Secret Message Valentine’s Day Craft

Your kids will love this super fun and easy Secret Message Valentine’s Day Craft!

Toddlers and preschoolers are obsessed with painting, amiright?? Ok, I’d venture to say ALL kids are obsessed with paint, but so far I can only confirm it up to preschool age. Since my kiddos love messing around with them, I try to use paints with as many crafts as my sanity will allow.

For this Valentine’s Day craft, we used watercolors to create memorable pieces of art that also contained “secret messages” that I wrote for them. Sometimes the simplest things are absolutely memorizing for little ones! Seeing the letters or designs appear through the watercolors will be so exciting for them.

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Something else that’s special about this craft is the way it makes kids feel. In many ways, we are laying the foundation of what our children will grow up to think of themselves. So we need to continually be lifting them up and giving them positive affirmations! A secret message craft is the perfect way to do that. 

Lu tried to create her own secret message, but she’s still working on learning to read and write. Not being able to clearly see what she had down already made it kind of difficult. She’s better at writing than reading currently, so she likes to write random letters down and then tell me what it says. I got a card that said “I love you mom” on it 🙂 even though it looked more like “DKMA ERJATW MOM” haha! These are the memories we want to hold on to, you know?

Secret Message Valentine’s Day Craft

This craft seriously couldn’t be any easier. Here’s the short list of items needed for it:

• Thick white cardstock: we actually used paper plates which worked great! Index cards would probably work too, but really just anything that is sturdy enough to handle the water
• Watercolor paints
• Paintbrush
• White crayon or oil pastel
• Water

Once you have your supplies, follow these simple steps to create a sweet and memorable Valentine’s Day keepsake for your little ones.

Writing the Secret Message

Use a white crayon or oil pastel to write the secret message. The wax or oil resists the water, so the message still shows through when the paint is added. My kids found this amazing when they first saw it! It’s a fun way to combine a tiny bit of science with their craft time. 

As far as the messages go, this really can be used in any way at any point of the year. Specifically for our Valentine’s Day craft, I wanted to write something uplifting to my kiddos. Two of the personal messages I wrote to them were “You are such a thoughtful big sister” and “We love how silly and lovable you are”. Take something specific to your child and write it down.

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When complimenting my kids, it’s always important to me that I be specific. General “You’re awesome” compliments don’t mean too much. A complete stranger could say that to someone! But to say something unique to them lets them know you see and pay attention to them. I know Lu is super proud of how much the baby adores her, and J is the most perfect combination of goofy and sweet there ever was. So those simple little sentences are very THEM, which makes them more meaningful. 

When I think of the “day of love”, I can’t help but think about the God of love. So I also wrote a couple bible verses on some of the cards! The two bible verses I included are Jeremiah 31:3  and 1 John 4:7. Both kiddos have really taken a genuine interest in knowing more about God and His love for us lately, so I’m happy to encourage that as often as possible.

An Easy Valentine’s Day Craft for Kids

Once you have your secret message written down, all that’s left is to let the kids have fun painting! They will LOVE seeing the white lines and shapes appear through the colors they add to the paper. 

One thing I try to do when my two are painting is talk here and there about color theory. I also allow them plenty of time to do their own thing without any interruption from me, but sometimes I have to take the opportunity for learning! Many times their paintings end up very brown from the mixture of colors, so I explain how the different colors mix together. We usually still end up with brown anyway, at least for J, but that’s ok!

Easy crafts like this are the best for toddlers because they can really take part. This secret message Valentine’s Day craft will be a fun way for your kiddos to get creative and spread the love!

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