The Day it Rained Hearts

I have been super excited for Valentine’s Day season to come around ever since I picked up “The Day it Rained Hearts” by Felicia Bond at my local thrift store. It was a steal for 50 cents. Hands down, this book is a must-read for Valentine’s Day!

One day it rains hearts, and Cornelia Augusta catches them. Each heart is special in its own way, and Cornelia Augusta decides to make Valentine cards for four of her friends.

I have serveral different activities planned for my kids to go along with this book, including our yearly tradition of making Valentine’s Cards for Aunts & Uncles, but first we made this “raining hearts” artwork. This craft is ideal for age 5+, but I made a version suitable for my toddler that you can see as you read through this post.

Here is how we made it:

1. Start by drawing a big cloud at the top of a gray sheet of cardstock paper.

2. Cover the cloud with glue and crunch white tissue paper squares all over it to form your cloud. (Here is my toddler pictured below, participating in this step)

3. Next we used these fabulous Foam Heart Stickers from CraftProjectIdeas.com and we staggered them across our paper, making sure not to overlap any hearts.

*(You can find these Felt Stickers at your local Wal-Mart in the Kids Crafts Section.)

4. To make our rain drops, I started by using a push pin to poke a line of holes from each heart to the cloud (For safety purposes, an adult will need to do this step).

You will want to make sure there is an even number of holes for each heart so the raindrops will work out properly.

5. To sew on our raindrops, we used a plastic sewing needle appropriate for children. I purchased a package of two at Wal-mart for less than $2. I threaded the needles for them and made sure to tie a double knot at the end. We ended up using crochet yarn simply because it was cheaper than the regular yarn. Any type of yarn should work just fine.

6. Have your child poke the needle through the back side of the paper first, at the top hole, then sew in and out of every hole until they reach the heart.

7. When you reach the bottom hole on the back of the paper, we cut the thread, and used tape to secure both ends of the thread to the paper. Then tie another double knot at the end of your thread and start on your next heart, continuing until each heart has it’s raindrops. We ended up having to re-thread our needle about every 3 hearts, but overall, I was impressed by how quickly my boys completed this process.

After you have sewed on all of your raindrops, turn over your paper to see your beautiful work of art!

My 8-year old’s artwork

My 6-year old’s artwork

To make this project age appropriate for my toddler, I had her draw lines from the cloud to her hearts with a blue crayon, instead of her sewing on the raindrops. Her art still turned out darling!

My 2-year old’s artwork