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Bay-Friendly Valentine's Day Crafts

by
Sarah Brzezinski

Happy early Valentine’s Day! There is something special about a handmade Valentine’s Day gift. In many elementary schools, making these home-style gifts is a part of a structured Valentine’s Day celebration tied to art curriculum standards. Instead of making crafts from new resources this year, turn your art class into a real-world lesson in reusing and recycling! Here are three bay-friendly craft ideas (with links to instructional craft websites) to help make recycling paper a fun, Valentine’s Day themed classroom activity:

1. Make a Valentine’s Day wreath – Have students color both sides of paper from your classroom recycling bin pink and/or red, cut out swirl designs (provided in the links below), roll the paper into a flower bud-shape, and glue them to a heart shaped piece of paper or cardboard. The paper or cardboard base should have its center cut out in the shape of a heart before students glue their “flowers” to it. These rosettes could also be made with bits of felt or old clothing, if your school allows it. Get complete directions via the following links:

2. Make a seed-paper Valentine’s Day card – Have your students tear your paper recycling into little pieces, put the pieces into a blender, add water, and blend the paper into pulp. Drain off the excess water and add seeds from a plant native to your local environment. Stir the seeds into the pulp (not using the blender!) and squeeze out any excess water. Give each student some of the paper pulp and have them shape it into a heart or flower. Allow the shapes to dry overnight and turn them into cards! Full directions can be found at:

3. Make a decorative heart garland – Turn your class’s paper recycling or used child-friendly magazines into a garland by having students cut out heart shapes. Alternatively, students can create 3-D hearts for the garland by layering different sized hearts on top of each other, stapling the centers together and fanning out the individual pages. Once the hearts are created, the class can work together to string their individual hearts together using leftover twine. Complete directions for these craft ideas can be found at: