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Valentine’s Day Craft to Let Kids Keep All Their Valentine’s Day Cards

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Inside: Valentine’s Day craft to use your kids’ Valentine’s Day cards that they bring home from school. Don’t toss them, make this Valentine’s Day Placemat craft.


These Kindness Notes for Kids are perfect for Valentine's Day to spread some love in your home. Help build a sibling connection by having kids write kindness notes to their siblings every day leading up to Valentine's Day #valentinesday #vday #kindness #kindnessactivities #coffeeandcarpool


As a kid, I loved Valentine’s Day.

I loved collecting the valentines my classmates brought in to school. The My Little Pony cards. The Lisa Frank unicorn cards. And the cute little kitten cards.

The only problem was, they all had to go in the trash after the holiday. If they didn’t, they would end up piled on my desk, or tucked in a desk drawer, or shoved under my bed.

Valentine’s Day cards seem to multiply on February 15th and 16th.

So when my eldest came home with her first mailbox of valentines, we needed to come up with a plan. She was way too attached to her valentines for me to make her throw them out. She would have been devastated.

And now that I have three kids in school, they come home with roughly 70 little cards from their classmates. The clutter of all those cards on my table and floor and couch make me cringe.

There had to be a way to reuse all of their cards without throwing them away or cluttering my counters.

Simple and fun Valentine's Day Craft for kids to reuse their valentine cards they bring home from school. Keep on celebrating Valentine's Day with this cute placemat craft for kids. #valentinesday #valentinesdaycraft #valentinesdaycraftforkids

Other Valentine’s Day Crafts You Will LOVE:

Since my kids love holidays we lean in and really enjoy February and Valentine’s Day: 

To help my kids share love and kindness, we use these Kindness Love Notes for the 14 days leading up to the holiday. It’s perfect for families with siblings. 

We also help them spread kindness to their classmates and teachers with these Kindness Valentine’s Day Notecards. 

Spread kindness this Valentine's Day with these kindness valentines for your classmates and for teachers, principals, and aides at school. February will be kinder with these Kindenss Valentine's Day Cards #valentinesday #valentine'sdaycards #valentines #printablevalentines #kidvalentines #valentinesforclassmates #valentinesdayprintables

We also love to encourage our kids to volunteer with our Monthly Volunteer Challenge and the February Challenge is perfect for Valentine’s Day. It takes less than 5 minutes, costs zero dollars, and helps kids who are sick and stuck in the hospital. Get the directions here. 

Join our 2020 Family Volunteer Challenge as each month we teach our kids the art and the heart of giving back, donating, volunteering, and community service. It doesn't matter what you call your donations or your volunteering. It's teaching them to give to others because kindness matters. These are 12 kindness activities for kids #kindnessmatters #volunteer #communityservice #giveback #donating #kidvolunteer #tikkunolam #tzedakah #

We have the Kindness Elves bring them Valentine’s with ideas of how to spread kindness during February. 

We also love doing Valentine’s Day crafts like this Valentine’s Day Pointillism and this Valentine’s Day Countdown Calendar. 

 

Simple and fun Valentine's Day Craft for kids to reuse their valentine cards they bring home from school. Keep on celebrating Valentine's Day with this cute placemat craft for kids. #valentinesday #valentinesdaycraft #valentinesdaycraftforkids

Our Favorite Valentine’s Day Books:

My family’s other favorite Valentine’s Day tradition is reading good books.

Here are a few of our family’s favorites:

The Runaway Valentine 

0807571784

You Are My I Love You

039924395X

The I Love You Book

0316247561

Where is Baby’s Valentine?

1416909710

Lilly’s Chocolate Heart

0060560665

The Valentine Bears

0899193137

Lego City Wrecking Valentine’s Day! 

0545859840

Valentine’s Day

0060277947

How to Reuse your Kid’s Valentines Cards to Make a Placemat

To combat the clutter of the cards–and my desire to have them gone–and my kids’ attachment to them, we’ve started a new Valentine’s Day tradition that my kids love.

I purchase clear contact paper and turn their Valentine’s cards into placemats.

The only supplies you need to make Valentine's Day placemats is contact paper and your kids valentines cards from school.

They get to look at their Valentine’s day cards and ooh and ahh over the princess cards and the Star Wars cards they got, and I’m not constantly picking them up off my floor.

Valentine’s Day Craft: Placemats

1. Lay out your kid’s valentines in a rectangular shape, without exceeding the size of the contact paper you purchase.

Some cuts to their collection may need to be made so the placemat isn’t gigantic….they may have to choose between keeping the Mulan or the Belle valentine.

Lay out all of your kids Valentine's Day Cards they brought home from school to make a placemat. Valentine's Day craft for kids #valentinesdaycraft

2. Add in a small piece of paper with their name, year, and teacher’s name and stick it somewhere between the cards.

3. Measure out the contact paper, making sure you have a small border around the outside of all the cards.

4. Use the first sheet of contact paper as a guide, and cut an identical sized piece.

Cut two pieces of contact paper to the exact size to fit the valentine cards. Turn your kids valentines day cards

5. Peel off the backing of one piece of contact paper and lay it on the Valentine cards.

This is a two-person job, with one person holding two corners and one person holding the other two corners.

Cover the valentine cards with a sheet of contact paper to make the valentines day placemats for your kids.

6. Firmly rub the contact paper on the valentines to make the contact paper stick.

7. Lift up the contact paper and flip it over, so it’s sticky side up.

Replace any valentines that didn’t stick.  This is also a good time to readjust any cards that aren’t straight.

Flip over the contact sheet to do the other side

8. Peel the backing off the second contact paper and lay it on top of the other sheet, lining up the corners.

9. Smooth out the contact paper with both hands to roll out any bubbles.

10. Trim the edges of the contact paper to make the edges line up.

Cut off the excess and trim the edges so they line up.

Now all you have to do is convince your kids they don’t need to keep their placemats for the next half-decade.

We still have my fifth-grade daughter’s Kindergarten placemat she excitedly eats on every February.

Valentine's Day craft for kids made out of your kids valentine's day cards they get from school. #valentinesday #valentinesdaycraft #valentinesdaycraftforkids

And her first grade placemat too.

Valentine's Day Craft to make placemats for kids. #valentinesdaycraft #valentinesday #valentinesdaycraftforkids

Simple and fun Valentine's Day Craft for kids to reuse their valentine cards they bring home from school. Keep on celebrating Valentine's Day with this cute placemat craft for kids. #valentinesday #valentinesdaycraft #valentinesdaycraftforkids

Simple and fun Valentine's Day Craft for kids to reuse their valentine cards they bring home from school. Keep on celebrating Valentine's Day with this cute placemat craft for kids. #valentinesday #valentinesdaycraft #valentinesdaycraftforkids


Spread kindness this Valentine's Day with these kindness valentines for your classmates and for teachers, principals, and aides at school. February will be kinder with these Kindenss Valentine's Day Cards #valentinesday #valentine'sdaycards #valentines #printablevalentines #kidvalentines #valentinesforclassmates #valentinesdayprintables

 

 

Valentine's Day Craft to reuse Valentine's Day Cards your kids bring home from school. Simple craft for kids to celebrate Valentine's Day #valentinesdaycraft #valentinesdaycraftforkids #valentinesday

 

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Mercy says

    January 28, 2021 at 8:28 pm

    Oh my gosh, this is an amazing idea!! I have a four year old daughter and I am an early childhood educator, I’m going to do this for sure. Brilliant idea!

    Reply
    • Nicole Black says

      January 31, 2021 at 10:04 pm

      I’m so glad you like it! My kids still have theirs from preK! They’re out on our kitchen table right now!

      Reply

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Welcome to Coffee and Carpool for busy parents on the go.

I’m Nicole and I am a recovering elementary school teacher, a mom to three super busy kids, and I mostly survive on strong coffee.

I share my best parenting tips and tricks for intentionally raising kind kids, creating a stronger family connection, and bullying prevention.

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287 shares