I Heart Simple Projects

My favorite kinds of art projects with the boys are those that are extremely simple and require very little direction from me. I love it when my almost three-year-old can just be creative and enjoy the process. While the end result on some crafts may be really cute, if it involves lots of prep work, steps, and direction, chances are it's not as much fun as the free-for-all project. With the valentine art below, my son really enjoyed painting these simple pictures, and I was happy to use materials on hand and just sit back, watch, and wait to see his masterpiece.
BOOKS: There is no shortage of books about love, and both of these simple, sweet books are so wildly available that if you don't already have them in your own personal library, I bet you have a mom friend who would loan you her copy. Both my little boys enjoy Karen Katz's Counting Kisses. And everyone appreciates the parent-child bunny duo in Sam McBratney's Guess How Much I Love You.ACTIVITY: Sponge Print Hearts -- I simply took an extra, unused kitchen sponge that was just sitting under the sink and cut it into a heart shape with scissors. My son then took it, dipped it in tempera paint, and went for it. He was really into mixing the colors and stamping away. The pictures turned out well, and I love the simplicity of a page of colorful hearts.