Step-by-step: Cute Valentine’s Day crafting for kids of all ages

Valentine's Day is not just for couples - children love to get involved with heart-themed arts and crafts, and creating something special to give to a loved one is a great way to teach them about gratitude. Meredith Huston is a certified elementary school teacher and founder of Turquoise Boutique Studio, a creative arts company in Dubai offering DIY experiences, tutorials and DIY Kits. She shares her step-by-step for making these cute crafts with your kids this Valentine's Day...

WASHI TAPE HEARTS: This craft is perfect for younger kids as an easy way to express their creativity and the finished product serves as the ideal base for a simple Valentine’s Day card. Here’s how to do it…

SUPPLIES: The key component here is washi tape! This inexpensive, easy-to-tear sticky tape comes in all sorts of colours and patterns, and can be bought online or from any store that sells crafting supplies. You’ll also need plain paper or card, a pencil and pen, and some child-safe scissors.

STEP 1: Trace or draw the heart shape with a pencil. You can either print off a template from the internet, or you can fold a piece of paper in half, draw one half of the heart, and then cut both sides out together so it is even. Or you can freestyle of course! Once you are happy with your heart shape, go over it with marker pen.

STEP 2: If your child is practising with scissors, let them chop up different lengths of washi tape and stick them on in any pattern they like.

STEP 3: Otherwise washi tape is very easy to tear. Manipulating the sticky tape is perfect for building on little one’s fine motor skills. Make it clear that it doesn’t matter how they place it – they can all be in one direction, or criss-crossed, higgledy-piggedly – anything goes!

STEP 4: Once the heart is all covered you are done! The finished heart can be stuck onto a folded piece of card for children to give to their chosen person or people on Valentine’s Day.

YARN WRAPPED HEARTS: These yarn-wrapped hearts require a bit more finger dexterity, so are better suited as an activity for older kids. They make for adorable Valentines gifts from children, or create a series of them for gorgeous, shabby-chic decorations; hang them on a wall or door, as a feature in a gallery picture wall, or dangle them from a branch bouquet to make a charming Valentine’s table centrepiece.

SUPPLIES: Wool, string or yarn of any kind are the key components for this craft. Different thicknesses and textures work well, and you can choose any colour palette you like, although pinks and reds are obviously the classic Valentine’s choice. We have used a thicker, neutral coloured rope for the base of this heart, to give it some heft. You’ll also need crafting wire and scissors.

STEP 1: Trim and mould the craft wire into a heart shape, and trim the same length of your base rope so that it can follow the lines of the wire. Snip off around 10 pieces of thinner yarn, each about 5cm long. Then use these spare pieces of yarn to secure the rope to the crafting wire, tying them at 2cm intervals.

STEP 3: Once your rope is secured to the wire, take one end of your desired yarn colour (we used pink) and tie it to one end of the wire heart, and then start wrapping all the way to the other end.

STEP 3: Once your rope is secured to the wire, take one end of your desired yarn colour (we used pink) and tie it to one end of the wire heart, and then start wrapping all the way to the other end.

STEP 5: Once finished, tie a double knot and use the closed scissors to tuck the trimmed tail underneath.

STEP 6: Make a gathering knot at the back of the piece to connect the ropes together.

STEP 7: Once done wrapping, trim off the yarn and send the end through the bottom loop.

STEP 8: Pull the upper tail up so that the connection point disappears under the wrapped bit.

STEP 9: Trim off the two tails.

STEP 10: Unwrap the twisted rope and trim the fringe.

STEP 11: And voila! Your yarn heart is finished and ready to be given to a love one.