The Imagination Tree

Creative play and learning for kids

Cookie Cutter Heart Printing

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Happy Valentine’s Day! If nothing else, it’s a great excuse for lots of chocolate eating (always a bonus) and doing art and craft activities linked to hearts. In this girly household it goes down very well! This activity can be adapted to use any shape and is super easy and effective even for the youngest toddler.

 We found our heart-shaped cookie cutters and dipped them in special, gold and fuschia acrylic paint (any paint would do, but these colours are fab!)

 Then she simply printed onto bright coloured card and lifted up again quickly, trying not to smear the paint.

 We used different sized cutters and used language relating to size and smallest/biggest.

 The beauty of using cookie cutters and cardboard rolls to print with is that they have a very tiny surface area and therefore don’t slide all over the paper like when potato and sponge printing.  The latter require more dexterity and control and can be really frustrating for little children who want to see a great result, not just a big mess.

               
Naturally she wanted to paint it all over her hands too and make some handprints (as always!) and we will file those away somewhere until I can think of something else to turn them into!

Here you can see the lovely artist’s smock that my very talented friend Leah made for her birthday. I am trying to persuade her to set up an Etsy shop to sell them because they are quite simply brilliant!
                       
This activity is good for:
* creative development
* fine and gross motor development
* using language related to size, shape and colour


This idea is happily shared at: http://childhood101.com/ and http://www.abcand123learning.com/
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Comments

  1. thefluffybummedblog.com says

    This is such an amazingly lovely idea, might have to do some belated valentines cards for the family! Can I ask where you got the cute cutters from? I havent seen any with such good handles on as those! The artists smock is gorgeous too, definitely keep on at getting your friend to make them!!
    Have a great v-day!!

    Michelle xx

  2. pyjamaschool says

    “The beauty of using cookie cutters and cardboard rolls to print with is that they have a very tiny surface area and therefore don’t slide all over the paper like when potato and sponge printing.” Very useful tip, thanks! I’ve done lots of sponge and potato printing with Aaron, but until quite recently it always ended up very smudged. The heart prints look lovely!

  4. Anna @ The Imagination Tree says

    I can’t remember where I bought the cutters, sorry. I think it may have been Lakeland. They are very cute because they snap inside each other to make a nesting set- there are about 7 of them. Will continue to work on my friend 🙂

    I will check out your blog-hop MA, thanks.

  6. Anonymous says

    Good morning,I was wondering if your friend has decided to make smocks for others to buy yet?Would definitely be interested in it.Thank you for your time and I love everything you have done with your beautiful children.