Easy Thumbprint Hearts – Gifts Kids Can Make
Many moons ago, I hosted my fellow bloggers in a “31 Days of Love” series… we had lots of fun and so many gorgeous crafts were shared. I am now taking to opportunity to cherry pick some of these ideas, that I think make wonderful Gifts Kids Can Make in the run up to Christmas, family birthdays, Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day of course or “just because”! Today, we share these adorable keepsake thumbprint hearts magnets made with my favourite of favourite homemade materials our favourite salt dough recipe! Now that my own kids are older (teenagers!), I wish we had made of these keepsakes when they were little. They grow up SO FAST!
The original Valentine’s Day Post from way back in 2015:
Today we welcome Louise on our 31 Days of Love Series – except it isn’t really 31 Days anymore.. right? But more like 35.. but how can I resist all those great Love Crafts and celebrating Valentine’s Day with fellow bloggers from around the world? So today, we have another Valentine’s Day craft for you – cute little Thumbprint Heart Magnets! A super cute gift and great little keepsake that kids can make and that would make a great Valentine’s Day gift for friends and family. Though Moms especially will love these. They are a great classroom activity too. These thumbprint hearts make wonderful keepsakes to make on Valentine’s Day! The perfect Valentine’s Day Gift for Toddlers to make. Gorgeous.
Extension idea: maybe make smaller versions of these and turn them into thumbprint heart necklaces
Hello, I’m Louise and I am sooo excited about guest posting over here at RED TED ART (one of my all time favourite blogs!) and sharing this craft tutorial with you today. Thanks Maggy!
I blog over at “Messy little Monster’ and I would love you to pop over to see all the crafts, activities, and adventures I get up to with my little monster Harry (3) and his baby sister Daisy (5 months).
I am a primary school teacher and I LOVE anything arty, Harry loves making a mess and Daisy just smiles at everything. We have lots of arty, crafty, messy fun together and I would love to share our fun ideas, creations and activities with you. Today I have a great gift idea to share with you, that hopefully the whole family will enjoy making.. or you can make these in a classroom environment too. It is a simple craft and perfect for not just Valentine’s Day, but Father’s Day, Grandparent’s Day or, of course for Mom on Mother’s Day!
‘THUMB body loves you’ Thumbprint Magnets
I absolutely love being able to capture my kids tiny little prints, whether its handprints, footprints or fingerprints, as they really don’t stay small for long! Today I am delighted to be able to share these gorgeous thumbprint magnets with you. They would make great valentines or Mothers day gifts (if you don’t keep them as a keepsake for yourself).
Make some Salt dough
This Salt dough recipe is super easy and versatile to make – simply mix the following (adding the water gradually).
- 2 Cups of Flour
- 1 Cup of Salt
- upto 1 cup of water
You can add some good quality red food colouring to your salt dough and colour it red ahead of time. Or you can paint your salt dough red afterwards. We have used paint to colour salt dough in the past, but found that we got best results with the good quality food colouring!
Thumbprint Magnets – additional supplies
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- A heart-shaped cookie cutter (UK/ US)
- Acrylic paint for the thumb prints (red UK /US) (gold UK/ US)
- Paints for the salt dough (I like using high quality food coloring)
- Sealer/varnish (UK / US)
- Small magnets (UK/US)
- Fine black sharpie (UK / US)
- Strong PVA glue or hot glue to secure the small magnets
- Your child’s thumb….
How to make Salt Dough
You can watch our handy salt dough video tutorial if you wish! Or simply follow the detailed step by step instructions below!
Salt Dough Thumbprint Hearts – Fridge Magnet Gift Idea
Make your basic salt dough clay
Take your flour and put it in a mixing bowl.
Add the salt and mix.
Add half the water and stir.
Gradually add the remaining water and keep mixing and stirring until you have a smooth dough.
Add colour to your salt dough mixture if you wish
We made up a batch of red and natural coloured salt dough.
We flattened our salt dough and cut out several heart shapes using a cookie cutter.
Add your children’s fingerprints to your salt dough
Now it is time to add your children’s fingerprints!
Harry dipped his thumb into some acrylic paint and I helped him make 2 thumbprints on our salt dough in the shape of a heart. We used red paint on the natural coloured salt dough and gold for the red salt dough.
We then left them to dry. You can bake them in the oven at a low temperature (about 150 degrees) or leave them to dry in a warm room for a couple of days.
Add the finishing touches to your heart magnets
Once our hearts were dry we sealed and varnished them. We used Mod Podge all in one sealer glue and finish but you could try PVA glue.
Once the varnish had dried I had a smooth surface ready to write our message ‘THUMB body loves you’. I used a fine black ink sharpie.
I glued a small magnet to the back of each salt dough heart! Strong PVA glue is good for this.
Do you know anybody that would love to receive a thumbprint magnet?
Here are a few more heart crafts from ‘Messy Little Monster’ that you might enjoy
Check out a round up of last year’s Valentine’s Day Card ideas? An extensive collection of gorgeous heart themed cards to make for Valentine’s Day or all year round!
Full listing of 31 Days of Love posts here!