Bunny Valentine - Lunch Box Treat

One of the fun things I like to do near the holidays is find little ways to surprise the boys in their lunch boxes. These sweet treats will be headed into their lunch boxes on Tuesday in honor of Valentine's Day.

When I spotted these yummy Annie's bunny grahams at the grocery store the other day they inspired me to create this fun Valentine's Day Lunch Box Treat. 

Veggie Print Valentine's Cards

I absolutely love seeing all the creative ways other bloggers have come up with to create Valentine's Day cards. Although the "big day" is officially here, I wanted to share one more sweet way we made cards for family members this holiday.

Actually, maybe it would be better to say one more not-so-sweet way we came up with making Valentine's Day cards in that we used vegetables. In the past we've enjoyed using potato prints to make Snowmen Cards and Printed tea towels. This time we included potatoes and branched into other types of vegetables.

Heart Play on the Light Table

Valentine's Day is coming, which means it's a great time to create and play with hearts. A few years ago I bought these fun plastic hearts at The Dollar Tree. We've used them in other sensory play ideas before, like this Valentine's Day Sensory Bin.

But the other day I was inspired to try them on the light table. 

Little Brother and I were home on a pretty dreary and rainy afternoon, looking for some ways to brighten up the rest of the afternoon when we got out the Valentine's supplies and remembered these colorful hearts. 

Simple Sticker Valentine's (with Free Printables)

I absolutely love all the amazingly adorable and fun Valentine's ideas you can find these days on Pinterest. We've loved sharing them this month on Facebook and adding them to our Valentine's Day Pinterest Board.

And while we were tempted to recreate some of these amazing ideas, this year we decided to keep it simple with these Sticker Valentine's Day cards.

I originally didn't plan on sharing them, so we're posting this a little close to the day, but they were so simple and easy to create, and looked pretty cute in the end we couldn't resist posting anyway. 

Rolling Pin Valentine's

I first saw using a rolling pin and foam stickers to paint this fall over at Fantastic Fun and Learning when they were creating Rolling Pin Fall Leaf Paintings. I tucked it into the back of my mind as something I wanted to try with the boys. When I was trying to think of a way for Little Brother to be a little more hands on with his Valentine's, it came to mind.

I decided to use the smaller rolling pin that the boys use in their play kitchen or play dough play, with the idea it might be easier for Little Brother. Even though it's a rolling pin used for play, I took the tip of wrapping it in plastic wrap. On top of the plastic wrap I added a few foam heart stickers. (Foam stickers are pivotal to the project as they are thick and are raised off the pin.) 

Love Bug Cards & 20+ Love Bug Crafts & Activities

Last year we discovered the fun of creating "Love Bugs" for Valentine's Day. Our egg carton love bugs were simple and fun to create. This year we decided to extend our love bug fun into an easy to create card idea.

While creating we discovered lots of other great Love Bug ideas, make sure you check out the list of awesome ideas for incorporating love bugs into all elements of Valentine's Day at the end of this post.

Homemade Valentine's Craft Tray

We're excited to be participating in our third Read + Play event!  This time 20 + bloggers have all connected a favorite Valentine's Day book with a great play, craft, or learning activity.

In the last few years we've discovered the character Pete the Cat and really enjoy this series. In his Valentine's Day book, Pete the Cat: Valentine's Day is Cool, he begins the book thinking Valentine's Day isn't cool. But as he makes Valentine's for his class, family, and friends he discovers Valentine's Day is cool.

Using Candy Hearts for Early Math Skills (With 3 Free Printables)

We've been having a lot of fun with these early math games and activities the last week, all using candy hearts, and had to share in case a kiddo in your house gets these treats tomorrow.

Valentine's Day Sensory Bin

The other day we wound up home on a snow day, which gave us a nice long day to work on some Valentine's Day projects and crafts. 

One activity was setting up a Valentine's Day sensory bin. 

Before this week we had note yet tried a bin of rice for our sensory play. We decided to try it for this round. 

Chocolate Playdough Valentine's Day Play

We couldn't resist making a new batch of our Chocolate Cake Playdough as we approach the Valentine's Day holiday. We love the super chocolate smell of this great playdough.

This time, we decided to pretend to make Valentine's Day chocolates and cookies. We used cookie cutters, heart sequins, beads, mini muffin liners, and sparkly pipe cleaners to decorate the creations.

Love Bugs

We're getting closer to Valentine's Day, which is by far my favorite crafting holiday and I love sharing the fun with the boys. Big Brother is already getting excited by remembering some of last year's projects. We have several fun crafts planned for the next few weeks. We kicked off this year's Valentine's Day crafting with these egg carton "Love Bugs."

Double Chocolate Valentine's Popcorn

Yesterday (January 19) was National Popcorn Day, which inspired Big Brother and I to experiment with a new popcorn recipe ourselves. In order to get ready for Valentine's Day, we decided to try out a new recipe we might want to give some of our own sweet valentines.

We've made white chocolate popcorn before, but decided this time to add in a semi-sweet chocolate element too.