I feel bad. It’s almost Valentine’s Day and up until today we haven’t worked on a single craft. In fact, since Sweet P was born we haven’t completed a whole lot of any type of craft.
W doesn’t seem to mind… or notice. He’d rather play with his dinosaurs, cars, trucks and magnatiles anyway. But I still feel the need to provide W with plenty of crafting opportunities. Am I the only crazy one who feels the mom-guilt over ridiculous issues like not crafting enough?!
In order to make myself feel better and, oh yeah, provide W with some crafting fun, I squeezed in a last minute Valentine’s Day activity. It couldn’t be simpler and it’s a whole lot of fun for toddlers. Plus, it can double as a healthy snack!
Just take one of those carrots you were going to throw in that soup for dinner, trim it up into the shape of a heart, add some edible paint into the mix and you’ve got yourself an entertaining toddler activity.
Simple Heart-Shaped Vegetable Stamp Activity for Toddlers
I decided to use edible paint since I couldn’t stand to let a good carrot go to waste. There are lots of different types of edible paint (here’s a list of edible paint recipes from Learn Play Imagine), so I went with the easiest- yogurt mixed with food coloring.
W loves yogurt, so while he was painting he snuck a few tastes here and there. Oh, who am I kidding? By the time he was finished painting, most of the “paint” ended up in his belly. He even polished off the carrot! If you’re trying to get your toddler to eat more veggies, this is a great way to do it.
What you’ll need:
- carrots (or any other type of tough root vegetable)
- knife and/peeler
- paint (I used yogurt dyed with food coloring for an edible paint)
- paper
What to do:
- Wash and peel your carrot. Take a small pairing knife and trim up the carrot into a heart shape.
- Give your toddler some paint and paper and let them go to town!
Make sure you’re following along on Pinterest for more crafting ideas (that I may or may not ever complete).
I like that he’s putting the non heart end in the paint too! This is such a cute idea…you could use firm fruit too and make bigger shapes. (Also, not doing crafts does not make you a bad mother, haha).
Cute and easy idea! Also a good reminder that I need to do more crafting with my kiddos. Mine are slightly older (8,6 and 2) and I know they would just play with Legos all day long if I let them but we need to do other crafts especially simple ones (I’m all about easy setup!)
This is such a cute, fun idea!! my kids would eat the carrot in no time! ha!
lauren recently posted…Snowflake Party Pretzels
Love this idea! perfect activity to get us through this bitter cold weekend! Thanks for sharing 🙂