Cupid Smores

 Doesn't that look like a delicious mess? And so much fun for Valentine's Day, or any other time. All you need is some graham crackers, pink and white marshmallows, and Hershey's chocolate bars.

We just stack them up, and then microwave them for about 10 seconds and then gobble them up! These are especially fun to make with the Ever After High Birthday Ball Cupid Doll by your side! Too cute.

Valentine's Day School Lunch

I wanted to pack my little Valentine a Valentine's themed lunch for school today. Here's what I put together, it could work for anytime, but it's perfect for Valentine's Day too!

So in this lunch I packed a sandwich shaped like a heart, a sandwich that said love, some blackberries, and some strawberries as you can see. What you can't see though is that I also packed a Zen Almond Milk Chocolate Pudding, and a bag of Pirate's Booty. I forgot to take a picture of the complete lunch box.

To make this lunch Valentine's themed I used the cutters I had shaped like a heart, and shaped like the word "love" Then I outlined both of the sandwich shapes in a food safe red marker. You can put whatever you would like on your sandwiches, I used SunButter and chocolate hazelnut spread because that's my daughters favorite combo. To continue on with the Valentine's theme I got a reusable heart shaped baking cup and filled it with blackberries. For the strawberries I put some cute pink puppy food picks in them (puppy love is perfect for Valentine's Day).

You can make your own Valentine's Day or love themed lunch with other things as well, any red or pink fruits or veggies would work. You can put a note in the lunch box about how much you love your little one, etc.

Puppy Love Valentine's Party for Kids

Hosting parties with my daughter makes me so happy! She loves having her friends come over and enjoy everything we've planned with them! We like our parties to be a bit unique though, so we didn't just have a Valentine's party, we had a Puppy Love Valentine's Party! I chose this theme because when little kids have crushes it's always referred to as "puppy love" and there's so many cute puppy love ideas for a party!

This was the invitation. The Valentine dog stickers from Dollar Tree were perfect for our invites. I liked how I worded things and thought someone else might like to use the same!

First, we have the table all set up. I put a Dollar Tree Valentine table cloth on, and had a centerpiece of a clear vase with artificial pink and red roses that had sparkly hearts with them, and a Valentine balloon on a stick from the grocery store.

At each place setting I put a Valentine heart napkin, paper plate, cup, and heart straw (all found at Dollar Tree). There was also everything needed for the craft we'd be making, a puppy ear headband I made, and on each plate was a personalized collar necklace I made for each of the kids.

To make the personalized dog bone collar necklaces I drew some bones that resembled hearts at their sides on poster board with a sharpie, then I cut them out and punched two holes in the top and strung a piece of yarn through them so it would be wearable as a necklace. Then I used the sharpie to write their names on them.

Each chair had a dog balloon I made tied to it

I just pumped up balloons in a few different colors (pink, orange, yellow, and blue). Then I used cloud scissors to cut each of them a pair of ears out of construction paper in corresponding colors, and taped them on. I also used white paper to give them each a pair of eyes and taped them on the double stick way. After that I took the sharpie to give them each a nose, mouth, and eyes. 

Now, for the desserts. I made Puppy Love Brownies, and marshmallow pops. 

Puppy Love Brownies:

Ingredients:

- 1 box of brownie mix

- Betty Crocker cupcake icing

- Trader Joes Cookie Butter Cookies

- Sweethearts 

- Red Velvet M&M's

- Enjoy Life chocolate chips

- Vanilla icing

- Heart cookie cutter

Step 1:

Make the brownies according to the directions on the box. Once they are cooled carefully take the entire brownie out of the pan and put it on some wax paper. Then use the heart cookie cutter to make as many hearts as you can.

Step 2:

Use the Betty Crocker cupcake icing with the tip that just looks like a hole to give the puppy his ears. 

Step 3:

Crumble up some of the cookie butter cookies to give the puppy some spots.

Step 4: 

Put the vanilla icing into a ziploc bag and cut a small hole in it to put some dabs on the dog for his eyes, and some in between the heart to attach the tongue (the sweetheart). Once they icing is on use two of the chocolate chips pointy side down onto the icing to give them their eyes. And attach the tongue like I said. 

Step 5:

Put some of the pink icing on for the nose and attach the burgundy colored red velvet M&M to it.

Marshmallow Pops:

Ingredients:

- Jumbo marshmallows

- Pillsbury hot pink vanilla funfetti icing

- Chocolate sprinkles

- Heart skewers (can be found at Dollar Tree)

- Wax paper to set them on

Step 1:

Put a marshmallow on a skewer.

Step 2:

Ice the marshmallow.

Step 3:

Dip the iced marshmallow in the chocolate sprinkles.

I put all the different things in bowls so I could have them all out and ready to be iced and dipped! 

They need to be sat on wax paper so the icing won't stick and come off.

For the craft we made this Dog Valentine Craft. I'll just give you the link to the website it came from!

We also played Bingo for the game, I printed the bingo sheets from here 

My daughter loves playing Bingo. We used heart gems from Dollar Tree for the  markers. As you can see she looked adorable in her puppy ears headband. They were simple to make. I cut the headband part from poster board, and stapled it to fit my daughters head. Then I used different shades of brown craft foam to cut dog ear shapes from and stapled those to the headband as well.

I forgot to take a picture of the prize for winning Bingo, it was just a puppy craft thing where you colored some cardboard puppies and they had little stands you could stand them up with. You could also use a puppy stuffed animal or book for the winners prize.

As for the favors table

For each of the kids I got them a heart shaped box of Russel Stover's chocolates that had dog(s) on the front. So perfect for the theme, I was thrilled! I covered the surface with a bit of the table cloth from the table that I had cut off. Then I put out a pink puppy stuffed animal, a decoration, balloon, some plastic hearts, and a pot of artificial pink roses and hearts. There was also silver wrapped chocolate hearts laying out for them to take/for decoration.

As for the other decor, right next to the favors table I had a chair with a heart blanket on it with all our cute puppy stuffed animals on display, and a heart chalk board that said "Puppy Love"

 

She insisted her doll be there too!

We also had these adorable Valentine puppy window clings up from Dollar Tree. I bought both the cartoon and the realistic pack. I couldn't decide, both were perfect for the theme.

Valentine's Search & Collect Sensory Bin

This is one of my favorite Valentine's sensory bins we've done! I love it so much because there's a game for the child to play while they also gain new tactile experiences and have holiday themed fun!

Isn't it beautiful?

All that you need to make it can be purchased from Dollar Tree.
- pink imitation rose petals
- red imitation rose petals
- sparkly hearts
- sparkly heart box

For the picture I put the sparkly hearts on top quite a bit so you could see them, but the whole point of the bin was that they are hidden beneath all the imitation rose petals and the child has to feel around to find them. There's all kinds of new tactile experiences within this bin. The imitation roses have a pretty one of a kind feeling, and the sparkly hearts and box both have that rough sparkly feeling.

Instruct the child to open up the lid to the heart box and fill it up with the sparkly hearts that they collect.

Sparkly Fizzing Heart Science

We used a heart bowl from Dollar Tree today to make some Sparkly Fizzing Heart Science reactions! It was so much fun and could be done over and over again. Kids always love the baking soda and vinegar reactions no matter how they are done, and with a Valentine's theme it's even more fun and exciting.

I let my daughter pour the vinegar so she is creating the reactions. I would put about a 1/4-1/2 of a cup into the measuring cup at a time so we could do it again and again.

It looked beautiful!

You will need:

- A big plastic heart bowl

- Glitter

- Baking soda

- Vinegar

- Pink food coloring

- Measuring cup

Just put the baking soda in the bowl, let your little one sprinkle on some glitter, and add a few drops of neon pink food coloring on top. Let them pour on the vinegar and watch the reaction take place again and again!

Fine Motor Heart Drop

 My daughter is just a whiz at fine motor activities, but they are still fun for her to do. We like to recycle and reuse things, and my cousin had an empty Pringles can so we said we'd take it! We turned it into this Fine Motor Heart Drop.

You will need:

- Pringles canister with lid

- Pink construction paper

- craft foam heart stickers (can be purchased at Dollar Tree)

- wooden hearts of assorted colors (I'm not sure where these were from, we've had them for a long time, but I'm willing to bet you could find something similar at a craft store like Hobby Lobby. 

- scissors

- tape

So, you tape the pink construction paper around the Pringles canister to cover it, then you let your little one decorate it with the craft foam stickers. 

Cut a slit just big enough for the wooden hearts to be stuck through. 

And there you have it, your little one can fill up the canister with the wooden hearts. Having fun and honing their fine motor skills! Great thing to have the kiddos do while you are making their lunch or something, and it's especially perfect to have during this time of year when Valentine's day is coming up. 

Healthy Valentine Snack

Don't these look delicious? 

When it's close to a holiday I like to make my daughter meals and snacks that get her excited for the coming up holiday. She loves eating skewers, and we usually do strawberries and honey goat cheese, but I did these strawberry and kiwis.

The heart skewers are what make them Valentine's adorable, and you can find them at Dollar Tree, along with some cute Valentine's cupcake liners.

Planting Hearts Tot Tray

I love this tot tray and my daughter does too. It was a big hit last year, and is this year as well. It's really simple to put together and doesn't cost much either, just a few dollars. Everything for it was purchased at Dollar Tree (the little bucket with hearts on it, rose scented epsom salt, and heart sticks).

In the picture above we didn't have it on a tot tray, but it's totally a great activity for a tot tray and we have done it that way in the past. All you do is present it to your little one with the bucket filled with the epsom salt and the sticks laying next to it. They will probably automatically start sticking them in the bucket and arranging them how they like, but if they don't a little instruction never hurts.

Scented Valentine's Day Sensory Bin

I adore this bin! It is perfect for Valentine's day, it's SCENTED, and it is extremely frugal. Costs $2 or $4 to put together.

The base material is rose scented epsom salt. Added are some sparkly hearts of pink and red. Both things are sold at Dollar Tree. I also put in a measuring spoon and offered a heart shaped bowl on the side, but which can also be purchased at Dollar Tree if you don't already have them.

Lots of good tactile experiences to be had within this bin. The smell of roses, the hard epsom salts that can be scooped and poured as well as played with in the hands, and the rough feeling sparkles on the hearts may be all new sensory materials for your little one to explore.

Fine Motor Valentine's Cards

Valentine's day is right around the corner, and when your little one has lots of loved ones in their life it's best to get started on the Valentine card making early so in case they only want to make a few at a time there's no rush. However, when making these Valentine's cards your kiddos will probably want to go on for quite some time. I know mine did! 

These are great for fine motor skills, fun for kids (since every little one I know LOVES stickers), frugal to make a lot of, and cute cards that people will love receiving 

All you need to buy is two things from the Dollar Tree: a pack of construction paper, so you can use the red paper, and a package of different colored and sized craft foam heart stickers. Your little one will use their fine motor skills to peel the papers off the craft foam so they can stick them to their paper. They will be creative while they design the Valentine's any way they want. This is a time to praise them for their creativeness and efforts to make cards for other people. We made a list of who we needed to make cards for first so we could keep track and also because I wanted my daughter to think about who she was making each one for as she was making them.

Like I said I let my daughter get creative and design these however she wanted without intervening because they were her cards she was making for her loved ones. We do plenty of educational activities at all other times. However, if you want to work on colors, numbers, big vs small, patters, etc. you could use these hearts to do so with conversation while making them.

Here's how the ones she made turned out. I think they are so creative and beautiful. 

You can see I cut the pieces of construction paper in half as to make more cards, make our hearts go farther, and it just seemed nicer to send that size so people could put them on display easier. I also used a few pieces of pink printer paper that we had lying around in addition to the red construction paper so she could have options.

Momma's Perfume Playdough

This playdough recipe is sure to delight any little girl (or guy) and it's perfect for Valentine's day play, pretend play, or just regular playdough play!

To make Momma's Perfume Playdough for your child all you'll need to do is add a few tablespoons of one of your perfumes or body sprays into your favorite playdough recipe as you make it. I'll share ours with you

Ingredients:
- 1 cup of flour
- 1 cup of water
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/4 cup salt
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- Neon pink food coloring, enough to get the desired color
- 3-4 tbsp of perfume or body spray

Step 1:
Mix all ingredients in a pot with a wooden spoon.

Step 2:
Put on the stove over medium heat and stir with the wooden spoon constantly until it forms a ball.

Step 3:
Transfer the dough to a bowl and let it cool while you wash the pot.

Step 4:
Knead the dough into the perfect consistency of playdough. Doesn't take much kneading at all!


My daughter thought it was so neat that she had perfume that smelled like mommy! The perfume I chose to use had a flowery scent to it, and if yours does too they can use the playdough to have a pretend play flower shop. We used this playdough in February for Valentine's Day to make Love Slugs.

Valentine Heart Color Sorting

We are totally psyched for Valentine's Day over here! C and I have been doing all kinds of activities to get into the holiday spirit! If you're looking for some great ideas for incorporating Valentine's Day into your toddlers activities you're in the right place.

 First I would like to share Valentine Heart Color Sorting. You only need three things for this activity and both can be found at The Dollar Tree. It can be done over and over again, so it's frugal and fun! C loves to sort, so we picked up two packs of heart gems from the dollar store. We got a pink pack and a red pack. I set up this activity with a three section divided tray I already had from Dollar Tree, you could get one of these or just simply use two bowls instead. Just put out the hearts, all mixed together, and the tray or bowls.

 Your little one will probably automatically start the sorting process. I like to provide some instruction and begin the activity by putting one of each in each container and making a silly noise as I do. As C sorts we talk about the colors, heart shape, and love.