Make Time Together Creative Challenge: Building Hearts

This post is part of a month-long series to encourage families to Make Time Together through creative arts & crafts related family activities. To view all of the posts, simply click 'Make Time Together' tag on the left sidebar.

Be intentional in making an effort to sit down and enjoy this fun Valentine's themed invitation to build.

Materials Needed:

• LEGOs and DUPLOs: we used red, pink and purple to add that extra touch of Valentine's Day love
• Fun containers / dishes- we found these heart shaped ramekins in the Target dollar spot

Instructions:

Have you heard of an 'Invitation to Play' before? It basically means setting up some materials in a way that will entice little minds to play to their hearts' content. It doesn't have to take ages to set up, or cost much money. It simply means presenting what you have nicely. Hence we decided to sort building bricks into colors and put them in the heart shaped ramekins.

We got all our materials set up and cleared our schedules for half an hour. That last bit is crucial. It can be tempting to passively sit with your kids while they play. Remember to be present. Engage. Laugh. Enjoy. Love. Your kids will thrive on having your attention and working with you, we promise!

If your child is old enough, ask them to read the instructions on the heart. You can either choose to work with your child to build the same heart, or you can work alongside each other, building different hearts.

The point of this activity is not to make the most amazing building brick heart in the world. It's simply to enjoy spending quality time with your kids on a shared project. As you play and build, discuss what you are doing. Talk about the engineering decisions you are making. Compare your hearts, or discuss how you could make them better.

The dialogue and collaboration is in fact more valuable than the actual building! We think you'll have a blast sharing this focused time together, regardless of the hearts produced.

Why not find a nice place to display the hearts that you have made together. That way it is a visible reminder and conversation prompt for the fun you had together!

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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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