handmade valentine ideas for classmates

For our classmate Valentine exchange each year at Naiya's Waldorf school, we try to come up with a few ideas, try them out and then pick our favorite to mass produce.  I made all of these at night while Naiya was sleeping so we could decide in the days following which we'd like to choose to do together.  Sometimes our pick is based on love of the end result.  More often we make decisions because of time available or interest or skill of the participants.  (Naiya is often excited to make one or two of something but not so keen on fashioning 12 or 15.)
In year's past we've stuck mostly with two dimensional versions of the classic little Valentine card.  (You can see inspirations from previous seasons here, here and here.)  This year we're trying a few non-traditional trinket options as well.  Perhaps a little something for friends to hold onto even when the day has long passed.  A number of these are beyond the skills of my six year old.  Some she can help with only to varying degrees.  Maybe we'll save a few of these ideas for the future...

This cute little charm was made with copper wire and beads.  Pretty simple but perhaps not the most appealing for a few of the boys in class.  Kindergarten boys seemed to be a mixed bag when it comes to this kind of thing.   There are a few who would love it and some who would just be confused.  Naiya nixed this option for this reason but still thinks it's super cute.

The single piece of molded wire starts and ends at the bottom with a twist.  The bead there at the bottom covers that twist and is secured with a bit of glue.

Here's an alternate treatment of the classic painted ladybug.  The underside contains her simple Valentine note: "love, Naiya".

This is fiddly paint work not so suited to small children but a fun one if you're an adult preparing something on your own for your child to give away.

Also a great addition for seasonal play on the Valentine Nature Table.

We do wet-on-wet watercolor all the time.  This is a little variation made by placing stickers on the page prior to painting.  When the watercolor dries, we remove the sticker to reveal the pure heart.  We mounted it on burgundy card stock using a glue stick.

Another fun use for all those watercolor paintings is this little greeting which Naiya will be able to make almost entirely on her own.  She paints and does the sewing while I cut out the heart and pre-punch the holes (with a large needle) for her threading work.

(I think this is the one we've actually chosen to make by the dozen for the classmates this time around.)

Our last idea is this festive felted bracelet.  It's got a bit of elastic in back so the kiddos can get them over their hands. 

Decorative options are endless.