Here's a cute & easy Valentine's Day craft that your kids can make for their classmates or friends.

You'll need:  cardstock or construction paper (red, pink, or whatever color you want your valentines to be), wiggly eyes, craft sticks (popsicle sticks), glue, scissors, a red pen, and Hershey Kisses or other small treats for the nose.

Cut heart shapes from the cardstock, or let your kids.  For my 5-year old, I cut out one heart, and then let her use it as a stencil so she could trace & cut the others.

Let your child glue on the eyes (ask them "where should the eyes go?", then use double stick tape or a rolled piece of scotch tape to afix the Hershey Kiss as the nose.  We used Valentine Kisses which have special notes that say "I Love You."

Glue the craft stick to the back of the heart.  Add a message on the stick like "You're Sweet" or "Friends are a Treat". 

Options: Cut out small white pieces of paper (hearts or rectangles-whatever you want) and write a short message, then glue this to the back of the heart.  For non-chocolate lovers, you might try other small wrapped candies like starbursts or a red hard candy.

Here's a project my kids and I did on our snow day...it looks like an art project, but it's also a performing arts project.  A story book we were reading mentioned marionettes, and the kids asked "What are they?" so I suggested we try to make some on this snowy day.  It turned out to be quite a project.  The kids are planning to do their puppet performance for Daddy tomorrow after school.

You'll need:  Some thin cardboard or posterboard (we used pieces that were saved from the inside of sheet sets), a hole punch, scissors, brads, markers, yarn or string, craft sticks (popsicle sticks).  If you're going to make scenery too, you'll need a large piece of cardboard and a large piece of paper.

From the cardboard, cut shapes for a head and body.  Talk to your kids about what they might want their marionette to look like--is it a person or an animal?  What shape head, what size,...  My 5-year old wanted to draw the shapes for her pieces with a pencil and cut them out.  My 3-year old had a hard time cutting the cardboard, so I just let him direct the shape & size.  You can decide what's best for your kids.

Then, cut four strips of cardboard to use as the legs, and four pieces for the arms.  Use a hole punch and brads to attach the legs and arms to the body.  We glued the head to the body, but you could use a brad here too if you wanted it to move at the neck.

Let your kids decorate their marionette as they like.  (You could talk about it if they need help--Where do the eyes go, what kind of expression will they have, etc.)

Glue two craft sticks together in the middle so they look like an "+".

Now, punch a hole in the top of the head and on each hand.  Tie a piece of yarn through each hole.  You'll also tie a piece of yarn to the knees.  Now you have 5 pieces of yarn in all. 

Attach these to the craft sticks--tie the head to the middle and the hands & knees to each of the 4 ends.  You may have to adjust the lengths so that the hands & feet fall nicely.

For the scenery, we used a piece from a roll of paper and attached it to a big piece of cardboard for stability.  My kids talked to each other about what they wanted to draw, agreed on a plan, and then drew it.  It was quite a nice collaboration, and as they drew they talked about what their puppets might be doing in the scene.

Now, you're ready for a show...

This idea originated from Family Fun.  It was a simple project that will be great for a class valentine for school-age kids.

You'll need:  Pencils, pipecleaners, cardstock, scissors, 1/8" hole punch, and beads.

Cut small heart shapes from the cardstock.  You can make one and let your child use it as a stencil for the others.  Let your child write a short message on one side and their name on the other side.  Punch a hole near the bottom of the heart.

Put a bead on the pipecleaner, about 1 inch from the end.  Now, put the heart on the pipecleaner.  Bend the end of the pipecleaner and push the end though the bead, so the bead is holding it together (or if you don't have beads, you can just twist the pipecleaner to hold the heart in place.

Hold the end of the pipecleaner near the eraser of the pencil, and start winding around the pencil.  That's it.  You have cute valentines for classmates.

Options:  Feel free to get creative with the decorations. Maybe you want to add feathers to the hear with glue, or decorate it with glitter.  Use more beads for a more ornate look.  You could package it with a cute eraser or pencil sharpener or a small notebook.  This could also make a cute birthday party favor.