Each of my kindergarten through fifth grade artists created valentines for Joni and Friends, an organization that supports people with disabilities and their families. I did different projects at each grade level, and although I will make some tweaks (provide more detailed examples/instructions) to fourth grade’s project next year, kids loved the activities and I was happy with the results.
Kindergarten: 5″ x 7″ crayon and watercolor patterned hearts. Students stamped “Happy Valentine’s Day” and then signed the back of the pink paper before the completed hearts were mounted.
First Grade: Bulletin board paper “roses” on red card stock hearts. Students wrote sentiments on the back of their card stock hearts and then made a Tacky Glue heart around the front edge to adhere an the outline of “roses.” If they finished the outer heart, they could add another inside. I had cut the bulletin board paper into 1½ inch squares, which the students pushed and twisted over the eraser ends of new pencils. Keeping the rose on the pencil, artists pushed the bottom of each twisted rose onto the glue and then pulled up the pencil.
Second and Third Grades: 4″ x 6″ Crayon hearts, inspired by Jim Dine. Jim Dine inspired “batik” hearts (see my blog post here) are part of the art curriculum for second graders, so I had students in both second and third grade create miniature versions, minus the faux batiking. Outlining with black crayon makes a difference!
Fourth Grade: 6″ x 6″ Collage Cards. Students were given the choice to create collage cards with scrapbook or construction paper. I projected this website to give them ideas for animals. Some chose to do scrapbook hearts, but most were enamored by the opportunity to create heart animals.
Fifth Grade: Black Sharpie and Liquid Watercolor on 4″ x 6″ Photo Paper. Confession: This process was my favorite. My camera mostly captured the vibrant color, but not the shiny finish generated by the photo paper. Students used brushing, stippling, and straw blowing on the projects. The artist who completed the heartbeat card even discovered her own technique. She dripped dots of paint, let them saturate for a few seconds, and then evenly spread the paint on the wet dots to created a dotted background. Students mounted their work on black paper and wrote their sentiments inside with a silver Sharpie.
The artist of the cat card wrote “You’re purrfect” inside.
Student artists knew these cards would be going to people with disabilities, and the most heartwarming portion of these projects was reading their sentiments. In addition to Bible verses, “Jesus loves you,” and of course, “Happy Valentine’s Day,” some of the many lovely sentiments included:
- “You’re purrfect” (with cat artwork)
- “God loves you with all his heart and will never stop.”
- “You are special very special and I hope you know that.”
- “Love Jesus because Jesus loves you.”
- “You deserve a lot of love.”
- “My heart will always be beating for you.”
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Denette
Love these projects!
Thank you, Mindy!