# Straw-Blown Scented Valentine's Day Cards
> Kids drop scented food coloring inside a heart stencil and blow it around with a straw to make splashy patterns, then peel off the stencil to reveal a homemade Valentine's card.
- URL: https://www.funlittles.com/valentines-day-cards/
- Ages: 3–8 yrs · Difficulty: easy · Mess: medium
- Time: prep 20 min, activity 20 min
- Works for: one-on-one, small group, whole class
- Skills: fine-motor, oral-motor, art, colors, writing-practice
- Cautions: food-dye, ingestion-risk

## Materials (one batch)
- 1 sheet White cardstock
- 1 sheet Regular white paper (household)
- 1 piece Scissors (household)
- 1 piece Glue stick
- Liquid food coloring
- Frosting Creations flavor mix (matching color, e.g. orange creme)
- 1 piece Small bowl (household)
- 1 piece Medicine dropper
- 1 piece Drinking straw (household)
- Glitter glue or marker (optional)

## Substitutions
- Instead of frosting creations: Plain food coloring (Skip the flavor mix for unscented cards; the blowing works the same.)
- Instead of glitter glue: Marker (The author suggests either a marker or glitter glue to trace the heart.)

## Safety
- Blow out only, never sip: show kids how to blow through the straw before starting, since a straw can pull the colored liquid into the mouth. The scented color mix is not a drink.
- Give each child their own straw.
- Food coloring can stain hands, clothes and tables. Cover the work surface and use smocks.
- Lots of blowing can make little ones lightheaded. Let them take breaks.
- Adult handles the scissors when cutting the heart stencils.

## Before you start
- Fold a sheet of white cardstock in half for each card.
- Cut a heart shape out of regular white paper and remove the heart; keep the outer paper as the stencil.
- Mix food coloring with matching Frosting Creations in small bowls, one per color.

## Steps
1. Glue the heart stencil gently onto the front of the folded card with a glue stick.
2. Set out the bowl of scented color, a dropper and a straw.
3. Use the dropper to place 2 small drops of color inside the heart.
4. Hold the straw flat, parallel to the paper, and blow the drops across the heart.
5. Keep turning the card as you blow to make cool patterns.
6. Add more drops and colors until the heart is filled.
7. Adult: gently peel off the stencil to reveal the heart.
8. Trace around the heart with a marker or glitter glue, then add a message and names.

## Tips
- Hold the straw flat, parallel to the paper. That's the best way to create good patterns.
- Keep moving the card around while blowing. Big A was very pleased with how easy it was to blow around and make cool patterns.
- Use a glue stick only for the stencil. That's very important so the stencil is easy to remove.
- Watered-down paint was still too thick to create dramatic patterns. Food coloring makes a lighter liquid that's easy to blow around.
- Resist the temptation and don't use red when blow painting Valentine's hearts. The heart looks anatomically accurate and that's just creepy :)
- Plan ahead. Asking kids to make a card 1 hour before going to the party does not work in our household.
- Add a cheesy tagline like 'You blow my heart up with love.'

## The original post by TurkeyMom (2013)

Homemade Valentine’s day cards are the best kind of cards to give because they show the thought and effort the family put in to show their love to the receiver. If I plan ahead I can always find the right time to encourage the kids to create some homemade cards. Asking them to make a card 1 hour before going the party does not work ( in my household) That said we can't expect the kids wanting to make cards for all the occasions. Some times we do buy cards from the store and have the kids draw a small picture and write their names( mark making for the younger one) on it. Making Valentine's day cards was a great way to encourage the kids to express their creativity and imagination not to mention the oodles of opportunities to practice writing. .. So this week we will share three easy Valentine’s day cards ideas for kids. Today's post is one such a Valentine card idea.

Straw Blown Scented Valentine's day Card

 I folded a white card stock paper in to half. On other regular white paper I cut out a heart shape and pulled out the piece. What’s left will become a stencil of sorts. I gently glued (glue stick only) on the card stock paper. To blow some color and create cool patterns on the card we initially tried the usual water downed paint. Paint was still thick to create dramatic patterns.But today we used food coloring to create a lighter liquid to blow around. Not just food coloring, I added some fragrance in the form of matching colored Frosting Creations. Food Color + Frosting Creations = Scented liquid creates wonderful patterns



So there, orange food color + orange Frosting Creations is our liquid which is going to be manipulated with a straw. Once the stencil is in place on the cardstock paper, Big A placed 2 small drops of the food coloring on the stencil and started blowing the drop using the straw into the heart.

 She was very pleased that it was so easy to blow around and make cool patterns if we keep moving the card around.

 We experimented with many colors. Best way to create good patterns to show the child to hold the straw flat.( parallel to the paper)



Once she filled the card, I gently removed the stencil (( very important that you use a glue stick so that it is easy to remove the stencil) we were left with this.

 You can have your child trace the heart with a marker or glitter glue. I traced this one.

 That’s our orange scented homemade Valentine’s day card with a cheesy bonus love tagline. But hey, we were blow painting hearts so the song was stuck in my head.! Note: Resist the temptation and don't use red when you are blow painting Valentine's hearts. You know why? The heart looks anatomically accurate and that's just creepy :)

More [**Valentine's day activities**](https://www.funlittles.com/category/holidays/valentines-day-holidays/) on our category page. Check our a few sample posts below

- [**Rose scented play dough recipe**](https://www.funlittles.com/valentines-day-activities-rose-scented-playdough/)
- [**Hearts Butterflies**](https://www.funlittles.com/valentines-day-crafts-hearts-butterflies/)
- [**Easy Hearts Art**](https://www.funlittles.com/valentines-day-crafts-melted-crayon-hearts-art/)
- [**Hearts Printing for toddlers**](https://www.funlittles.com/valentine-art/)
- **[Rose Cloud dough recipe](https://www.funlittles.com/valentines-day-activities-sweet-smelling-cloud-dough/)**