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!