Be mine

Valentine's Day is all about love. Sharing messages of love with family and friends is a simple and fun way to celebrate.

For the younger tots who can never have enough cutout hearts, traditional cards are the best. Construction paper, glitter, glue, and stickers provide lots of fun. Red, pink, and white paper are standard, but allow your child to choose his favorite color as well. Help him cut out paper hearts and let him decorate them—to his heart's desire! While he makes his valentines, you can create your own paper hearts with messages and put them around the house in special places where your kids and family can find them.

Folded hearts

1. Choose any color of construction paper.
2. Fold it in half.
3. Cut out a heart by cutting one-half of a heart from the folded side of the paper (when you open it, you'll have a "full" heart).
4. Choose another color construction paper and cut out a smaller heart.
5. Keeping the smaller heart folded, cut out pieces from it like you would with a paper snowflake.
6. Open up the smaller heart that now has a pattern cut out and glue it onto the bigger heart.
7. Write a message on the blank side of the bigger heart.

Layered hearts

1. Choose any color combination of construction paper and origami paper.
2. Cut out big, medium, and small sized hearts.
3. Layer them on top of each other and glue them into place.
4. Write a message in the center of the smallest heart or on the back of the largest heart.

Valentine pop-ups

These take a little more time, but are well worth the effort.

1. Fold an 8½ by 11" piece of construction paper in half.
2. Place the folded paper so that the tallest side is facing you.
3. Help your child to measure down 3½" from the top along the fold and put a dot.
4. Measure another 1½" and put a second dot.
5. Make a horizontal cut across the fold on the first dot. The cut should go 2" into the paper.
6. Repeat on the second dot.
7. Open the card and gently fold the slit rectangle only in toward the middle of the card.
8. Fold the card closed again.
9. Turn the card on its side so that the longest side is horizontal to you. When you open the card, you should see a strip that pops up. Have your child make a heart, flowers or some other picture to glue on the face of the strip.
10. Take another 8½ by 11" piece of construction paper and fold it in half.
11. Glue the cut portion of the card (the part with the fold) into the uncut piece of paper. This forms the front and back of the card.
12. Decorate with crayons, markers, and paints or cut out shapes. Write a message inside.