Inside: Try this fun Valentine’s Day Craft and teach your kids beginning sewing skills at the same time. All you need is a few supplies and your kids will be sewing in no time.
My grandma was an incredible seamstress, but she didn’t pass down the skills to my mom or to me.
I can sew on a button, and I can hem curtains if I have to, and I figured out how to make cute felt ornaments.
To even obtain these skills, I had to take a sewing class at a craft store to figure it out. With my mom.
But my kids have been dying to learn how to sew ever since I made my purple pajama pants in the sewing class.
This simple Valentine’s Day craft is how I taught my kids the concept of beginning sewing. We’re still a few years off from the purple pajama pants, but this is the best way to get them started.
Other ways to Celebrate Valentine’s Day:
Since my kids love holidays we lean in and really enjoy February and Valentine’s Day:
We use these free Printable Valentine’s Day Would You Rather Cards and 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.
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.
We have the Kindness Elves bring them Valentine’s with ideas of how to spread kindness during February.
After Valentine’s Day has passed, we turn their Valentine’s Day cards into placemats they can use year after year.
We also love doing Valentine’s Day crafts like this Valentine’s Day Pointillism and this Valentine’s Day Countdown Calendar.
Best Valentine’s Day Books for Kids:
We love to sew and craft and spread kindness, but we also love to read. Here are our family’s favorite Valentine’s Day books:
Oh, Valentine, We’ve Lost Our Minds (chapter book)
Lego City Wrecking Valentine’s Day
Supplies Needed for the Sewing Valentine’s Day Craft
- Styrofoam meat trays, or use one from the meat you purchase at the grocery store and wash them well
- Red yarn and pink yarn
- Beginner, blunt needles
- Masking tape
- Mechanical pencil to make small holes or a regular pencil to make larger holes
Valentine’s Day Craft Instructions
1. Cut a long length of yarn and tie a knot at the end.
2. Thread the yarn through the eye of the beginner needle.
3. Draw a large heart on the backside of the meat tray.
4. Every half inch, poke a small hole around the heart with a pencil.
5. Starting from the underside of the meat tray, thread the needle through, so it comes up through the top of the meat tray.
6. Tape the knot to the bottom of the tray with the masking tape.
7. Using the holes as a guide, thread the needle through to the top of the tray and then back through the next hole to the bottom of the tray until you reach where you started.
8. On the bottom side of the meat tray, tie a knot in the yarn as close to the tray as possible.
9. Cut off the excess yarn, and tape down the knot.
To change the design for more advanced sewers:
You can add a border of yarn around the outside of the tray.
Or you can add an arrow to the heart.
You can write the word LOVE on another tray, or try smaller hearts all over the tray (to write words, you need to write the letters backward on the bottom of the tray!)
Sewing yarn on meat trays is the first step towards learning how to sew purple pajama pants.
For now, we’ll stick to the meat trays.
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