Toddlers and Preschoolers are going to love this Valentines Craft! Scrape-Painted Valentines are so fun to make with a few shades of red and pink paint and an old, expired credit card!
We’re having so much fun with all of the Valentines crafts we’re making here in my home daycare. Our craft room is a sea of red and pink tissue paper, pipe cleaners, fabric and paint right now, and of course there are hearts everywhere!
Today, we’re using one of our favourite art techniques for kids. It’s a fun process that kids of all ages will enjoy. The colour mixing is so cool. Scraping the different shades and colours together produces some really beautiful results.
If you’ve never tried painting with a credit card before, you really must give it a go!
I love how easy this art process is to set up and to do. You need just a few basic supplies.
To make our scrape-painted Valentines, you’ll need:
- An expired credit card or gift card (you can also use a sturdy piece of cardboard with a straight edge)
- 3 or 4 colours of paint
- a “canvas” (we used white cardboard).
How to do Scrape Painting with a Credit Card
Drizzle the paint over your canvas. This is a great way for your child to learn how to control the flow of paint. Talk to him or her about squeezing the tube of paint gently and moving his or her arms in a circular or back and forth motion over the canvas as they’re squeezing.
Now, hand the credit cards over to the kids. Ha! You won’t hear me say that often!
Have your child gently and slowly scrape and blend the paint colours altogether. I find this part of the process fascinating, and I love to hear the children’s reactions to what they’re seeing and creating.
Young children have a tendency to go overboard with the smearing, but that’s ok. They’re still learning plenty, and you can always add a few more drops of paint here and there to get those streaks of colour again. Doesn’t it look gorgeous?
The rest of our heart craft is fairly self-explanatory. Once the paint had dried, I cut a large heart out of each of the pieces of cardboard.
Then the Hooligans glued crumpled squares of tissue paper all around the edge of the heart.
And there you have it: a simple, unique and gorgeous paint technique for the kiddos, and a sweet Valentine’s craft too!
I loved the whole scrape-painting process so much, I went ahead and made a few more works of art to hang on the walls of our new playroom.
Looking for more fun and easy Valentines inspiration?
Be sure to check all of our Valentines crafts, activities and recipes right here!
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Jackie is a mom, wife, home daycare provider, and the creative spirit behind Happy Hooligans. She specializes in kids’ crafts and activities, easy recipes, and parenting. She began blogging in 2011, and today, Happy Hooligans inspires more than 2 million parents, caregivers and Early Years Professionals all over the globe.
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Alicia
so simple, yet looks great, well done!
Laura
I love it! Can’t wait to give it a try!
francine
I love this, we will definitely be making these! Thanks for the fab idea!
Jennie Lobato
Great idea and great result!!
Brooke
These look like a lot of fun. And they turned out cute.
happyhooligans
They were so much fun that I sat down and did some credit card painting of my own when the kids went home!
Didi {Duck Duck Octopus}
Wow! I love this idea. I can’t wait to try it with some empty gift cards. I have pinned this too. 🙂
Stacy@{Share&Remember}
I love the look of this art! I need to save some cards!
Carrie
I love it!! I’m your newest follower! And I would like to invite you to share at our sharing party at http://craftymomsshare.blogspot.com/2012/02/sharing-saturday-6.html. Thank you!
Crystal @ Growing A Jeweled Rose
This is simply fabulous! I can’t wait to do this! I’m tempted to do it with a current card (but I guess I will wait 😉 I have it pinned for later!
happyhooligans
Crystal, you can do it with a thin, sturdy piece of cardboard. I had someone say that they did that. I’m thinking cereal box weight would work!
Aimee
I love seeing children painting with different materials other than paintbrushes! Thanks for linking up to The SUnday Showcase!
Shirley Shaw
So cute and I would try these with my Playgroup class.
More power and God bless!
Kiki
Credit cards, old hotel key cards, etc. What a great way to incorporate them into art! Some variations:
1: Cut the heart out and place on a larger piece of paper/board and have the kids spread the paint over the heart (with cards or hands) When you lift the heart you have a negative heart shape on the larger paper. Kids love this process!
2: Give kids red and white paint and have them add some of both on their heart. As they swirl it together they create pink. Perfect opportunity to talk about how blending colors make a third color. Ask them where the pink came from. It’s so fun to listen to their explanations. Finally you can state, “You mean when you mix red with white you make pink?” “You made pink!!” You can do this process with red and blue for purple hearts, yellow and red for pumpkins, blue and yellow for green trees, etc.
happyhooligans
I love your ideas, Kiki, and the way you interact with the children prompting them to come up with observations and realizations on their own rather than stating them yourself.