Add this valentine straw art idea to your collection of valentine activities for preschoolers and kindergarten kids. Your students will have such fun using a familiar object in a novel way.
In addition to being fun, the straw heart project lets kids take chances as they create. And their fine motor skills get quite the workout making those tiny heart prints.
This valentine heart art is also very simple to prep. You don’t need many materials to get started, and creating the heart straws is a simple task.
Related: Art Projects for Kids
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 Straw Art
I had all of our materials on-hand or purchased it locally. I may get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.
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
Related: Process-Based Valentine Art for Preschool
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.
Related: Valentine’s Day Sensory Bottle with Water Beads
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.
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.
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.
Grab the Hearts Preschool Lesson Plans and the Valentine’s Day Preschool Lesson Plans
You can also find us on Teachers Pay Teachers
ANN BAY says
great ideas!
Mary Catherine says
Thank you! 🙂