A pretty simple Valentine’s Day activity, that’s also a pretty decoration, that your toddler or preschooler can make for Valentine’s Day!
Paint one small tree branch. Stick branch in small pot. Decorate tree. Look at and smile.
I just cut a couple of branches off one of our trees [probably not ideal during blizzard conditions]. I was planning on only doing one and for it to be white [I cut two just so Henry could have a choice in which one to do]. But after we finished the first one, Henry wanted to paint the other one green. We used a sponge to paint them.
I put some Styrofoam peanuts in a small pot and topped it off with some flat clear marbles. Once the branches dried, I stuck them in.
I cut out some hearts out of construction paper and hole punched them. Threaded a thin ribbon through the hole [planned on Henry doing that part, but he lost interest at this point]. Tied them together. Henry then hung them on the tree.
This would be good fine motor practice to have a preschooler thread the ribbon through the hole themselves and then you can knot it. Cutting out the hearts would also be a good chance for them to practice if they’re capable of cutting around a curve.
It wasn’t until today when Henry said “Its Valentine’s today!” that made me think we needed a countdown.
I used the hearts we made on the tree for this and wrote the numbers 1-14 on them. Everyday Henry will find the next number and take it off our tree and we’ll tie it to another ribbon so we’ll have a garland of hearts! The tree will also be undecorated on Valentine’s Day and ready to be decorated for Easter!
We ended up using our countdown hearts for a fun scavenger hunt too!
Check out all the Valentine’s Day Activities that include decorations, crafts and art projects we did this year!
Henry is 3 years old.
About Jamie Reimer
