Valentine's Day is a time to celebrate love with friends and family. Creating a homemade card or other craft adds a personal touch to the day, and crafts are especially meaningful when they are made by a young child!
This simple preschool heart craft is a lovely gift for parents, grandparents, and friends. It is also a lacing shape that encourages small children to build fine motor skills. Have children make one for themselves for lacing practise as they learn how to tie bows, knots, and shoelaces.
Materials Required to Make the Valentine's Heart Lacing Shape
To make the lacing shape, find thick paper or thin corrugated cardboard. The paper must be thick enough that small children can lace the shape over and over. If there are holes in the paper, it must not tear as the children lace the heart. Cut this thin corrugated cardboard into the shape of a heart. Find it for free in old boxes.
Choose a red or pink ribbon that is easy to grip. Slippery satin ribbon is pretty, but it is hard to hold and lace. A thicker cotton string or ribbon is much easier for small hands to hold as they lace the heart. The ribbon must also be easy to tie at the end. Cut the ribbon into lengths that are at least 10 centimeters longer than the perimeter of the heart. It is important to have a lot of room for preschoolers' wide stitches, as well as room for tying the ribbon at the end.
Making the Lacing Valentine Template
Choose a strong single hole punch. Mark holes every two centimeters around the perimeter of the heart. Make sure that the holes are at least one centimeter away from the edge of the heart shape to prevent tearing. After making the first heart, test it out to make sure that the paper does not tear. Make sure that your ribbon is long enough before cutting all of the pieces of ribbon.
Use Fine Motor Skills to Lace the Heart Shape
Now, hand things over to the children. Give each child a length of ribbon and a heart shape. Choose a back and a front to the shape, and place one knot in the ribbon at the back of the heart. Lace the ribbon through to the front of the heart and pull gently to make sure that the knot does not slip through the hole.
Children can now move the ribbon through the holes, back and forth, lacing the shape. This activity is excellent for fine motor skills, eye-hand coordination, and concentration. If the ribbon is difficult to maneuver through the holes, roll a small length of masking tape around the lacing end of the ribbon. This will turn the ribbon into a lace resembling the end of a shoelace, and it will be easier to move through the holes.
Decorating the Lacing Heart
After children have laced the heart, they can either take out the lacing and rework it, or they can ask an adult to tie a knot at the back of the heart and begin to decorate it, using it as a Valentine's Day card.
To add interest to the centre of the lacing shape, purchase red, white, pink, or other Valentine-themed scrapbooking paper. Cut it into hearts, make it into confetti, or help preschoolers wield scissors or tear the paper into random shapes. Tearing and cutting are both activities that strengthen eye hand coordination and fine motor skills. And of course, gluing paper on cardboard is loads of fun for a preschool class!
Glitter glue, old fancy buttons, and pretend gemstones and doily pieces are also great decorations. Don't forget to add a strip of paper for the name of the Valentine's Day card sender – and the person who is to receive it!
Enjoying Valentine's Day with young children is a matter of loving the process, and lacing and decorating a Valentines heart is a winner with children who love crafting, tearing, pasting and sewing.
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