# Paper Heart Creatures
> Cut paper hearts in different sizes and glue them together into a dog, a wiggly worm, a heart lady with pipe-cleaner arms and legs, and a folded mouse card. It is an easy Valentine craft that sneaks in shapes, fine motor work and problem-solving.
- URL: https://www.funlittles.com/valentine-craft-paper-creatures/
- Ages: 3–7 yrs · Difficulty: easy · Mess: low
- Time: prep 20 min, activity 30 min
- Works for: one-on-one, small group, whole class · one batch serves about 1 kids
- Skills: fine-motor, shapes, spatial-reasoning, problem-solving, body-parts, creativity

## Materials (one batch)
- 2 sheet Construction paper (red, pink, purple; black optional for a hat)
- 1 piece Scissors (household)
- 1 piece Glue (glue stick or school glue)
- Googly eyes
- 4 piece Pipe cleaners
- 1 piece Craft stick
- Markers (household)
- Tape (optional) (household)
- 1 piece Small black pom-pom (optional)
- Curling ribbon (optional)

## Substitutions
- Instead of pipe cleaners: Craft sticks for the arms and legs (The author's suggested experiment: does it still wiggle?)

## Safety
- An adult cuts the hearts, or kids use child-safe scissors with supervision.
- Googly eyes and pom-poms are small parts and a choking hazard. Supervise closely with young children.
- Pipe cleaner ends can be sharp. Fold or twist the tips over.

## Before you start
- Cut hearts in several sizes. Dog: 1 large and 2 medium. Worm: a stack of small hearts. Heart lady: assorted sizes for head, body, hands and feet. Mouse: 2 hearts, one slightly bigger, plus a small heart for the ear and a thin strip for the tail.
- For younger kids, pre-cut all the hearts. Older kids can cut their own.

## Steps
1. Dog: glue a large heart for the lower body and a medium heart for the upper body.
2. Cut another medium heart in half down the center. Let your child figure out how to flip, slide and turn the halves into ears, then glue them on.
3. Add googly eyes and a face to finish the dog.
4. Worm: glue small hearts one over the other to make a long string of hearts.
5. Finish the worm with googly eyes and a smile.
6. Heart lady: talk about the parts a person needs (head, body, hands and legs), then pick hearts for each part.
7. Attach pipe cleaners for the arms and legs, with small hearts for hands and feet, and give her a face.
8. Mouse: fold 2 hearts in half, one inside the other, with the inside heart slightly bigger.
9. Attach a tail and a small heart for the ear, add an eye, and write a message on the inside.

## Tips
- To create a challenge, lay out the dog's body parts and invite your child to figure out where the ears go. The invitation has a hidden math concept: flip, slide and turn.
- The worm is a fantastic fine motor exercise, because kids have to hold on to the heart while applying glue.
- Discuss the process beforehand and have the child come up with ideas about it. You can turn any activity into a thinking exercise, not just an adult-directed project.
- The hearts dog is by far our favorite.

## The original post by TurkeyMom (2013)

All kids love animals right? How about creating some critters and figures using paper hearts as a Valentine craft. We love to create images using shapes and have done a few in the past - we made a [**turkey**](https://www.funlittles.com/thanksgiving-craft-for-the-toddler/) and [**Christmas**](https://www.funlittles.com/christmas-activities-christmas-tree-puzzle/) trees using geometric shapes. For an easy Valentine craft, we used heart shapes to create critters, animals and even a cute lady. We have been hitting a local library frequently these days and every now and then they have a simple craft/art session for kids. We try to improvise on the activity and it is a wonderful opportunity for my kid and I to discuss what we liked and didn't like about the project. This gets her imagination going and we create things. But for this craft, we loved what we saw and recreated the same and many more.

### We have here a dog, a worm, a cute heart lady and a little mouse.

The hearts dog is by far our favorite. It's made from 1 large and 2 medium sized hearts. The large heart for the lower half and the medium for the upper half of the body. Cut the other medium through the center vertically for ears and there you have it. To create a challenge, I laid the body parts and invited my 4 yr old to figure out how to put the ears. T**he invitation has a hidden mathematical concept - Heard about Flip, Slide and Turn ? It was fun to see her brain work to solve the cute puzzle.**



 For a simple worm, we cut out small hearts and attached them one over the other to create a long string of hearts. This is a fantastic fine motor exercise because she has to hold on the heart while trying to apply glue. We finished it up with googly eyes and a smile.



 For any art/craft/learning activity I always make sure we discuss the process before hand and have the child come up with ideas about the process. My next prompt was to create a human figure. We talked about what parts we need: Head, Body, Hands and Legs. We cut out various sized hearts to create the body parts and used pipe cleaners to create movement for the arms and legs. **Another learning opportunity: Do a simple experiment and see what happens when you use craft sticks for the arms and legs. Does it wiggle?**

 Like we always say, you can turn any activity into an thinking exercise and not entirely an adult directed project.

 We went on to create a mouse card. To create the mouse, we folded 2 hearts, one within the other. The inside heart is slightly bigger than the outside heart, just for looks ! The folded hearts becomes the body. We attached a tail and smaller heart for the ears. Write your message on the inside. Isn't he cute?



After doing a string of art, crafts and learning activities with the kids, I have been thinking that we are not doing *just* crafts/activities. With a simple Valentine craft comes a wide array of learning opportunities and the obvious connecting and bonding with the kids. Hopefully they remember these good times!

Thanks for reading

Other [**Valentine's day crafts**](https://www.funlittles.com/category/holidays/valentines-day-holidays/) we have done.

- **[Rose Scented Play dough](https://www.funlittles.com/valentines-day-activities-rose-scented-playdough/)**
- [**Rose Scented Valentine's day cloud dough recipe**](https://www.funlittles.com/valentines-day-activities-sweet-smelling-cloud-dough/)
- [**Valentine's day hand print cards**](https://www.funlittles.com/thanksgiving-art/)
- [**Valentine's day straw blown cards**](https://www.funlittles.com/valentines-day-cards/)
- [**Valentine's Heart Butterflies**](https://www.funlittles.com/valentines-day-crafts-hearts-butterflies/)

Thanks for reading