Love Bugs and Valentines

I love when a craft opportunity is found right under my nose. That's how these love bugs came to be. For afternoon snack on Monday, the kids had little cups of ice cream. As they were eating them I started thinking about the possibilities these little styrofoam cups had. On my lesson plan for the week I had "Love Bugs." I was going to bring in a few different recyclables for the kids to decorate. But these little cups were the perfect size so I rinsed them out and saved them until Wednesday. Then I put out every pink, red and purple craft supply I had and the kids got to work making their bugs.

I sat at the table with the kids helping with glue dots and double stick tape. This way we didn't have to worry about glue dripping down the sides of the cup. Because they were styrofoam, it was very easy for the kids to poke holes with the pipe cleaners to make legs and antennae. They used one pipe cleaner and weaved it through two holes for the antennae.

And they did the same for legs.

I put all the bugs on a little table in front of our mailbox folders. They are adorable!

I didn't have a styrofoam cup so I used an old fruit cup. It worked just as well except the Sharpies didn't show up so great so I had to trace over that smile several times. And I had to use a scissors to poke holes in it. But still cute, right?
I also wanted to share with you the valentines that me and my daughter will hand out. Since my class is crazy about Olaf, I just had to include him in my valentines. I saw several online that had the line "Some people are worth melting for." And when I saw the ice pop idea at Poofy Cheeks, I was sold. I decided to make my own tag, though, because I wanted it to say, "You're worth melting for, Valentine." I just taped the ice pop to the tag.

And my daughter, who is about 23 months, loves the applesauce pouches. So I decided to have her give those to her class for Valentine's Day. I saw several sites that had the tag "awesome sauce" but I also wanted to include something about squeezing, so again I made my own tags. It reads "You're awesome sauce Valentine! Give me a squeeze!" I attached the tag with some elastic string I received from CraftProjectIdeas.com.

And she's giving her teachers mini take-out boxes filled with kisses and heart-shaped chocolate. The tag says, "Love and Kisses from Elise."

I should have one more Valentine craft to share with you tomorrow, if all goes well at school!