You must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters.
Love each other deeply with all your heart. 1 Peter 1:22

Valentine’s Day is less than a week away and with it comes the perfect opportunity to talk to kids about love and family. My niece Sophia created this Valentine Craft and I paired it with a two-paragraph devotional. The craft is a keepsake, simple but sophisticated, meaningful, and definitely a step above your typical red construction paper heart.

Who it’s perfect for…

you and the kids to give your spouse
grandkids to give to grandparents
grandparents to ask their grandkids to do

Why it’s unique

It’s beautiful, something you’ll want to frame. Each member of the family designs one piece that fits together, reflecting everyone’s uniqueness and how they all come together as family.

What you’ll need

a piece of cardstock as large as the heart you’ll want to create, scissors, markers or crayons in a single color scheme (see below), (optional: shadowbox frame, posterboard, foamcore)

How to create it

(You can either do steps 1-5 and give the heart pieces as a gift to frame later. Or do all steps and give your Valentine the framed heart.)

1. Draw a large heart onto a heavy piece of cardstock. You can use this template for a heart that fits inside an 8-1/2 x 11 sheet of paper or use it to freehand a slightly larger size. The larger the heart, the easier to decorate individual pieces.
2. Cut the heart into as many pieces as there are kids in your family or people in your family
3. Choose a color scheme and medium for your heart. For example, blues, reds, purples or red, orange, yellows. Sophia’s little brother used crayons to decorate his piece and the others used markers or water colors.
4. Give one piece to every person and ask them to decorate it however they want, as long as they keep within the color scheme.
5. Collect the pieces and place in an envelope to give to your Valentine…OR
6. Attach the pieces to posterboard.
7. Glue the posterboard to a piece of foamcore and mount in shadowbox.

When you put it together (Family devotional) 

As your kids design their heart pieces, or even as you collect them to give as a gift, use the activity as a springboard to say…

“If you look at the different heart pieces, each of you came up with a creative design that’s all your own. They’re each unique. Just like we’re all unique. We have different likes and personalities and strengths. But we’re family. We fit together and stick together as one.

“What keeps us ‘glued’ together is love. God says, ‘You must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart’ (1 Peter 1:22). When we love each other deeply, it brings us together. Then when people look at our family, they’ll understand a little better how beautiful God’s love really is. What are some ways we do show love? What are some ways we could be better?”

I’d love to see a picture of your family’s keepsake heart!