Dinosaur Classroom Valentines

My little preschooler had a Valentine’s Day party this week where he exchanged cards with his classmates. I could have easily picked up a box of ready-made cards at the store, but my inner crafter said to DIY, and so here are his classroom valentines this year.

“What?” you ask in utter disbelief, “No sharks?”

Well, I’m guessing his classmates are probably a little sharked-out by this point in the school year so I went with the next best thing for little boys his age… dinosaurs!

I got the idea from the quote, “RAWR! means I love you in dinosaur.” and similar projects throughout the blogosphere. Coming from a bilingual house, I think the translation factor is simply adorable. And for a mom not so big on candy, I much prefer the toy takeaway.

So if you’re in need of a last-minute fix, here’s how these dino-mite valentines come together:

1.  Print the FREE PRINTABLE on white card stock and cut out each card. I did it by hand with scissors, cutting just inside the dotted lines.

2.  Cut assorted colors of card stock into quarters to layer behind the valentine, giving it more weight and a nice pop of color. Attach the valentine to the colored card stock with double-sided tape.

3.  Attach toy dinosaurs with hot glue. For my cards, I bought this Toob of Dinos from Safari Ltd. at my local craft store, which provided a nice assortment of 12 dinosaurs. Don’t worry about the hot glue; it won’t hurt them and will peel off when it’s time to play.

4.  Just to be safe — and because I thought it was cute — I punched holes and tied the dinosaurs on to the cards with a little red and white baker’s twine.

And there you have it. Happy Valentine’s Day! — v.

UPDATE: I made these again the next year for new classmates, but in a smaller, more colorful version. I also attached the dinosaurs with washi tape. Still a big hit and even cuter. Get this version’s printable HERE.