Valentine Crafts for Kids | Cardboard Roll Heart Stamp

Today we’re making a cardboard roll heart stamp as part of our series of Valentines Crafts for Kids.

If you’re even slightly crafty, have small children, and a tiny bit of an art supply hoarder, you probably have a small collection of paper towel or toilet paper rolls hiding somewhere, waiting to be turned into art.

If not, it’s just a matter of time before you have one, and this is a good project to save or pin for later. It’s beyond simple to execute, and young children enjoy the process of printing with these rolls.

Supplies for Cardboard Roll Heart Stamp

• Cardboard roll/s: from paper towels or toilet paper
• Washable tempera paint
• Palette or paper plate
• Heavyweight paper to print on, such as card stock. We used 8.5 x 11 paper, cut in half.

How to make a cardboard roll heart stamp

1. If you’re using a paper towel roll, cut it in half to make the stamp more manageable for small hands
2. Press the roll flat and make two firm creases
3. Invert one of the creases and crease again to make the indent on the top of the heart
4. Fill a plate or palette with a shallow well of paint
5. Place the tube in paint and print

Over time, the cardboard roll will begin to lose its shape. To solve this, you can re-crease the roll, flip it over and use the other side, or make another roll.

Have a big stack of paper pre-cut and/or ready for all the stamping, and a clear table or floor to store the completed work. In this session, my three-year old made ten printed pages and my five-year old made five printed pages.

Make things with your prints

Once the prints are dry, you might be thinking about what to do with all of them. That certainly crossed my mind. Ours are still sitting in a pile, but we thinking about turning them into one of the handmade cards from this list.

Follow their lead

After she made about ten prints, my three-year old decided to paint her tube. As always, try to follow your child’s lead and go with the flow.

More Valentine Crafts for Kids

30 Valentine Activities for Kids

Valentine’s Gift: Heart Art Canvas, Red Ted Art

Deconstructed Valentines

Painting Heart Doilies, The Artful Parent

Sweet Potato Heart Prints

Handmade Valentine’s Cards, Playful Learning

Easy Valentine Bookmarks

Valentine’s Day Scavenger Hunt, Hands on as we Grow

Handmade Valentine Cards: The Amazing all-in-one Envelope

A healthy Valentine Snack