The most purse-friendly - and meaningful - way to celebrate Valentines Day in 2023? With a homemade gift or treat. And if we can make it with our toddler then we’re even more here for it. So, we asked some crafty influencers to share their (super easy) ideas for hand-made gifts, cute activities and romantic recipes that you can involve your little one with this Valentines.
The Handmade Gift: Cardboard bouquet
Materials:
- Cardboard
- Paint
- Felt tip pens or crayons
- Ribbon
For this fun activity simply cut some heart and flower shapes for your toddler and then let your little artist work their magic. Once they’ve finished, glue the stems together. For a finishing touch, you can tie a ribbon to the bottom of the flower stems.
The Fun Activity: Love hunt
Materials:
- 2 pieces of cardboard (or one large)
- Scissors
- Coloured Pens
Who said treasure hunts were just for Easter?
For this activity, simply use half of your cardboard to draw and cut out Valentines themed shapes. Hearts, letters, roses, chocolates – anything that comes to mind! On the remainder of your cardboard, re-draw your illustrations and this will act as a mini list of all the shapes your little one has to find. Then hide the shapes around your house for your little one to find.
The Delicious Treat: Banana pops
Top tip: avoid sharp sticks if you’re serving these to young children. Instead, try using a lollipop stick or child friendly forks.
Ingredients:
- Banana
- Thick Greek Yogurt
- Sprinkles for decorating
- Bamboo Sticks
How to make:
1. Line a tray with a piece of baking paper
2. Cut the banana into slices about the thickness of your thumb
3. Remove the sharp point form the bamboo stick & poke
4. Dip it into the yogurt to coat in all sides then lay it flat on your lined tray.
5. Repeat until you have all your yogurt coated banana pops and place the tray into the freezer.
6. Leave for an hour or 2 until the yogurt is solid.
7. Decorate with sprinkles & icing and serve straight away
The Toddler-friendly Breakfast: Beetroot pancakes
If you wish to decorate these for Valentine’s Day you can use a heart shape cutter to shape your pancakes. You can then leave them as they are or even make them into pancake sandwiches with jam in the middle. Enjoy!
Ingredients:
- 1 medium cooked beetroot
- 1 egg
- 100ml oat milk (or milk of choice)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons agave (or maple or honey only for 12m+)
- 220g all purpose flour (almost 1 cup)
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1. In a blender, blitz together the beetroot, the egg, the milk, the olive oil, the agave syrup & the vanilla extract (if adding any).
2. In a big bowl add the flour & baking powder & whisk together. Finally add the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients & mix well.
3. In a non stick pan over medium-low heat we add spoonfuls of the batter mixture (you don’t have to use a pancake pan to do this, any non stick pancake pan will do). Once the pancakes from bubbles on top it’s time to flip them.
4. Cook on the other side for a little longer and take off the heat. Repeat for all the pancakes the same procedure.
Valentine's day is a great time to fill your house with festive decorations and create crafts that are fun to make together as a family. Spending time with your children on Valentine's Day is a wonderful way to foster memories and have fun together. The best thing about handmade valentines gifts is that whilst they require a little extra effort, you get to spend quality time with your loved ones in the process! We hope these Valentines Day craft ideas and recipes have given you some fun Valentines activities inspiration for you to have a make something lovable with your little ones this year.
Baby & Toddler Crafting Essentials
Splash Mats
Bibs
Baby Seating
