I LOVE this craft!
Not only does it always end up looking SO amazing, but it brings one of my favorite Bible verses into my Valentine’s Day and “love” units!
This craft is done using my frame painting technique.
You can print the page and the frame outline here
Cut out the middle of the frame leaving a heart shaped hole (cardstock works best because it won’t curl or rip when its gets covered with paint).
Tape the pages down with the frame placed like this:
*if your kiddo is all about coloring outside of the lines you can tape down another piece of blank paper to cover the bottom half of the tree paper to ensure only the top of the tree is painted*
The picture at the top of the post was done using dot markers which turns out really great – however, for Valentine’s day I thought marshmallows would make this activity extra special 🙂
The popsicle sticks aren’t necessary, but I thought it would add a degree of separation from the marshmallows being food 😄
He still went for it hahaha
The popsicle sticks serve another function though! When my friend exerts force on the popsicle stick, that force is transferred to the marshmallow resulting in it being moved – and TADA! You’ve just experienced an engineering/machine concept!
When he presses down on the popsicle stick, that force is transferred into the marshmallow pressing it against the paper! So simple, right?
Just remember – STEM is happening all around us, even in the simplest things we don’t notice, but the best way to make those connections in growing brains is to talk about it! (Hello language component!😃 ) Just like you may not have thought about a marshmallow on a stick being STEM, the kiddos may not either unless you talk about it! Something as simple as saying “Look! If I put the stick in the marshmallow, now when you pick up the stick, it picks up the marshmallow too!” If you’re STEM crazy, take out a markerboard and draw a mini diagram with arrows showing the forces!
Whatever floats your boat (also STEM 😄)!
Once the artist is satisfied, remove the frame for the revealing of the masterpiece!
He looks very pleased with his creation 🙂
He’s also probably happy that I added a sensory component and fed him a marshmallow 😆
Happy painting!
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