Here’s a Valentine’s heart activity that even the youngest toddlers can enjoy without making a mess These hearts get “painted” inside a zip-top bagQ

There’s a little color mixing lesson thrown in, too, and although toddlers won’t yet grasp the difference between primary and secondary colors, kids are never too young to marvel at how yellow and blue make green, red and blue make purple etc.

I drew a heart with sharpie on each of three snack-sized zip-top bags. These were the perfect size for little hands, although you could make a large version in gallon-sized zip-top bags.

Carefully squeeze two primary colors of paint into each heart. We had one each of the follow:

• red + yellow
• yellow+ blue
• blue + red

Aim to line these up so that each color fills half the heart. Now it was up to Veronika! She immediately loved squishing the bags in her hands.

She most likely didn’t notice the “hearts” she was filling in, but she clearly delighted in the texture and colors.

When she tired of the beautiful green she made, it was time to make purple!

The red and yellow squished together and resulted in a pretty peach for her to see.

In sum, it’s safe to say that Veronika loved this little Valentine’s Day activity.