Valentine’s Day Handprint & fingerprint art (with mess free option)

This easy handprint & fingerprint Valentine’s Day art is the perfect craft for toddlers and preschool age kids! It makes a great keepsake gift for Dad or the grandparents.

Want a mess free option for parents or kids who aren’t into the sensory experience? We’ve got you covered there too and it’s still super cute!

I love making cute keepsake gifts for the various holidays. This one is fun and versatile which is so important when working with kids. My 3 year old doesn’t have a long attention span for crafts and I’m never sure if she’s going to be down for some mess or not so back-up plans are important.

This craft can be made with just a few items that you may already have at home.

Supplies Needed

• 8.5 x 11″ piece of cardstock or canvas
• washable paints or dot markers

That’s it! All you need are those items and your child’s hands.

Directions

Now it’s time to get creative!

1 – Cut a large heart out of construction paper.

2 – Use rolled masking tape or a few glue dots to lightly attach the heart to a piece of cardboard or cardstock.

3 – Put small amounts of red, pink, and purple paint on a paper plate. Have your child use their finger to make fingerprints on the white part of your cardboard or cardstock.

Help them to ensure the edge where the heart meets the main piece is completely covered with paint so the heart shape will show.

I suggest you give them one color at a time to prevent them from mixing the colors together and ending up with a brown mess.

4 – Once they have done as many fingerprints as they want carefully remove the heart trying not to tear the paper underneath.

They can feel free to fill all the white space with fingerprints or if they’re like my daughter they’ll leave a lot of white space, either way will look cute and will be totally unique to them.

5 – Let your child choose a color for their handprint. Have them turn their hand palm side up and lightly coat their hand with the paint. Then help them flip their hand over and press it into the center of the heart.

Press it down gently so the paint will stick and then lift their hand straight up!

6 – Allow the paint to dry completely and feel free to add the words Happy Valentine’s with a marker or Sharpie and write the date in the corner so you can remember when this keepsake was made.

What if my child is a sensory avoider or I just don’t want messy paint?

If you don’t want to use paint or your child is a sensory avoider and won’t touch it you can still do this craft! Simply replace the paint with Dot Markers!

Follow steps 1-4 above using the Dot Markers instead of paint. For the handprint, it gets a little tricky.

5 – Place their hand on a piece of sturdy paper. Trace around their hand with a marker or pencil.

6 – Carefully cut out just the hand part, leaving the rest of the paper intact. This will create a stencil of their hand.

(Don’t mind the weird black lines and characters showing through. I used some old Halloween printables to make our stencil. We love to recycle around my house!)

7 – Center the hand in the middle of the heart space. Hold it down and allow them to fill in the handprint with the Dot markers. Be sure the entire area is filled with color before lifting the stencil.

I didn’t tape the stencil piece down, I simply held it down with my hands.

8 – Lift the stencil and you’ll have their handprint in the heart without getting any mess on their hands!

I hope you enjoy this simple Valentine’s Day craft.

Follow us on Instagram or subscribe to our newsletter for more great ways to entertain your kids.

Thanks for sharing!