and friends!
This art activity invites children to paint on an unusual surface – foil! To prepare for this activity, you will cut several hearts out of tin foil. (This is a bit easier to do if you make your own stencil out of construction paper.)
Once you have all of your hearts cut out, set them up for children with tempera paints in a variety of colors (or just pink, red, and white to stick with the Valentine’s Day theme) and invite them to paint. If you have extra time, you can also make your own homemade paints with flour, salt, watercolor, and dish detergent. This homemade paint recipe results in paint that is slightly thicker in texture and easier to keep on the foil.
For this activity, you will need only a few items: kitchen sponges, white construction paper (or kraft paper), and red tempera paint (pink and purple are also festive options!). You will need a bit of time to prepare so that you can cut small heart shapes out of the sponges for little ones to use. If you don’t have sponges, another option to try is making stamps from potatoes by cutting them in half and carving out a heart shape!
When you’re ready to set up the project, offer the cut-out, heart-shaped sponges to the little ones along with the red paint and paper, and invite them to dip the heart-shaped sponges into the paint and stamp the colored hearts onto paper. The materials can be set up on a table with each child stamping hearts on an individual piece of paper, or you can add an element of collaboration by placing a large roll of kraft paper outside so that the children can work together.
This is another activity that invites little ones to stamp with paints – this time using heart-shaped cookie cutters instead of sponges! It’s a great alternative to the activity above if you’re short on time. All you will need is construction paper, heart-shaped cookie cutters and red paint.
Set up the activity by placing a piece of construction paper on a tray for each child, next to the heart-shaped cookie cutters and red paint (in a tray or shallow bowl so that children can dip). Invite the children to dip the cookie cutters into the paint and then stamp them onto the paper to make a beautiful final product, full of hearts!
