String art always turns out so pretty. This craft we did for Valentine’s Day a few years back and I am excited to do it again this week. Here’s the post from 3 (!!!) years ago. Please feel free to ‘awww’ at my tiny babes.
With Valentine’s day coming up, we have been making some crafts full of love. This string heart art project was a hit (haha) with all 3 of my kids! They all loved using the hammer and nails – especially my 3 year old Sam. This Valentine craft is sure to be a hit with you little ones too!
For this string heart art activity we chose to use cork board. We bought the cork board squares at our local Dollar Store. I chose the cork board over a regular piece of wood because I could start the nails simply for my preschooler and toddler. I could easily push the nails in to the cork and they could then hammer without any risk to little fingers (and by that, I do mean my little fingers)
To make this string heart art;
You will need:
Cork board or wood
Nails
Yarn or String
To Create:
I began by sketching a heart shape onto the cork with a pencil. Madeline chose to sketch one big heart and two little ones in two corners.
Next, I stuck in a few nails on the heart outline and Sammy hammered them in further. Madeline was successful all on her own. Benjamin, at 15 months, had quite a few turns with the hammer (as I tried to hide my cringes and fright). The nails held very well – we didn’t have any trouble with the nails pulling out when being wrapped by the yarn.
Then, we tied the yarn around one nail and wrapped randomly all around the nails. Up and back, across and down. No pattern or plan – just random wrapping. Near the end we made sure that the edge of the heart had been wrapped at least once – to give the heart it’s shape.
That’s it! To finish our hearts we tied a knot around one of the nails and trimmed the excess yarn. And our string heart art was complete!
As you may know, I love to focus on the process of art with my children, much more then the end product. That being said, I do love it when the end product looks lovely. This string heart art will make it into the family room on the mantle – a place of high art honor in our home!
I love that this activity involved gross motor skills (hammering) and fine motor skills (wrapping and tying yarn) – both are such important skills to develop in preschoolers.
I thought this activity was so unique – but guess what I stumbled upon last night on Pinterest?! A very, very similar project by Allison of No Time for Flashcards – she made this string art heart for Melissa and Doug. Since our project was a bit different and aimed at the littler ones, I thought we would still share our string heart art – I know she won’t mind!
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I love it! This activity is so much learning and such beautiful piece of art! 🙂
This is terrific, Sarah! So many great skills practice and a beautiful product.
Hi
I found your site by chance
Tis fabulous
I’m looking forward to the time when my Grandchildren are old enough to have a go at the various fun crafts with me
Thank you
Eileen
Well I am so glad that you found us Eileen! We will be here whenever your little babes are big enough to play!! Looking forward to you joining the fun.
Hi, I love this craft and know my 4 yo would love hammering nails. Did you have any trouble with the nails going through the cork? I’m guessing you used short nails. Also did you use 2 PC of cork or was your on the ticket side. Thanks!!!
Hi Megan, so happy you are going to give this a go! We used the dollar store think cork so doubled it up. We did use short nails as well and had no trouble at all with the nails going through the cork. You’ll love it!