Valentine's Day is one of those holidays that is more fun now that I have children. I mean really, the red + pink + hearts + doilies + cupids were a bit too much pre-motherhood. But I also think that Valentine's Day has evolved a bit and is not only for husbands + wives and boyfriends + girlfriends, but really a day to say "hey, I like/love you" to family and friends.
Every year I look forward to making valentines with the boys. We've had
fun in the past making fabric
heart valentines and paper
heart pencil valentines.
A few weeks ago I came across this cute treat transmitters project and after showing it to the boys they were all excited to make them for their classmates. Instead of cutting out the bodies we used black paper bags [from Michaels]. We put a few pieces of candy inside the bag to weigh it down and J made personalized little heart valentines [with a drawing of each of his friends on it] to put inside. I pre-cut all the arms using silver card stock and a circle paper punch. J helped type in each of his classmates names using this barcode font and I printed out little "2myfriend" stickers for j since they were instructed not to personalize the valentines [to make the handout process a little easier for the preschoolers].
I also printed out some "from ___" stickers to seal the flap on the bag. The boys punched a few holes on the top of the bag and made antennae out of silver pipe cleaners.
It was fun to see how the boys "decorated" their robots differently. j used some cute eye stickers I picked up in Korea and placed them on the rolos. He knew exactly which ones he was going to give to his best buddies in class. He also mixed it up a bit and used lifesavers for the eyes. J opted to keep his eyes plain and simple.
I was with the boys when they were handing out their robot valentines and they were well-received by all their classmates. And I'm sure it had NOTHING to do with the candy glued on the bag [ha ha]. Of course I felt slightly guilty giving their friends even more candy in their Valentine's Day bags, especially since I am the mother who tosses the candy they receive. So next year I am going to try and go candy-less for their valentines, or maybe just one piece of candy. I LOVE the valentines Erin made with her girls and also Elly's valentines.