February Crafts & Activities
February is one of those months that gives you a sense of winter finally having an end is sight. But then as soon as you think the worst is over, a snow storm hits and reminds you, nope, winter is still here. This makes for February a fun month of crafts! You can still do those winter, snow-themed crafts, but also start to bring in flowers and rainbows a bit. Not only does it hold Valentine’s Day in it, which, c’mon, that’s a great time for crafting, but it is National Children’s Dental Health month, which can then tie into Community Helpers. We’ve also used February a time to explore shapes (with hearts being the primary one), friendships and love, emotions and family.
In this page, you’ll find several Dental Health sheets and craft ideas, along with Community Helper and of course, Valentine’s Day.
Scroll down below to find ideas, free downloads, links and more!
Be sure to check back often, as we’re always adding and expanding!
Scroll down for Valentine’s Day & Community Helpers!!!
Dental Health (February is Children’s Dental Health Month)
Some quick facts of Children’s Dental Health to share with your kids or students (per the CDC):
- Cavities are the most common chronic disease of childhood in the United States
- More than half of children aged 6 to 8 have had a cavity in at least one of their baby teeth!
- More than half of adolescents aged 12 to 19 have had a cavity in at least one of their permanent teeth!
- Fluoride varnish can prevent about 33% of cavities in baby teeth.
- Applying dental sealants to the surfaces of the back teeth prevent 80% of cavities.
- Kids should brush their teeth twice a day with fluoride toothpaste for two minutes.
Healthy vs. Unhealthy Food Craft & Activity
For one of the crafts, use our blank tooth template (file below) to print out and either use as is, or as a template for construction paper. Go through magazines and flyers to cut out healthy and non-healthy food items. You can do this prior to the craft or as a part of the craft for the kids to find and cut out. Once several items are cut, have the children paste the healthy foods on one side of the tooth and the unhealthy on the other side.
For the activity, use our Healthy or Not templates (link below) and corresponding foods. For longevity, these can be laminated. Cut out all the food items. Have the children place the healthy foods on the healthy tooth and the unhealthy items on the unhealthy tooth. You can take this time to discuss these and others further.
Click below to print these templates out. Be sure to Scale “Fit to Paper” before printing.
Steps for Brushing Teeth Craft & Activity
Another craft to do is to use the blank tooth template (file below) and cut it out on white cardstock, construction paper, etc., or keep it as is on printer paper. Using paint sticks, crayons, markers, etc. have children paint/color the tooth then cut it out. With an x acto knife, cut to slits near the root of the tooth. Cut out the strips of steps (file below) and insert into the slits in the tooth. Have children slid back and forth to see the steps of brushing teeth.
For the activity, print out the Brushing Time worksheet. Have the children color, then cut the bottom pictures out and paste in the correct order.
Toothpaste Craft & Activity (Toothpaste Slime!)
As another craft, use the blank tooth template (file below) and with painters tape, affix to white construction paper or watercolor paper. Have the children paint all around it. Once complete, carefully remove the tooth and the tape. This will leave a white tooth. You can either keep as is, or have children use a toothbrush and toothpaste to paint the tooth itself. The toothpaste dries just fine and makes the craft so good!
An activity to do with toothpaste and a toothbrush is to get an ice tray and turn it upside down. With a dry erase marker put unhappy faces or marks on several of the cubes. You can also put playdough in between some of the cubes. Have the children place a small amount of toothpaste on the toothbrush (optional step) and scrub the “teeth” (cubes) to clean away all the markings. Afterwards, give the children floss, or yarn, pipe cleaner, to “floss” in between the “teeth” (cubes) to remove the “plaque” (playdough). This is always one of the favorite activities for our group to do. It’s easy and quick to set up for the next child as well. It’s also a great way to teach kids the steps of brushing their teeth, along with the importance of thoroughly doing so.
No-Fail Toothpaste Slime!
Our NO-FAIL TOOTHPASTE SLIME RECIPE! We’ve done SO many slime recipes throughout the years and there’s nothing more frustrating then having a bunch of kids patiently waiting while a batch of slime is mixed, only to find out the recipe didn’t turn out (for whatever reason). We’ve tried EVERY type of slime, with EVERY type of ingredient. There are several toothpaste slime recipes out there, but unless you want to waste several tubes of toothpaste, don’t try them! Believe, me, we tried a couple different ways and we ended up wasting it all. We fell back on our fail-proof slime recipe (click link for more info) and added toothpaste to it for the smell and it worked perfectly!! The recipe is also below:
INGREDIENTS – TOOTHPASTE SLIME
1/2 cup Glue
1/2 cup Water
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 Tbsp Saline Solution
1 Tbsp Toothpaste
Liquid Food Coloring or Liquid Watercolors
STEPS – TOOTHPASTE SLIME
STEP 1: Mix GLUE & WATER
STEP 2: Add desired drops of COLORING
STEP 3: Add BAKING SODA & TOOTHPASTE
STEP 4: Slowly add SALINE SOLUTION
STEP 5: Knead together with hands
All done!
Coloring Sheet & Pledge Badge
Finally, we have attached a color-by-number coloring sheet that kids can do on their own time. Best of all, our color-by-number shows the color, not just lists it. Kids will enjoy seeing their completed coloring sheet!
We also have Pledge Badges that children can color and either write, or say for you to write, what they plan on doing to keep their teeth healthy. These can then be cut out and affixed to their shirts with double sided tape, pin, etc. These can also be laminated for use as a bookmark, etc. These make a great way to end the Dental Health week!
Tip: Reach out to local dental offices to see if they’d like to donate some bags with their cards, toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss, etc. We’ve done this in the past and it’s always been successful, as businesses will gladly participate in this.
We hope your kids enjoy our activities. Be sure to check back, as we’ll be adding more. Leave us a comment and share our page!
Color-by-number Sheet
Valentine’s Day Crafts & Activities – February 14th
Below are some quick facts about Valentine’s Day to share with your kids or students:
- Valentine’s Day first took place in Paris on February 14, 1400, as Saint Valentine’s Day
- Candy hearts were created by a pharmacist
- 8 billion conversation hearts are manufactured each year
- People used to believe that the heart, not the brain, controlled body movement and memory
- Teachers are the number recipient of Valentine’s
Valentine’s Day Craft & Activities
Kids of all ages can enjoy Valentine’s Day crafts and activities. It’s a great time to explore friendships, family, emotions and shapes. Below are several fun crafts and activities we have done. Check back, as we’re always adding more!
Valentine’s Day Dreamcatcher
These can be used with large or small paper plates. Hand draw a heart, have the child draw a heart (doesn’t have to be perfect) or use one of our heart templates (see below) to trace a heart in the center of the plate. With an X acto knife, cut out the heart drawn/traced. With a hole puncher, punch holes around the heart. If this craft is going to be for preschoolers or Kinders, the less holes, the easier it will be for them. Have the children decorate the plate. They can use watercolors, paints, crayons, markers, stickers, etc. Take a large piece of string (be careful not to grab too large a piece as it will get tangled). Tie one end through a hole and plate to have it secured. Have your child thread through a hole on the opposite end and continue until all done.
Heart Coffee Filter Suncatcher
Coffee filter art is always a fun way to teach children that art can be used out of anything! For these heart suncatchers, we used decorative edge craft scissors to cut a heart out of the filter. We used markers on these, however, watercolors can be used as well (which we’ve done in the past and it works just as good!). Have the children draw on the filters; older kids can do patterns and images. Use several colors, but be careful to use too many as they’ll blend into a brown color throughout. Once done, have children put drops of water onto the filter; we use pipettes for this step. The kids can watch the colors spread! These can just be air dried or a dried by a blow dryer. Attach a string and it’s done!
Bee My Valentine Craft
As a parent, I always love getting crafts and gifts that include handprints and footprints. These capture a time in my children’s lives that will soon pass. With my oldest child now an adult, it’s very sentimental to look back at his crafts and see those tiny hands and feet in his crafts.
This Bee My Valentine craft is a perfect way to capture this time! Best of all, it’s super easy and quick to complete; it really doesn’t even need directions!
Tip: I always have baby wipes handy when doing hand/footprint projects.
Apply yellow paint to the child’s foot and press gently on white cardstock. Blow dry, or you can air dry and wait for the next step. Once dry, apply the bee’s black lines, wings & antennas. We use sticker eyes instead of googly; they’re cheaper, easier and last longer, but you use whatever you’d like. Draw hearts or add heart stickers if you’d like to finish it up. You’re done!
Valentine’s Day Canvas Painting
A keepsake Valentine’s canvas painting is a great craft and activity for your child or students to do! Buy bulk canvases from the store for the best deal!
These easy canvas ideas use templates that you can download for free below! It’s make a clean, easy way to create a painting that any age child can do; actually a painting that you’d love to hang on your walls!
These paintings are simple! Print out the heart template or LOVE template below. Either cut directly out of the paper, or use it as a template for cardboard; either works fine (we’ve done both ways). Using painters tape, or double sided tape, tape the template to the canvas. Have the children paint all around the templates. Once dry, remove the templates and you have a beautiful completed canvas painting!
Valentine’s Day Slime
We use our tried and true slime recipe, that can be found by clicking here!! Free Time Kids Playcare’s blog has several slime and play dough recipes! Be sure to check them out!
Add scent to the slime recipe. Cinnamon is a good one! Add glitter or confetti as well!
Valentine’s Random Crafts
Most of these crafts don’t need explanation and are used more for fine motor skills and expressing a child’s creativity rather than a keepsake craft.
Q-tip Painting Heart – Have your child draw a heart, or you can for the littles, and children can use a q-tip to paint inside the heart.
Dot Painting Heart – Use one of heart templates and with double sided tape, affix to white cardstock. Kids can then use dot markers all around the paper. Once complete, remove the heart template.
Handprint Picture – Put a child’s handprint on construction paper and cut out in a square. Kids can paint, color, decorate popsicle sticks. Hot glue the sticks to the construction paper. Hot glue string as a loop for the top and you’re done!
I Love You To Pieces craft/activity – Print out our heart sheet below. Let kids practice their scissor skills or tear scrap paper. They can then paste these pieces in the heart. This is a simple activity for kids to practice their fine motor skills.
Water Bead activity – Cut a heart out of scrap cardboard. Tape to another piece of cardboard. Add the already filled water beads to the center of the heart and wrap in plastic wrap then tape. This is a fun sensory activity for kids of all ages!
Valentine’s Day Hats – This is just one example of Valentine’s Day hats we’ve made over the years; Love Bug. Get creative and use whatever you have around to decorate the hats.
Below you’ll also find a Shadow Matching sheet, Valentine’s Day Coloring Sheet and FREE printable Valentine Cards and Bag Tags!
Be sure to check back often, as we’re always adding more craft ideas and printables!
FREE VALENTINE’S DAY BINGO CARDS – PRINTABLE!!
Print out the FREE Valentine’s Day Bingo cards. These cards are simple and great for Preschoolers on up! For yearly use, laminate these!
Be sure to check back often, as we’re always adding more craft ideas, templates and printables!
Community Helper Crafts & Activities
What are Community Helpers? They are people who work in the community for its overall well-being. Examples are are teachers, doctors, nurses, paramedics, plumbers, carpenters, mechanics, police and fire fighters.
Community workers work for the people residing in the community. They help us stay healthy (doctors, nurses, etc.) & safe (police, firefighters, etc.). They also maintain our infrastructure (carpenters, construction workers, etc.) and get us places we need to go (bus drivers, pilots, etc.). They bring us our mail (mail carrier) & teach us (teachers, librarians, etc.). Community Helpers even grow & cook food for us (farmers, chefs). Community Helpers are all around us!
If you’re looking for some simple, yet fun ways to celebrate Community Helpers with your kids or students, look below!
Garbage/Recycling Truck Craft
Print our our FREE garbage/recycling truck for a fun craft. This can be used numerous ways. We had children use Little People community helper cars to roll around in brown paint “mud” then on the paper to create tracks. We then used the truck template to cut out of construction paper. We added tires and a light, along with a recycling symbol. Once pasted on the paper, kids grabbed scrap paper to add to the truck and around it. Again, this craft can be done multiple ways. Get creative!
Download the free garbage/recycling truck below!
Community Helper Puppets
We have a couple ways to create Community Helper puppets. They can be done on cardboard rolls or using paper bags. We have the option for kids to color them or you can print them already in color.
Download the free community helpers below! These make for great crafts to go along with story time!
Community Helper Activities
There are SO many ideas for activities for community helpers. Each child can randomly pull a community helper card and they get to “be” that helper for the day or write a thank-you card to the chosen helper. We all did thank you cards to our mail carrier! We even finished it up with a “stamp” and put in the “mailbox”!
We also played in our sand sensory bin as construction workers!
We finished the Community Helper week by playing Bingo! Get your FREE Community Helper Bingo cards below!
Download your FREE Community Helper Bingo cards here! We have full card option or the option for two on one sheet. Laminate these for multiple uses!
Check out our March Crafts and Activities!!