Last night Abe had his first swimming lesson. He loved it so much he's been asking me for a bath ever since! I don't mind letting him splash in the tub to his heart's content, but I figured we should get a little messy first, so...I grabbed an empty toilet paper roll, some red paint, and a handful of blank cards, and we were ready to make Valentines!
I started by flattening the cardboard tube so it had a crease on two sides.
Then I pushed one crease inward to make a heart, and wrapped a piece of tape around the tube to help the heart hold it's shape.
I poured a little red paint on a plate and dipped one end in the paint...
...then I handed it to Abe and let him have fun!
He really enjoyed seeing the "schips" (shapes) appear on the paper.
We ended up with four cute cards to send to family and friends, and enough paint on his hands, face, and in his hair to require a nice long bath. I'd say mission accomplished.
Abe tried fingerpainting for the first time last Valentine's Day when we made cards for his grandparents. For those cards, I made a heart stencil from construction paper and laid it on top of a blank card. I poured some red and white paint on the card and let him mix them up. When we pulled the stencil off there was a pretty painted heart on the card. Super easy (and super cute) Valentine's Day craft for babies!
Oh, I love this! Simon is just 19 months, and this would be perfect for him. We just made some footprint dump truck Valentines, but I had to have my older daughter help me finishing decorating those.
ReplyDeleteWhat a cute idea--very resourceful!
ReplyDeletePS. We tried this today, and Simon was way more interested in spreading paint everywhere than trying to stamp hearts. Oh well- he had fun!
ReplyDeleteHa ha! Yeah, once Abe realized we were using paint he started to spread it around with his hands too. All part of the fun! ;-)
DeleteOh, I love this! So simple and what fun! I can't wait for our daughter to try this.
ReplyDeleteAWESOME ideas. Both of them (last V Day too)! I'm going to try them for both my boys (ages 6m and 2 yrs!) Thanks! Found this on Pinterest!
ReplyDeletefound you on pinterest. i love this project. super cute.
ReplyDeleteLove your ideas Michelle!
ReplyDeleteLove this and will be sharing pics of my kids doing it one of these days over at www.raisingnaturalkids.com! Dawn
ReplyDeleteThanks Dawn!
DeleteIt's a really great idea! I'll try it with my boy! Thanks
ReplyDeleteSuch a cute idea! Not sure if my 15-month old will be into it, but I might give it a whirl anyway. I'll post on my blog if I do!
ReplyDeletejustalittletinybitsometimes.blogspot.com
Ok, I got so excited about this that we did it today. Thanks again for the inspiration, my little guy had a lot of fun!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the adorable idea! I featured it on my blog: http://www.organizinghomelife.com/archives/1998
ReplyDeleteFound this on pinterest. I'm a preschool teacher and I LOVE thid idea:-)
ReplyDeleteSuch a great idea! My little girl would love this.
ReplyDeleteI'd love for you to link up and share: http://tutusandteaparties.blogspot.com/2012/02/pinteresting-party-week-25.html
Great idea!! I will definitely have to try it out:)
ReplyDeleteWe used your idea but used glue and glitter instead! Wonderful easy craft!
ReplyDeleteJust did this with my 2 1/2 year old little guy. He loved it! Perfect for his first "official" art project, thank you!!!!
ReplyDeleteWe saw this on pinterest and loved the idea for our 20-month-old. I blogged about it here: http://montessoristory.blogspot.com/2012/02/valentines-day-heart-stamping.html
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great idea!
Cute. I'm glad the girls had fun!
DeleteI did this yesterday with my 18month old. It was so fun!!! Thanks for the idea!
ReplyDeletehttp://sandypages.blogspot.com/2012/02/painting.html
I did this activity yesterday with my 9 month old and took lots of pics of him stamping to send along with the Valentine. He LOVED it and only ate a few! :) I call that a success!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great idea! My girls had a ball and I shared your link on my blog - http://momsecretweapon.com/2012/02/09/valentines-cards/
ReplyDeleteThanks for this idea! I tried it at home with my almost 15 month old and at school with my Kindergarten Art students. I linked back to your post from my blog: http://artteacheradventures.blogspot.com/2012/02/another-jim-dine-post.html
ReplyDeleteJust did this craft with my 22 month old and his 3-yr old friend. It was perfect!!! They loved doing it and I loved how easy it was to get all of our Valentine cards done for tomorrow :)
ReplyDeleteThis is such a sweet project and your little one just adorable. Happy Valentine's Day! xo Karen
ReplyDeletewhat a clever idea and so effective. thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteThanks for such a fun craft. I just found your blog and am loving it! Happy valentine's day!
ReplyDeleteI love this idea!! so simple and I love anything you can recycle! Thanks!!
ReplyDeleteJust linked to this here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.stillplayingschool.com/2012/02/valentines-day-play-date.html
Hi Michelle!
ReplyDeleteI came across your blog many weeks ago and love it. You are so creative!! I meant to write sooner and tell you that I made this stamp following your directions and my 17-month-old daughter and I made valentines together. They came out great! I look forward to your posts each day!
Thanks Lisa! :-)
DeleteLove this!!! Shared link/pin here
ReplyDeletehttp://pinsandprincesses.blogspot.com/2012/04/toilet-paper-tube-extravaganza.html
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ReplyDeleteAwesome :)
ReplyDeleteI am a newest follower..
come & join me for more fun!
Pinned it! Great idea and my children are going to love too! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI'm new to pinterest... how do I pin this? I love the idea!
ReplyDeleteThere's a "Pin it" button (found here http://pinterest.com/about/goodies/) you can install in your browser to pin stuff from any page, or you can just repin it from here: http://pinterest.com/pin/204421270555895358/
ReplyDeletesuper cute and so easy! love it!!!
ReplyDeletei love this idea :) thank you so much for sharing! i am going to try this for vday for my LO to make :)
ReplyDeletewww.lilmsadventures.blogspot.com
Hi - just to let you know that I've linked to this post at my blog here: http://craftulate.blogspot.com/2013/01/easy-valentines-crafts-for-toddlers.html
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great ideas!
I did this with my kids yesterday. Thank you for sharing. I linked to you on my blog,
ReplyDeletehttp://rainydaydistractions.blogspot.ca/2013/02/heart-stamping.html
Cute. Thanks!
DeleteWe did this this week! What a great idea! I linked to you on my blog http://aztoid.blogspot.com/2013/02/happy-valentines-day.html
ReplyDeleteHello, I love your blog! Today we are inspired by this post, thanks!
ReplyDeletehttp://embolicalatroca.blogspot.com.es/2013/02/estampem-i-pintem.html
I'm another one coming over from Pinterest. Me and the 20 months old kid will be making these today to send to the grandparents! What a cute, easy idea!
ReplyDeleteIt's a really good idea !!!♥
ReplyDeleteI see too in pinterest ,it's funny!!!
ReplyDeleteThis would be great for many Special Ed and developmentally delayed kids, too. Thanks so much for posting.
ReplyDeleteI tried this with other shapes as well and I think that it is a fantastic activity. It's so easy and fun!
ReplyDeletehttp://jenneralknowledge.com/2014/02/12/diy-stamping-fun/
It's a really easy and fun activity! I think that the children I work with would love it too.
ReplyDelete