Straw Art for Valentine's Day!

A few of my students and I were puttering around with various materials at the art table last week. I love sitting there and creating with them, chatting about random topics, and just connecting with the kiddos. Well, in our puttering around we made up a few Valentine’s Day straw art activities! The children were so proud when we turned this into an art invitation in our art center.

Valentine’s Day straw art for kids

I had all of our materials on-hand or purchased it locally. I’ve included Amazon links below to comparable items.

Materials
Colorful plastic straws
Colorful large straws (like those used for milkshakes or boba tea)
Paper straws
Hearts cut from construction paper
Red tempera paint
Glue

Directions for heart-printed straw art
This was inspired by cardboard heart stamping I first saw on Housing a Forest. I found that the paper straws worked best for this activity.

Take the edge of the straw and make it into a heart shape. I did this by pressing in the top of the straw a little bit, then evening out the bottom until I liked the heart shape.

Put the heart-shaped end into the paint, making sure to just dab it into the paint. Then stamp away on some construction paper hearts. If you want the hearts to actually look like hearts, be sure not to put too much paint on the straws. When the kiddos were overly enthusiastic with the paint, the results were more circular. Honestly, though, the children didn’t mind one bit. It was the process that they loved the most.

Make some straw art with the kids this Valentine's Day

Too much paint yielded the circles, rather than hearts. The kids loved the process either way!

Directions for cut-up heart straw art
This activity worked best using the plastic straws we had on-hand. To make the heart shape, I pressed in the top of the straw. Then I creased along the bottom of the straw, adjusting it until I liked the heart shape. It only took a moment or two. Once the straw was shaped like a heart, I set about cutting the straws into little plastic hearts.

kid-made straw art for Valentine's Day! This looks like so much fun!

Please don’t judge me by the horrible state of my fingernails! 🙂

The children used the plastic hearts to make heart collages. They glued the little pieces onto construction paper hearts. Some of the kids were meticulous about it, while others enjoyed dropping the pieces onto the glue. This activity worked the children’s fine motor skills like crazy!

Have you ever tried straw art with your children/students? Do you think they’d like the heart straw activities we shared today?

Preschool Lesson Plans for Valentine’s Day

Save time and get right to the playful learning with our printable lesson plan sets. Each set includes book suggestions, printable plans, over 30 learning activities (both whole group and centers) related to the theme, and corresponding printables.