Today I’ll show you how to make an easy printed Giant Valentines Card that can be used for adorable photo ops, or just for giving to a very special person!
This post contains Amazon Affiliate links for your convenience. Please read our Disclosure here for more details.
We’ve been doing a lot of Valentine’s Day activities around our house already and that usually begins with some related reading.
Valentines Inspiration
After digging out my collection of Valentine’s Day kids books from last year, I realized we needed a new addition (or two!) and so I ordered Happy Valentine’s Day, Curious George
and The Biggest Valentine Ever.
Onetime, my 3 year old son, loves the Curious George series and so the first choice was easy. This Valentine’s story is a little shorter than your average Curious George book, but it made up for it with flaps to unfold to reveal surprises in the plot, and it was a perfect introduction to different Valentine’s activities like making cookies, and cards, and having a party to celebrate friendship.
All things that my son is just starting to learn about. And of course, as in all the Curious George books, there are the usual funny escapades of a curious, hyperactive little monkey!
You may not have heard of the second book – but it is one of several by Steven Kroll featuring two mouse friends who often get into a disagreement and then as the story proceeds figure out a way to compromise or share.
This Valentine’s version didn’t disappoint. It had the two boys arguing over how to best make a Valentine’s card together at school, then they each attempt to make their own and realize that they can do a nicer job together.
In the end they come up with a creative giant valentines card for someone special. I love the friendship lessons in these books and Onetime seems to really enjoy the stories too.
So what do these books have to do with making a printed giant valentines card?
As part of a Valentine’s Day Read and Play Blog Hop, I was supposed to pick out ONE Valentine’s book and share an activity to go along with it. But after reading both of these books, I just couldn’t choose and our activity was inspired by both!
The adorable picture of Curious George peeking out from a giant card on the cover of the one book, along with the giant valentines card idea that the mouse friends made, inspired this fun activity!
Printed Giant Valentines Card
After reading one of the books above, you can ask your child if they’d like to make a giant valentines card too! Onetime was very enthusiastic. He wanted to be just like Curious George. So, we hopped off to the store to get some supplies.
You Will Need:
- 2 pieces of large bristol board for each card you want to make (one red and one white)
- scissors and a pencil
- a stapler
- finger paints (we used purple, pink, white, and blue)
- wax paper or parchment paper, or a large sheet of plastic (like a plastic bag)
Making the Giant Cards
To make the card, I showed Onetime how to fold the large piece of red bristol board in half lengthwise and draw out half a large heart. I cut out the heart for our card, but if your child has good scissor skills, let them do it!
Next, we stapled the red bristol board to the front of the white piece to make a giant card. This card made an adorable photo prop when I asked Onetime to hop inside and hold it just like Curious George did!
After a few takes – I got a very sweet picture! These fun photos can be used as a gift for friends, grandparents, or turned into fun cards.
With the red paper heart, we decided to make it into a printed giant valentines card (also fun for photo ops!)
To start, I spread a large piece of parchment paper over the kitchen table and squirted on some finger paints. Onetime had fun finger painting for a while and we practised drawing hearts in the paint together.
Next, when Onetime was all painted out, we pressed the paper heart down on top of his work and gently peeled if off! Voila! A printed giant valentines card!
The printed effect is really interesting – very swirly and tye-dye like. I wish my photograph showed it better…
Both of these cards can then be decorated with markers or stickers and then a special message written on them for special friends or family members. You could even glue the giant printed heart inside the big card.
That’s it for our printed giant Valentines card activity. I hope you were inspired by this idea to create your own giant cards with your kiddos – and maybe check out the two books.
To find even more awesome Valentine’s Day kids books and activities, be sure to visit the Valentine’s Read and Play Blog Hop main page.
You can also follow my Valentine’s Day pinterest page at:
Follow One Time Through’s board Valentines Day with Kids on Pinterest.
To a HUGE-ly wonderful Valentine’s Day!
