“LOVE” Popsicle Sticks and Photo Valentine’s Day Kids Craft

Yesterday was extra special because an old friend of mine came for a visit – all the way from Iowa.  I was so excited to see her!  To pass the time until she arrived, however, the kids and I had a little coloring and crafting time at the kitchen table.

Since Valentine’s Day is less than a month away (and since my daughter talks about it incessantly), we decided to make our first V-Day project of the season – LOVE photo and popsicle stick art!

This was the perfect project for my preschooler because it involved letters (which we’re working on a lot these days), fine motor skills (gluing in a straight line and affixing popsicle sticks in the correct places), and creativity (which is always important).  It also didn’t involve a lot of mess and it kept her attention.

To make this project, we gathered supplies that we had on hand, including:

• construction paper
• popsicle sticks (you can get packages of 100 colored popsicle sticks for $1 at Dollar Tree!)
• Elmer’s Glue
• a photo (I printed mine on regular copy paper, but you could obviously use a professionally printed photo)
• embellishments of your choice (we used glitter glue and heart stickers – also purchased at Dollar Tree)

Then, we used a heart-shaped cookie cutter to turn our photo into a heart shape.

Next, we used our popsicle sticks to trace the letters L, V, and E on our paper.

Next, my daughter put glue over the L, V and E letters.  She concentrated very hard to get her lines straight!  Check out that look of determination!

Then, she glued her popsicle sticks to the paper.

Finally, she decorated with stickers and glitter glue.  I helped outline the photo heart with glitter glue.

And now I have a sweet decoration hanging near my kitchen sink.