Homemade Valentines: 5 Reasons We Make Our Own

Valentine’s Day.  I’m beginning to think it was a holiday created just to drive a mama CRAZY.  Oh sure, you have great intentions of creating the PERFECT homemade valentines.  They’ll be better than even Martha Stewart could have created.  And your child will be the envy of every other child in the class.  So you start to channel your inner-Martha..... and your child wants nothing to do with it.  You cajole, you argue and finally you give up and go and buy your Valentines at the store.  Well here are the reasons we’re still choosing to go with homemade Valentines this year.

 Promoting fine motor skills.  Cutting, Drawing, Printing, and Gluing.  They may be skills that come easily to many children – but not to my daughter.  Making our own Valentines gives her a fun way to practice skills that she otherwise finds frustrating

Letter and Name Recognition.  Especially in the Preschool and JK ages it’s great to practice printing their name.  As they get older the next step is recognizing, printing and reading classmates names. 

Promoting Creativity.  Sure it’s great to get your favourite cartoon character or action hero a Valentine.  But it doesn’t foster creativity.  In a world where kids have fewer and fewer opportunities to express themselves artistically – it’s kind of neat to see them create something for classmates.

Time Together.  How easy is it to sit down on the computer or in front of the TV after work.  But does that really count as “together time”.  Making Valentines together can be a fun way to spend an afternoon, without breaking the budget.  And you can have great conversations while you work!

Teaching the Value of Originality.   I love when my children think outside the box.  When they challenge themselves to come up with new ideas, and don’t just “go with the flow”.   It makes them stronger individuals and I hope they’ll carry that attitude through adulthood.  Creating your own Valentine is a neat way to show your child they can be an original!

So once again, we’ll be making our own Valentines this year.  I’m sure it’ll be down to the wire when we get them finished, and there will be a fair amount of cajoling on my part.  But she’s always so proud of the finished product – it’ll be worth it in the end.

What about you?  Store Bought?  Handmade?  Sound off below!