Toddler Friendly Dessert (that they can help make!)

This is the dessert we had for Valentine's Day that my toddler helped make (and enjoyed licking the spoon & bowl too)

JEllO PARFAITS

Stir together for at least two minutes:
1pkg jello (red for valentine's!)
3/4 cup boiling water

Add & Stir:
2 cups Frozen chopped Fruit (strawberries in ours)

Remove 1/2 cup of the fruit & jello mixture and add to a bowl with
1 cup Cool Whip

Layer in glasses or bowls the jello, cool whip, jello, cool whip.

Enjoy (they are so yummy!!!)

Baby or Toddler or Mommy Valentine Drink - Smoothies!

A Smoothie is a yummy treat for any age! We rarely (if ever) make these (I hate cleaning a blender!) so this is exciting for the kids.

It's yummy no matter the quantity of ingrediants you use, so here is my 'recipe':

2 small yoghurts
a cup 'ish' of frozen strawberries (or other fruit)
a banana

blend that on ice crusher mode

pour in a small amount of milk to get your desired consistancy.

Baby Friendly (well not newborn but the age that is eating solids!) too!

Valentine Card Crafts - Stripes, Felt, Stained Glass & Craft Sticks

STRIPED Valentine Heart Cards: Glue random sized strips of red & pink paper onto a piece of white paper. Once the stripes are all glued on, cut out hearts. Glue these hearts onto cards.

CRAFT STICK Valentine's: Use red craft sticks (or paint them red) and write your message with a few stickers. This could be stuck into a small plant you are giving someone or maybe used as a bookmark...??

FELT Valentine Card: Cut hearts from felt and glue onto a card. For a folded card, you could get four cards of the long strip cards or eight of the small folded cards (from an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet)

PEEKABOO STAINED GLASS Valentine Cards: After doing your stained glass with wax paper and crayon shavings, place behind a heart cut out for a cute unique card.

Coffee Filter Craft / Stained Glass Hearts / Heart Snowflakes!

This is the easy way to create a stained glass effect without the use of an iron and crayon shavings which is hard for a small child to be a part of.

These Stained Glass Heart or Heart Snowflakes are made with Coffee Filters, Markers, and a spritz of water = EASY!

Fold coffee filter in half (could do a few layers at a time). Cut out half a heart.

Let child colour with markers.

Lay on wax paper, tin foil, vinyl tablecloth (something that can be tossed or easily wiped down).

Spritz each lightly with water so that the colours start to bleed and the creases of the coffee filter disappear.

Let dry (happens quickly)

Hang in window with a small smear of glue stick (washes off easily later)

Easy Valentine Decoration / Craft - Heart Straws

I was making these for our party tomorrow and was putting it on display to take a picture. My daughter comes along seeing the Heart Straw and proceeded to drink two full glasses of water because the Heart Straw was so much fun. Who knew that something so simple could make her drink water - which she normally wouldnt drink!

Anyhow, so simple craft. Cut out hearts. Hole punch two holes. Thread straw through. Drink. Fabulous & Fun!

Valentine Handprint Craft - Tree of Love

This recent creation was done at our Toy Library. I traced my daughters arm & hand and cut out. She glued it on the paper and then glued random sized hearts for the leaves. Cute!

VALENTINE's PEOPLE for CARDs or Fun ARTWORK

Look at these adorable little HEART PEOPLE!

Let your imagination run wild with options for hair, clothes, etc! Make into cards or hang up to display :-)

These could also be made into Heart ALIENS or MONSTERS if that would make your little man be less anti-Valentine's!

Valentine Craft or Cards - Potato Heart Prints

Slice off a bit of your potato. Carve (Carefully!) a heart. Print away! Great for making WRAPPING PAPER, or VALENTINE's DAY CARDS or for just having FUN!

Easy Valentine Craft that Boys would LOVE too!! - LOVE BUGS / ALIENS / MONSTERS

Here is a super quick & easy craft that any age or gender would LOVE!

Make these sweet little LOVE BUGS or make LOVE ALIENS or LOVE MONSTERS!! Only limited by your imagination!

Glue a pompom onto a foam heart (could use two hearts if they are small). Glue on eyes and a small piece of bent pipecleaner.

Valentine's Day Card Holders:

http://123mytoddlerandme.blogspot.com/2010/02/valentines-day-holders-some-from.html

Recycling Puzzle Pieces for Valentine's Day

See this previous post on recycling puzzle pieces with Valentine's in mind:

http://123mytoddlerandme.blogspot.com/2011/01/toddler-valentines-gifts-and-cards-and.html

Easy Kid Valentine Craft or Cards - Love Bugs

We had some fun creating these Love Bugs from various sized hearts!

(many of the hearts were cut from previous pink & red paintings we did earlier in the month

- i cut out lots of random sized hearts from these paintings plus from scraps of red and pink scrapbook paper.

Then when the mood hits to do a craft, its all ready!).

Have fun making different bugs or animals

- adding in the necessary googly eyes of course!

Any of these Love Bugs could be projects to hang up as decorations or be made into special Valentine Cards for a Teacher, Child Care Worker, Grandparent, Aunt, etc.

Great for any age of child. A smaller child will need you to tell them what animal to create and maybe show them what it will look like. An older child can be given the bunch of random sized hearts and they can create whatever animals their imagination comes up with.

My Homemade Teething Toy

Okay, this is obviously not something that could ever be put up for sale but it will serve its purpose for my little guy :-)

Naturally, my teething boy doesnt like the expensive teething toys I have purchased. He loves to chew on the silicone bracelets that many companies and organizations advertise or fundraise with.

I gathered several of these bracelets, plus some other random things (key chain with nylon strap, ribbons, a braided leather bracelet I dont wear, and one Gumby) and tied them together. Its not fancy but it occupies a few minutes of his time (I hope this will entertain him on our upcoming long flight) and gives him some chewing delight.

Love Bugs

These little sweeties are a cute craft for Valentines.

Cardboard Egg Carton - cubes cut out
Three Hearts
2 Googly Eyes
1 Pink or Red Pipecleaner, cut into four pcs
Red Paint

*Paint egg carton cube. Let dry.
*Write a little message on two hearts (like HUGS, KISSES, BE MINE, etc) and glue on either side of cube (these are the wings)
*Poke two holes with something sharp on top of cube. Insert Pipecleaner. Curl ends.
*Glue heart (this is the face) on front of cube.
*Glue on googly eyes.
*Draw a sweet little mouth.

**For hearts, I cut them from some previous artwork of my daughters done with red and pink fingerpainting - great way to reuse and save space**

Snowman Craft & Lacing Activity

Easy Snowman Craft for Toddler (or Preschoolers) plus a project for learning or practicing Lacing.

Need:
2 White Paper Plate (one cut smaller than other)
Hole Punch to punch holes around both plates
Yarn for lacing
Black Construction Paper or Foam
Buttons of various sizes for Eyes, Nose, Mouth (or use pom poms)
PipeCleaner for hanger
Bingo Dabber or marker for Snowman's buttons
Paper cut out Mitts

I think it is pretty self explanatory :-)