Stamping Hearts with Cardboard Rolls – a Valentine’s Craft for Kids

Today we’re going to show you how to turn a cardboard roll into a heart shape stamper that your kids can use to make prints, a custom piece of art for their room, homemade wrapping paper and more. 

I’m so excited to show you our latest Valentines craft. One of the hooligans was stamping with cardboard rolls the other day, and made a custom piece of artwork to hang in her bedroom.

See all of our stamping and printmaking activities here.

The inspiration for this particular art activity came from a project that my toddlers and preschoolers did a couple of years ago.

When we were following the 2014 winter Olympics, the preschoolers made this Olympic Ring Art project using aluminum foil rolls and paint that matched the colours of the Olympic rings. 

The kids had a lot of fun stamping with the cardboard rolls and they made some gorgeous art which we still have hanging in our playroom.

With Valentines Day approaching, I thought it would be fun to use the same stamping process to make a “heart art” project.

We’re using paper towel and toilet paper rolls this time, and like last time, we’re using a second-hand canvas to make our art on.

**More about the canvas in a minute.

A child can hang this custom piece of Valentines art in a bedroom, or they can give it as a meaningful gift to to a friend or family member.

Let me show you how how you’ll make it.

You may also like 30+ Cardboard Roll Crafts

Supplies

For your convenience, this post contains affiliate links. 

• cardboard rolls (kitchen rolls, toilet rolls or wrapping paper tubes)
• rubber bands
• acrylic craft paint (in the colours of your choice)
• a canvas

To decide on your canvas, think about whether or not you’ll be displaying this piece permanently.

Now, if your kids are just doing this heart stamping as an activity, and not to make a display piece, they can stamp their hearts on a piece of light coloured card stock. We actually did this on a paper bag as well, and framed it.

However, if your child would like to hang his or her project on a wall or give it as a gift they’ll want to create masterpiece on something a little fancier.

You have a couple of choices here:

You can pick up a dollar store canvas like we used for our art party last spring (they come in various sizes), or you can pick up an inexpensive, used poster plaque from a second-hand shop.

I’m not sure what the official name for them is, but they’re those smooth, flat plaques that often have an inspirational poster laminated on the front. They seem to be made of compressed particle board or something similar. You can see what I’m talking about here: https://happyhooligans.ca/recycled-art-painting-over-an-old-painting/

If you’re using a second-hand plaque for your heart art project today, you’ll need to brush on a couple of coats of Gesso or primer to cover up the original art and to give your paint something to adhere to.

Because these plaques are already meant for hanging, the hole(s) will already be drilled into the back.  BONUS!

Ok!  Once you’ve chosen your canvas (and primed it if you’re using a plaque), it’s time to prepare your cardboard rolls, and turn them into stamping hearts.

How to Make a Cardboard Roll Heart

To do this, you’re going to create a crease in the top side (at the end) of the cardboard roll.  This will give you the two bumps that form the top of the heart. Then you’ll need to squeeze the bottom of the cardboard roll to form the pointy bottom of the heart.

When you’re happy with the way your heart looks, wrap a rubber band around the end of the tube to hold it in place.

Now, you can flip the cardboard tube around, and make a heart out of the other end as well. That way, your kids can dip each end of the tube in a different colour when they’re stamping.

You’re wondering why one cardboard roll is red, aren’t you?

It was left-over from when we made our Cardboard Roll Christmas Candles. The colour is quite fitting for a Valentines activity so I figured we’d put it to work for us today.

Stamping Your Hearts

Ok, now that you’ve turned your cardboard rolls into stamps, it’s time to make some art!!

Have your child choose the colours that she wants for her project, and pour the paint onto a flat surface like a plate, or in our case a styrofoam meat tray. (Always sterilize the trays in the dishwasher before using them for crafting.)

Now he or she can dip the end of a cardboard roll into the paint and stamp hearts all over the canvas.

We found that we needed to rock the cardboard roll back and forth a bit to get a full impression with som of the tubes. I guess our tubes were slightly uneven after shaping them into hearts.

My hooligan today, started with the pink paint.  She stamped pink hearts all over her canvas, and then she switched to purple and blue, stamping and stamping, and overlapping her hearts until she had completely filled the her canvas.

I just love the way it turned out, don’t you?

What a great piece of art to take home and display in a bedroom.

I love it when kids can use their own artwork to decorate their space at home!

For more easy, awesome art projects for kids, check out:

Name Art with Sharpies and Tin Foil

Scratch Art Family Portrait

Wax Resist Fridge Magnets

Stained Glass Jars with Sharpies

Tie Dye Bookmarks with Sharpies and Rubbing Alcohol

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