"A mother holds her children's hands for a while – their hearts forever."

Valentine's Day is such a wonderful holiday for children. Their innocence and loving nature shines through the bright colors and bold heart shapes. Use these simple crafts and activities to help explain to your children the importance of love, kindness and compassion. Give your children hugs, kisses and teach them through your demonstration of affection. Children need to feel happy. They need to feel loved! Happy Valentine's Day!

Candy Heart Frame

What you need:
Wooden frame
Pink paint
Paintbrushes
Candy conversation hearts
Tacky glue or hot glue
Varnish

What to do:
Paint the frame with the pink paint and let it dry completely. Use your choice of glue to attach the conversation hearts to the frame. (Watch your child closely if you're using a hot glue gun!)

Next, cover the entire frame with candy hearts, or let your child make a fun pattern. Let the frame dry completely, and then, if desired, spray the entire frame with a couple of coats of varnish to help seal and protect it.

Creative Pop-up Cards

What you need:
Red, green and pink construction paper
Scissors
Glue
Markers or colors

What to do:
To make the card, fold a piece of red construction paper in half and then flatten it out in the open position. Then, cut a small 3x5-inch piece of red construction paper out and fold it in half as well. Fold a small lip on the two sides of the 3x5 piece of paper. Place glue on each lip, and place it inside your larger piece of paper to form the "pop up" section of your card. Open and close your card to make sure the "pop up" section will open and flatten.

Next, using the green construction paper, cut thin strips to act as stems for heart flowers. You can cut leaves out separately or cut them out as part of your stem. You will also want to cut out pink hearts of varying sizes to act as your flowers! Glue your flowers into the "pop up" section of your card. Now when you open your card, you should see a vase of heart flowers "pop up" at you.

You can decorate the front and insides of your card with more cut out heart flowers or markers. Help your child write a message to their friends, family or teacher!

Handprint Treasure

What you need:
Red construction paper
Pink construction paper
White paper doily
Red paint
Scissors
Paper plate
Markers

What to do:
Glue the doily to a piece of red construction paper. Next, cut out a heart slightly smaller than the red doily using the pink construction paper. (See tip below.)

Now, help your child press his hand into the red paint and make a handprint onto the pink heart. If you do not want to use paint you can trace your child's hand with a marker and let them color it in. Glue the finished heart onto the white doily, then help your child write a message on the paper.

Tip: Fold your paper in half and cut out half of the heart on the fold. If you do this, your heart will be a perfect shape.

Cookies in a Jar

What you need:
2+ cups canning jar with lid
5x5-inch scrap of material
3x5 notecard
12 inches of ribbon
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup chocolate chips

What to do:
Wash and completely dry the canning jar and lid, making sure it is completely dry. Then, layer each dry ingredient into the jar in this order: flour, baking soda, salt, brown sugar, sugar and chocolate chips.

On the notecard write the following instructions:

Chocolate Chip Cookies From the Heart

Combine the contents of the jar with one egg, 1 1/2 sticks of softened butter and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Mix well and shape into balls. Place on a baking sheet and bake 350 degrees F for 13 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes.

Add the sealing lid to your canning jar and then place the square of material on the top of the jar. Poke a small hole in the notecard and slip the ribbon through the hole. Secure the material to the top of the jar with the ribbon and tie a bow to finish it off.

Jell-O Hearts

What you need:
Instant Jell-O (red in color)
Cool Whip
Heart-shaped cookie cutters

What to do:
Prepare the Jell-O according to package directions. Pour the Jell-O into a shallow baking pan and allow to cool at least two hours. When cool, dip the cookie cutter into the hot water and cut out various heart shapes. Place them on a plate and serve with Cool Whip.

Want to see more?

• Valentine's Day the Preschool Way: Heart-y Activities for You and Your Child
• Homemade Fun: Games to Make – Then Play – With Your Child
• Toddler Socks Craft Idea
• Preschooler Activities Discussion Board