Pinks, hearts, and love all around. Valentine’s Day is the perfect holiday to craft and create. To start off the fun, we played around with Valentine’s Day Painting Activities that will be helpful for our crafts all February long.

Even if you’re not ‘crafty,’ you’ll love these easy painting ideas and your kids will have fun with it too.

I think it’s a little obvious that Mila (and I) love painting and being creative. Usually Mila’s go-to colors are pinks and purples, so it just makes Valentine’s Day prep a little more fun.

Since we’ve had a lot of snow days lately, we’ve been experimenting with different ideas of how to express ourselves. All of these listed are simple, BUT they can get really messy. I just like to state that beforehand. I highly suggest putting something down underneath your painting area and putting old clothes on your kids.

That way everything stays safe and clean.

We used four different types of painting styles and I’m going to save our favorite for last. Here’s all the supplies we used for the entire day:

• Stock paper
• Paint
• Bubble wrap
• Cotton Balls
• Toilet paper rolls
• Shaving cream
• Kraft paper
• Tray

Bubble Wrap Painting

One fun way to add texture in painting is to use different supplies. Mila and I used bubble wrap last year for a heart garland, so we wanted to redo it again. I actually loved the little dots it creates. It sort of reminds me of honeycombs.

This year, we used WAY too much paint and didn’t get the honeycomb effect. I love the way it did turn out though.We also popped the bubbles too, which was fun for Mila. It made the paint explode out, so beware of that. I think it just looks like a big swirl, but we had the most fun using this method.

With the extra paint, I put it on another piece of craft paper. We’ll use that for wrapping paper.

It’s also a great way to reuse bubble wrap instead of just throwing it away. Always looking for ways to reuse, reduce, and recycle.

Cotton Ball Painting

With toddlers and preschoolers, using anything but paint brushes makes painting way more fun. Cotton balls are a perfect stepping stone for them. Although Mila just used her hands, you can easily add them on clips to make it less messy and easier for kids to grab.

This one seems a little typical to add, but I want to share the reasons I love using cotton balls for painting.

The circle shape is so cute and stays consistent. Mila talked the entire time how she was making circles and was very proud of them. It also holds the paint really neat. It soaks it up and if you mix colors, it gives a cool ombre pattern. Usually I don’t let Mila mix her paint to avoid making brown, but you can do it with cotton balls. You can tell which colors she mixed together.

Even though this is simple, kids activities do not have to be extravagant to get a cute outcome filled with fun.

Toilet Paper Roll Stamp

I promise I won’t go on and on about reusing things around the house, but here’s another example of it. Most people have empty rolls so they’re accessible to use for Valentine’s Day crafts.

The best part, you can easily shape them into little hearts. All you have to do is push down in the middle to get the indent in the top of the heart and press the sides in. It’s super simple to do! I think they’re the cutest little hearts as well.

This was definitely Mila’s favorite painting. She’s obsessed with hearts and draws them constantly. Being able to paint them just made it a little sweeter.

One issue that we ran into is the heart not being even when you press down. If you don’t get them just right, you have to show your child how to get the stamp fully down. For us this time, we just had to rock it from the bottom point then tilt it to the top arches. I only had to show Mila one time how to get a complete heart and then she was all over it.

We’ll 100% be using this technique for a future craft. I’ll make sure to share and link back here just in case you’d like to keep up and see.

Shaving Cream Marbling Art

Out of all of these methods, this is the only one we’ve done for the first time. I’ve been eyeing this technique for a long time, but didn’t think Mila was ready for it. Now we have peaked in our painting. The outcome of this is my favorite, but it was the messiest of the bunch.

For this, all you have to do is put shaving cream in a tray. I used Mila’s sensory one. Then, Mila poured acrylic paint on top of the shaving cream and mixed it around with a paint brush. She might have swirled it a little too much, but the pattern was perfect no matter how she did it. After you have it the way you like, you push the paper in it. Make sure all of it is covered or you’ll have blank spaces. Peel it off the top and use a popsicle stick or old card to scrape off the remaining shaving cream on top. After, let it dry.

We ended up using the same pattern for three sheets of paper and could have easily done more! It was the quickest way to paint and is so unique.

I personally got a ton of shaving cream and paint on my hands through this. Mila saw how messy it was and dipped pretty quick. I would just suggest having wipes close to you or doing this technique by the sink.

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Painting with these different styles was a lot of fun and gives us so many opportunities for future projects too. I can’t wait for you all to see what we’re making with these sheets too! Try to guess in the comments what you think we’re making.

Also, I want to say I know I’ve been a little quiet on the blog this month. I’ve been posting more on Instagram and Facebook the last few weeks, but it’s been nice to have a little writing break. We have a ton of fun recipes, activities, and crafts for the rest of this month and February to bring you though! One of them is about our trip to Florida and DISNEY! Let’s just say Mila keeps asking to go back.

For now, I’d love to hear what your favorite crafts and activities you do for Valentine’s Day are in the comments… and again, let me know what you think we’re doing with these sheets too.

Looking for other fun Valentine’s Day activities? Check these out:

• Icy Heart Melt
• Candy Heart Experiment
• Celery HeARTwork
• I Love You Instax Picture and Frame
• Heart Banner
• Rainbow Heart Match