Grocery store Styrofoam and washable markers come together to make lots of sweet heart prints perfect for whipping up a batch of handmade valentines or sweet cards for any occasions..
How many Valentines cards can a kid really make?
Have you ever tried to make a large batch of handmade cards with kids? You spread out construction paper, doilies, glitter and glue. This is gonna’ be awesome.
And it totally is. It’s good old fashioned crafting heaven- for approximately one card.
Enter the printmaking process…
Printmaking is a great way for kids to quickly make multiple images and this Styrofoam printing method is no exception. All you need are washable markers, Styrofoam plates or trays, a dull pencil, a black Sharpie, and blank note cards or paper. That’s it.
Cut. It. Out…
Use scissors to cut out some simple heart shapes. (Obviously you can make any shape you want here. To make these Valentine-y heart prints we started with hearts.)
Use a dull pencil to draw designs into the hearts. Simple designs work best. Remember that any words will have to be drawn as a mirror image or they will appear backwards when printed.
Color it up….
Color your Styrofoam hearts as you would if you were coloring on paper. The color won’t look vibrant. It will be a little pale and will smear if you touch it.
It might seem as if you need to print these quickly, before the marker ink has a chance to dry. Not true. It’s okay to take your time and let them sit for however long you need. The next step will reactivate the ink no matter when you get to it.
Just add water…
Take a slightly damp paper towel and wipe it across your blank card. Too much water on your paper and the marker ink will get blurry. Not enough will make a too pale print.
Turn your colored Styrofoam heart over onto the damp paper. Flip it so the paper is on top. Use your fingertips or the back of a spoon to rub across it, making sure that the paper is in contact with the heart.
Peel the paper off and….waaaalaaaa. So pretty.
Do it again…
The best part of this process is after the printing plate is made (the Styrofoam part) it’s super easy and quick to scribble on some more color and make more prints.
Sometimes you can even sneak out two prints before adding more color!
Details, details….
Once your heart prints are dry use a black permanent marker to add details.
A single word, an outline, a border, anything your kiddo wants to add in. (Or you, because let’s be honest, these are most def cute enough for us mamas to join in.)