DIY LEGO Valentines for Kids!

It's time for another Creative QT friend to share an activity with you all. This time we have Veronica from @themamajuggleisreal on Instagram. If you aren't already following along with her and her boys, you've been missing out! She describes herself as a 'homeschooling' Mama just trying to keep it all together.' We hear you Veronica!! Head on over to her feed and be blown away by the colorful array of arts and crafts she produces with her kids.

My boys and I sat down for a major LEGO session which is one of our favorite ways to spend time together. I set up one side of the table with LEGOs for them to build with, and the other side of the table for some LEGO printing. Have you ever tried using LEGOs for art? It is one of my favorite prints to date. We’ve made wrapping paper before with this method and it always comes out beautiful. It is so easy that even my one year old is able to participate, and boy does he love it!! This is definitely our favorite form of process art!

We also worked together to build heart shapes out of LEGOs to add to the Valentine's. Some major space vehicles were also created while we were waiting for the paint to dry- we love letting our imaginations run wild! One of my favorite things about creating together is showing my boys that you can use a huge variety of materials to make art- I learn something new every single time!

Materials Needed:

• Card stock or other heavy paper
• Paint – I used Crayola washable tempera
• DUPLOs and/or LEGOs (we used both!)
• Scissors
• Clear bags if adding LEGO pieces to the Valentine's
• Hole puncher 
• Yarn
• I'd also recommend a sheet to cover your table with to avoid too much mess!

Instructions:

Get paper ready: for this project I presented my boys with a bunch of different options. I cut out some hearts for them to print on, as well as just leaving out a few blank pages for them to have creative control over. I also made a few resist sheets by cutting out hearts and taping them (with painter's tape) to blank pages, so that when you removed the taped heart there was a void of prints leaving a heart space where a message could be written.

Get paint ready: we used typical Valentine colors as well as some blue because my boys love blue! I always remind them we are stamping with the LEGOs and making prints rather than using them as brushes. It is okay if they mix up the colors, but try to stay with one or two colors to avoid that lovely kid tone of brown we all know so well!

Let the stamping begin: We used both DUPLOs and LEGOs and it ended up looking really cool because they both gave a totally different look.

I asked the boys if they could make a handle for the flat lego piece and what they came up with worked perfectly! I absolutely love when you can extend a project into a STEAM activity, and when building with LEGOs the possibilities are truly endless!  Once done stamping, we set the prints aside to dry.

Optional: We decided to add heart LEGOs to our Valentine's which was another great STEAM activity. It was a little harder than I thought it was going to be, but we kept at it and came up with a few designs.

Write a message: once your prints are dry, pick a few cute LEGO-themed sayings and add them to your Valentine's. My son wrote ours, but you could always print them out and have the kiddos glue them on.

Here are a few cute sayings that we came up with:

• Everything is Awesome, Valentine!!
• We are built to be friends!
• I will never LEGO of you, Valentine!
• Never LEGO of my heart. 
• Let’s connect!
• Best teacher on the block!
• You are a master builder, Valentine!
• You hold a piece of my heart!
• Never LEGO!
• We just click! 

Package them up: place the LEGO hearts in the clear bags and tie them using the yarn. Punch a hole in the card and attach the card to the bag using the yarn. All that's left is to let your kids deliver their cool Valentine's!

Wow, what a fun way to turn making Valentine's cards into a full afternoon of family fun and learning! Thanks so much @themamjuggleisreal for sharing this awesome activity with us!

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Creative QT designs quality + innovative toys that declutter homes and inspire creative play. Founded by parents of five, Adam and Dana Sue Hinkle, Creative QT’s vision is to empower parents and encourage a culture of families that Make Time Together. All products are designed to enrich families’ lives through active, creative play and play based learning. Creative QT products are laboratory tested for compliance with CPSC requirements and are free of lead, cadmium and phthalates so you can play with confidence. So, go ahead … today is the day: be your kid’s hero.

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