The heart crafts with Veronika continue, a great way to teach toddlers about the connection between Valentine’s Day and love… and messy crafts! Today we used hearts in our painting, but in two very different ways.

For the first, I cut heart shapes from pink construction paper and placed these on a tray. Dribble on a little red and white paint, then fold the heart in half.

I encouraged Veronika to flatten out the heart! She could either use her hands or roll over it with a small rolling pin. Because we’d used too much paint, this turned out to be a very smooshy messy process!

Open the heart up for the big reveal!

Let dry, then write a Valentine message on the back for someone special.

The second method is one I did with Travis when he was not much older than Veronika is now (!), making it one of the earliest posts from this blog. It’s fun to repeat activities with my kids and see how they differ across the years. All you need is an empty toilet paper tube; push in one edge slightly to form a heart shape.

I showed Veronika how to dip this “stamp” in red paint and print!

Make as many heart prints as your child desires. I remember Travis wanted to cover his whole paper, but Veronika tired out about half way through.

If you try both of these heart crafts, please share in the comments which one your toddler liked best!