Easy Kids’ Valentine’s Day Heart Creature Craft 💓

Love it? Share it!

Introducing a fun and easy Valentine’s Day Heart Creature craft for kids! Whether you’re a parent, teacher, or just a kid at heart, this tutorial will show you how to create this adorable craft in no time. With just a few basic craft supplies, it takes about 30 minutes to complete and can be easily folded into a Valentine’s greeting card for mailing.

**This post contains affiliate links to Amazon. I participate in the Amazon Associate program and may be compensated when you purchase products, at no extra cost to you. Thank you!*

I loved making this craft as a kid, and later found it just as rewarding to see my own kids and students enjoying making it, too. My favorite part was those bendy “accordion-style” arms and legs. Folding those paper strips was a fun challenge for those fine motor skills, and the result was this charming heart creature with wildly bouncy arms and legs!

Minimal supplies are needed. If you’re a very basic crafter, you probably already have them handy. Otherwise, it’s nothing a quick click on Amazon can’t fix!

The finished product is perfect for hanging on a wall, or the refrigerator, and folds up nicely to send to friends and grandparents.

Let’s get started!

Valentine’s Day picture books for children

Materials and Supplies 💝

1. Light pink and red (or bright fuchsia) cardstock or construction paper

2. Child-safe scissors

3. Glue and/or double-sided tape (dry adhesive is more convenient if there’s no time to let the glue dry)

4. Googly eyes

5. Heart-shaped sequins or jewel embellishments

6. Markers

Cutting Out the Hearts 💔

1. Cut out the large center heart: Fold light pink paper, cut a half heart shape, trim as needed.

2. Cut out the medium-sized heart from darker pink or red paper: Use the same technique as the big heart, but smaller. Trim as needed.

3. Cut 4 smaller hearts using the same technique with darker pink or red paper.

Folding the Bendy Arms and Legs 😍

1. Cut 5 thin strips of light pink paper, each about 6 inches long.

2. Create a zig-zag folded strip (accordion-style) by folding over the edge of a strip, then folding it the opposite way and repeating. Repeat for the other 5 strips.

Gluing it All Together 💜

1. Glue each bendy paper strip to the large heart in 5 places to form 2 legs, 2 arms, and a neck.

2. Attach a small paper heart to the end of each arm and leg strip, and the medium-sized heart to the top of the neck strip.

1. Attach a heart-shaped craft jewel or sequin to each of the smaller hand and foot hearts.

2. Glue googly eyes to the top “head” heart. Add sequins to the cheeks if desired, and draw a mouth with a marker.

3. Write a greeting on the large center heart.

Tips and Tricks 💖

I hope you’ve had as much fun as I have making this silly-looking Valentines’ heart creature!

Here are a few additional tips and ideas for using this craft activity:

1. Add more embellishments, using whatever craft materials you have handy:

• Glitter
• Sequins
• Stickers
• Beads
• Buttons
• Ribbons
• Feathers
• Small pom-poms
• Felt shapes

Valentine’s Day picture books for children

2. Make Heart Creatures as a storytime craft activity, after reading one of these great Valentine’s Day children’s books.

3. Punch a small hole at the top, thread it with a narrow ribbon, and hang it from the ceiling for a cute twirling Valentine thing-a-ma-jig!

Happy Creature Creating and…

Valentine’s Day picture books for children