Valentine Crafts: Ditch the Paper Hearts and Reclaim the Holiday History

Valentine's Day was not always celebrated with red heart valentines, a box of chocolate and the single red rose. Commercialization is largely responsible for the discarding of traditional valentine activities in favor of these few universal (and now trite) symbols. This article proposes crafts and activities that reclaim some of the holiday's rich history and traditions around the world.

Activity 1

Hundreds of years ago, children in England dressed up in adult clothing and went door to door singing verses. This activity can easily be recreated in modern times. In schools for example, kids can research some love poetry or learn a simple romantic song or two, then go from classroom to classroom singing and reciting poetry. To keep the dressup angle simple, make stovepipe hats for the boys from black cardstock or construction paper. For the girls, make elegant hats by using a glue gun to attach tissue paper and ribbons on a frame made from a cut down oatmeal container or similar cardboard form. Let the tissue paper hang off in all different directions to create a floppy brim.

Activity 2

In Wales lovers exchanged wooden love spoons with key and keyhole designs on them. For a fun wooden spoon activity for a few kids, buy inexpensive flat-handled wooden spoons and let kids paint key and keyhole designs on them with nontoxic, permanent paint. Alternatively for a larger group, create mock wooden spoons from cardboard and cut a keyhole shape into it. Using a separate piece of cardboard, make a skeleton key that will fit into the key hole.

Activity 3

A love knot has no beginning and no end and has long been associated with Valentine's Day.They come in various shapes and levels of intricacy. Have children draw a love knot design on cardstock and glue ribbon over the design. Another alternative is to have children look at a picture of a love knot as a model and weave love knots from braided straw or yarn.

Activities 4, 5 and 6- variations on the love bird theme