200 Quick & easy experiments

Crazy chemistry experiments

Electronics & Robotics

Engineering & Building

Motion & Mechanics

Anatomy & Biology

Toy & game design

Math made fun

STEM Activities

750+ Quick & easy craft ideas

Recycled creations

Fun & functional projects

Jewelry & Fashion design

Handmade cards & gifts

Art & Creativity

Fun & Games

Hands-on learning

Sound & Music

Pretend play

Play & Learn

Kitchen science

Fun with food

Sweet & salty snacks

Treats & Dessert

Cooking for kids

Cooking & Baking

Animals & Bugs

Plants & Rocks

Seasons & Weather

Radical rainbows

Outdoor Adventures

Space exploration

Nature & Adventure

Birthday fun

Pi Day

Earth Day

Easter

Holiday & Events

heart

Valentine's Day

human body

science project

physics

anatomy

STEM

learning activity

at-home learning

In honor of Valentine's Day, we decided to get a little messy and explore the science behind what the holiday is really about - the heart!Want to explore anatomy without the hassle of gathering materials? Dive into learning with a <a href="https://kiwico.com/us/store/dp/vet-starter-kit/3542" target="_self">Vet Starter Kit</a> from the <a href="https://www.kiwico.com/store" target="_self">KiwiCo Store!</a>&nbsp;

aa7baad628633.jpg

Cut the neck of the balloon where the balloon starts to widen. 

ad01f5c406362.jpg

Fill a jar halfway with water and add 3 drops of red food coloring. This will act as the "blood" pumping through the heart!

a399787196a48.jpg

Stretch the balloon top over the jar. Keep stretching the balloon to make sure it is lays flat across the mouth of the jar.

a0398a5d7fd65.jpg

Use scissors to carefully snip two small holes into the balloon, about 1 inch away from each other. Make sure each hole is big to fit the width of the straw, but small enough so that the balloon is tight around the straw, preventing the air from escaping between the straw and the balloon.

a8fdd100490e6.jpg

If you cut the holes a bit too big, use tape to patch the side of the straws. Also, tape the end of one of the straws. Now it's time to pump your heart! Place your heart pump on a tray (this is going to get a little messy!). Use your fingers to press down into the balloon between the two straws. Watch the blood pump out from the pink straw! Of course, the action of a real heart is much more complicated than this simple model, but your heart really is a pump! With every heartbeat, muscles in your heart contract and squeeze the chambers (or open spaces) within your heart, just like your finger poking into the balloon. This squeeze pushes the blood in the chamber and moves it out of your heart and into your arteries. In your balloon heart, the water "blood" gets pushed up and out the straw "artery". Your heart does this an average of 70 times every minute, pushing your blood all the way around your body and back to your heart again!

balloon

red food coloring 

water

Scissors

straws (x2)

Tape

Heart Pump

Valentine’s Day crafts

circuit

electronics

engineering

indoor project

This card is sure to be the highLIGHT of your Valentine's day! Conductive paint makes this an easy, but impressive, circuitry project.

ae4090bb7142f.jpg

a2ca6ea109d8e.jpg

Print out <a href="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/images.kiwicrate.com/printables/Printable_Tinker_CircuitValentines.pdf" target="_blank">the template</a> onto colored paper and cut along the solid black lines.

a455bf6f1e8e0.jpg

Tape or glue the small piece of paper (the bottom of the lightbulb) to the back of the switch flap.

ae86c060e29b5.jpg

Fold the switch flap up towards the front of the card.

a482cbf842569.jpg

Using the pushpin, poke a pair of holes through the two small dots in the center of the card (near the top of the heart). Insert the two leads of the LED through the holes with the longer pin (the positive side) on the left. Leave the LED slightly raised above the paper (about 1/8"), and fold the pins down flat on the back of the card.

a0cd3cbaf693f.jpg

Time for the conductive paint! This part can get a little messy, so be careful not to smear your wet paint. Unfold the switch flap so your card lays flat. Squeeze out the paint around the LED, making sure it makes contact with the two pins. Then squeeze out the paint along the gray line

a24b1e98f4419.jpg

Next, squeeze a slightly larger dot on the inside of the switch flap, and inside the battery circle. Make sure the dots are touching the paint lines.

The more paint you put, the longer it will take to dry.

ab4cef5bf6c1f.jpg

The paint will act as a glue for your battery. Carefully place the battery positive side down, over the larger circle.

aae6fbc7a8a74.jpg

Wait overnight for the paint to dry. When it is completely dry, fold the flap and watch it light up! For a personalized touch, write your recipient's name inside the lightbulb, or create your own graphical circuits instead of using the template!

colored paper

printer

push pin

led light

coin cell battery (CR2032)

conductive paint

Light-Up Valentine

useful craft project

Repurpose those pencils without erasers to create a light-up flower pencil! 

ac8e68bc3950c.jpg

aced9c9b5bf40.jpg

Wrap the pencil in green tape. We wrapped our pencil in two shades of green. 

ae2b3b3da03a8.jpg

Cut two 4x4” (10.2x10.2 cm)&nbsp;squares out of the red cardstock. Then, cut one 4x4” square and one 3x3” (7.6) square out of the pink construction paper. 

ad4815860c0a0.jpg

Glue the large pink square to one of the large red squares.

a0df198898f1e.jpg

Crease the square in half vertically and horizontally. 

a2ee5019ef16e.jpg

Flip the square over. Then, crease it diagonally in both directions 

a061d02d94f0d.jpg

a3fe24bb69b63.jpg

Fold the square into a small square as pictured. 

a82632d8efb35.jpg

Draw a heart on the smaller square lining up the bottom point of the heart with the folded point of the square. 

aacbfc09dc243.jpg

a6c5e2f7f27d9.jpg

Repeat steps 5-10 with the remaining large square and small square. Then, open up all of the heart petals.

a1e7121ca76d4.jpg

Poke a hole in the center of each heart petal with a pushpin. Then, widen the hole with a pencil. 

ababd81236533.jpg

Wrap the LED around the top of the pencil. Then, press the solid red petals onto the pencil. 

ab08c634eb88b.jpg

 Hot glue the LED in place. Then, place the smallest heart petal over the LED. 

a822ace88a2a0.jpg

Flip the pencil over so that you are looking at the underside of the flower. Then, bend the longest wire of the LED towards the underside of the flower. 

a9f77bba13a9a.jpg

Tape the coin battery over the bent LED wire with copper tape. 

ad7f720f17e8a.jpg

Bend the other wire of the LED so that it just barely touches the exposed side of the coin battery.  

Make sure that your coin battery is in the right orientation. If your LED doesn’t turn on, flip your battery over! 

aaceb972e6d64.jpg

Slide the double-sided large petal onto the pencil towards the other petals. 

a32170079faef.jpg

Secure it in place by wrapping a rubber band directly underneath it. 

a427c0a4f6451.jpg

Push up on the bottom petal and your flower should light up! 

pencil

tape (green)

cardstock (red)

construction paper (pink)

coin cell battery

led light (red)

copper tape

Ruler

hot glue gun

pushpins

rubber band (small)

Light-up Heart Flower

art project

craft

homemade craft

easy craft

A quick and fun way to make a unique heart collage utilizing various fine motor skills.

af4a6e8077471.jpg

Gather all your ingredients (not pictured: masking tape and white glue).

a9b5279ceb566.jpg

Start by using the heart stencil and pen to trace a heart shape onto your contact paper.  Trace onto the paper side with the words.

a9d56e36a3dc4.jpg

Cut out around your heart, leaving a large border around the heart shape.  V just started using scissors, so she cut them out and I trimmed them up a bit.  Remove the paper backing from the contact paper (V loved doing this part!).  Tape down heart traced contact paper, sticky side up.

a90fcae8a1f03.jpg

Start tearing up the construction paper, placing the pieces onto the sticky side of the contact paper in any way.  V LOVED tearing up the paper - this was her favorite part of this activity!

a06e835940d04.jpg

Fill up the entire sticky space with torn paper.  Cut out another piece of contact paper the approximate size of the collage piece.  Remove paper from this piece of contact paper and lay sticky side down on top of paper collage, sealing it together.

a4e75553c710d.jpg

Next, pat down the layers securing them together.  Another favorite of V's.

ae6eb78657ebe.jpg

Remove the masking tape and flip over the collage so that the traced heart shape is on top.  Cut around collage following heart shape around.

a4505849f0b00.jpg

If necessary, open layers and place a small amount of glue for extra closure.  Ours was quite thick with torn paper (V was quite excited about this project and tore many strips).  We had very few empty sticky spaces to hold it closed.

a8a7a1a9c6c9b.jpg

And there you have it, the front and back look of a beautiful torn paper heart collage.  If you'd like, you can add a magnet strip to the back to make it a magnetic decoration, some double stick tape to add it to a window, or some string to hang it.

Construction Paper

clear contact paper

heart stencil

masking tape

white glue

Torn Paper Hearts

magnets

decorations

quick craft

handmade cards

A simple and quick little project that involves crumbling, smashing and gluing - which is sure to be a delight in any child's eyes.

ac7f32566c541.jpg

Start by gathering your supplies. We used both kid scissors and adult scissors in this activity, because we both did some cutting.

ab75a01a924e9.jpg

Have your child squirt the glue into a small dish (V LOVES this part).  Next, remove the paper from the magnet strip, exposing the sticky back, and place it on the backside of the heart cut out.

acc87a53b94cd.jpg

Cut the tissue paper in strips and then cut it again, into smaller squares.  Because she is just starting to learn how to use scissors, this part was done by both V and I.

ad479ab6a0f20.jpg

Now onto the fun stuff!  Start by crumbling up each tissue paper square, dip it in the glue, place it on your heart shape, and then smoosh it down.

ae026444fdb89.jpg

Crumble, dip, place, smoosh, and repeat until the heart is covered in color!

a39121ae1a52e.jpg

As you are repeating these above steps you can also fill in the extra glue spots by placing plain tissue crumbles to fill in the holes.  Once completed, allow to dry for one hour.  Admire your creation.

card stock paper (heart cut out)

tissue paper (2 colors)

sticky back magnet strips

small dish

Magnetic Tissue Paper Hearts

This fun project was such a hit.  It involves several mediums that merge together to form a beautiful collage.

a2fa788c3eddd.jpg

Start by gathering your supplies.  I used both kid scissors and adult scissors in this activity, because we both did some cutting.

52 easy valentines day projects for kids

Screen-free fun!