Valentine Tree

It was a really cold rainy day today, so we decided to stay in our pj's and do a little Valentine craft. We made a Valentine tree using some various stamping techniques.

The "tree trunk" was created by Alex's hand and arm print. The red hearts were made using a potato stamp.

The other light purple heart was created from a heart shaped tp roll.

We also read some Valentine books that we borrowed from the library.

Valentine Sensory Bin

We were long over due for a new sensory bin. Since Valentine's Day is coming up I decided to create a Valentine/heart themed one.

I had everything on hand, some left over from last year's Valentine sensory bin. Inside the bin there is:

• Red, pink and purple pom poms (thanks to craftprojectideas.com)
• Cotton balls
• Red and purple sparkly pipe cleaners (thanks to craftprojectideas.com)
• Small heart boxes
• Some hearts cut out of craft foam
• A small mailbox
• Some last years Buzz Lightyear Valentines

It was a hit and Alex is having a great time exploring and playing mail man, delivering Valentine's.

I Heart Faces…. {Red}

This weeks challenge theme at I Heart Faces is Red. I am entering a photo of my little man enjoying a chocolate covered strawberry as a Valentine treat. I like how the strawberry is in focus and his face is a bit blurred. I just wish I could have captured a more interesting composition.

Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day with the ones they love most. Our was very nice, it was a nice warm day (well warm for February anyway) We made and ate some yummy treats, and we even had a surprise visit by ten or more white tailed deer, which we never see in our yard. I wish I had got a photo of them. They were beautiful.

Check out all the other wonderful RED photos at

Collage Valentine's

Today we made a few collage Valentines to mail to family, along with a photo. We used construction paper, stickers, some heart stamping and tissue paper artwork we did last week, and some pre-made Disney valentines.  I cut out heart shapes and Alex helped me glue, color and place stickers on them. I think they came out pretty cute. We still have a couple more to make for Grammy and Daddy, so expect another post soon.

He likes to practice cutting with his preschool scissors

I Heart Faces…. {Hearts}

My new goal is to get better at photographing people and faces. I plan on entering as many photo challenges as I can for practice. I Heart Faces has great weekly challenges. This weeks I Heart Faces challenge is "hearts". I had a lot of fun with my little model. Here is my entry.

Check out all the amazing photos here:




   

Here are a few more from our mini photo shoot this afternoon. I am also practicing editing in Photoshop so the are heavily processed. I'd love to hear what you think about them.

Thanks for looking.

Some More Hearts

Today we are getting more snow. We couldn't get out and go to our weekly Gymboree Music and Play class so we did a couple of Valentine heart projects.

We made a decoupage heart. We tore up pieces of  bright colored tissue paper and glued them to a heart with some water down Elmer's glue.  Alex really enjoyed tearing the tissue paper.

I also let him do some paint stamping with a foam heart shape.

Oh if you didn't see my previous post. I entered a photo of Alex into I Heart Faces People's Choice Best Face in January photo contest. Please go vote for him (#386) and the other great photos.

Valentine Learning

~Alex is 35 months~

Finally getting back into the groove. Today we made some cute little heart shaped animals that I got the idea from Jill at Meet the Dubiens.

Love Bird

Kissy Fish

We also did some worksheets from Lawteedah and Confessions of a Homeschooler.


Completing the pattern

Matching the heart color pattern

 Valentine heart counting. This was the first time we have done a activity like this. Alex knows how to count to 10, but he doesn't get the true concept of what numbers are. We are going to work on numbers again soon.

Valentine Fun

Today was -20 degrees with the wind chill (no exaggeration) so we stayed in and did some St. Valentine's Day activities.

I finally got around to making Alex a Valentine Sensory Box. It was a big hit, especially the mini mailbox.

It has cotton balls. red pom poms, some small red and pink heart containers from Target dollar section, mini mailbox from Target dollar section, and some little heart links from the party section at the Dollar Tree. I also made a little envelope with a pink craft foam heart inside to fit in the mailbox. Total cost to make $3. 

We did a crayon resist Valentine painting. I drew a few hearts on a piece of pink construction paper with a white crayon and let Alex paint them with some watered down red paint.

And we did a Valentine heart sorting printable from Musings of Me.