We’ve been making a lot of cards recently (and we have one or two more ideas still to come!). We did these secret message colored pencil Valentines, AND these secret message watercolor Valentines over here (for BabyCenter), and these lacing heart Valentines. But sometimes? The kids like it best when you just put out a bunch of stuff and let them do what they want.

We got some fun goodies from the folks at Yoobi (this post isn’t sponsored by them, but they did send us these freebies). So I put them all out and just let my daughter go nuts. She had a great time.

Here’s what I set out:

Valentine card-making supplies:

markers
crayons
purple and pink construction paper
confetti hearts
glue
stamps

Then I stood back and let her go to town. Which was hard, really, because she decided to make the valentines she’s taking to school. The ones she’s giving to the other kids, whose moms will see them. There’s a good chance ours will be the only five-year-old made valentines in the class. Usually kids give out the little character ones from the store, or make something adorable they found on Pinterest. Ours feature scraps of paper and glue and unintelligible letters trying to spell out kids’ names. Will they like them? Will they hand them back and demand real valentines? Will their mothers look at me sympathetically? I have no idea. I do know that I couldn’t help myself and tried to take over a bit and she wasn’t having it. So these will be her very own creation, each one specially made for each one of her friends.

The cool thing about the Yoobi supplies is that for each one purchased, Yoobi will contribute an item to a U.S. classroom in need. So you’re helping kids get needed art and craft supplies for school. That’s a pretty great way to celebrate Valentine’s Day, I think.