Start the Valentines Now

My Timely Tip for you is to start the Valentines now, especially if your child is young and they will be giving one to everyone in their class. This way, there is no pressure. Your child can do one each day (or skip a few days if they want) and still have them done in plenty of time. If your child has physical challenges that prevent them from doing the Valentine’s themselves, then you can order some online and bang them out in one of the weekends between now and Valentine’s Day. Easy peasy. If your child can get involved, here are some ideas Mikey used in the past.

One year, he colored this heart-shaped box of chocolates (once). I color copied it and folded it to fit in an envelope. I wrote his classmates’ names and he wrote his name…quick and easy. Also, pretty cheap.

Another year, he did sticker puzzles (I bought a Valentine book and he did the puzzles. I pre-printed the stickers for the back (Happpy Valentine’s Day! From your pal, Mikey). We even did a leaf-rubbing of a heart-shaped leaf one year (but that one we planned from the summer when the leaves were plentiful).

Ability Based

Can your child draw a heart? Can he cut one out if you draw it? Can she color in a heart you drew? What about watercolor paints or filling a heart with Valentine stickers? Pretty much any heart will work for a valentine.  You could even take old paintings they already did and just cut heart shapes out of them (that seems almost too easy to be true).

Here’s an example of one that Mikey did at school:

These are all very easy and low stress if you give yourself some time so just start now and you won’t be in a panic come Valentine’s Day.