valentines 2011
My little boy is now 6, and he wants to be involved in the creation of his valentines. C is a pretty creative kid, and loves to draw, so we decided to make a little portrait of each of his classmates in first grade. It took a little time, so we spread it out over a few days.
I was inspired by this spread in our Doodles book (a coloring book I highly recommend). I showed it to C and pointed out all the different hairstyles and clothes and facial expressions and how each person is unique. With the help of C's class photo, he was off and running.
I drew a little template, with a head and shoulders drawn in, and a frame where he could write each child's name. This helped make all the portraits roughly the same size, and gave him a starting point for each drawing. Our valentine's fold in half with a little spine (that says Happy Valentine's Day 2011) and then C wrote on the back "A Portrait by C..". I've made a PDF that you can use, which fits four valentines to a page, just fold and cut to make your own. We're stapling a little bag of treats inside, because my kids know a valentine is only worth it's weight if it involves a little candy.
I love how they turned out. And I can honestly say the C loved making them. He spent so much time making sure each picture looked just like the person he was drawing.. copying their shirts and hairbows and smiles as best he could. He's so proud to pass them out to his friends, but I am a little sad we have to give them all away!
02.11.2011
Reader Comments (90)
those are by far the cutest valentines I've ever seen!
Awsome idea. I'm glad I saw this AFTER Valentine's Day or I would have stressed out trying to help my girls make theirs in 2 days!. Next year. What a fabulous idea. Thanks for the pdf.
What a fabulous idea! O would love to get his hands on my sharpies :) and I'd let him for this project. Those Doodle books are wonderful.
Absolutely precious and brilliant!!!
I love this idea!
SO COMPLETELY AWESOME!!! What a VALENTINE! I love that you had the head template and then he could just add the rest. I'm going to order that doodle book... we don't have that one yet! THANKS FOR SHARING your amazing-ness!
I LOVE this idea and would seriously want to consider doing an adult version for some friends next year. So, so, creative!
love. love. love. (no pun intended).
This is such a cute idea. My daughter would love this! Just posted about it on Craft Gossip!!
http://lessonplans.craftgossip.com/valentines-for-kids/2012/01/09
This is such a great great idea! Thank you so much for sharing it. My son is 6 and I ill definitely be doing this with him this year.
I love this idea, thank you so much for sharing and for the pdf! Where do you typically find little envelopes to hold candy? Thank you!
I absolutely love this idea! Our class didn't have a class picture this year though! :( I wonder if my son could do it from memory? I shall ask him!
Kemi,
These are so so cute!! What a fun and cute way to make valentienes. if any olf my girls were in his class I would so save this. Does H want to make one for her classmates also? So fun!! Thanks for sharing such a cute idea!!
Sorry I am new to this and I saw it on one of my friends pins. I still love the idea though!!! Super Cute!!!
What a great idea, my kids would love doing this!
Fabulous! This is one Valentine that will likely miss the trash can!
My daughter loved making these valentines for her classmates-- thank you for the inspiration! I posted a few pictures of her completed artwork on our family blog, http://virginiawildberry.blogspot.com/2012/02/valentines.html
Wowed! !! And loved it. Spent TOO much time trying to find cards not too mushy for 1st grade. Thx for the inspiring idea. :-)
Truly brilliant. I am only sad that I just saw this now. Too late for this year's valentines, but I can't wait to try it next year. Thank you!!!
I am not sure you will get this comment so late in the game. I just wanted to tell you how awesome you are to do these. I used them today for a children's church class to draw their dad. They stapled it to a questionnaire. It was so cute. thanks so much
This is a great idea! Thank you. I think I'll try this for the kids later. ;)