Mosaic Hearts with Tissue Paper

On Valentine’s Day eve, I realized that the Dumpling didn’t have a card for daddy… which really meant that I didn’t have a card for jigg. While it would be easy for me to cut and paste something together, I wanted the Dumpling’s involvement since the card would be from the both of us.

I still had a bag full of tissue paper tiles left over from my suncatcher project, so I re-purposed them into beads to make mosaic hearts.

Materials

• Tissue paper cut into approximately 2-3 cm tiles
• Glue
• Heart cutouts approximately 3-5 cm wide
• Plastic tray (optional)

Instructions

Step 1: Roll tissue paper into tiny beads

I made approximately 40-50 beads per heart, but the number would vary based on the size of the tissue paper tiles and heart cut out.

Step 2: Apply glue generously on one side of the heart

I spread a thin layer of glue onto a plastic tray and instructed the Dumpling to put the hearts in. Naturally she smeared them around so they picked up a generous amount of adhesive. I  then quickly took the hearts out with the sticky side facing up and hid the glue.

Step 3: Cover the sticky side of the heart with tissue paper beads

I asked the Dumpling to pour the beads on the hearts.

Alternatively I placed the heart inside a plastic container with the beads, closed the lid, and asked the Dumpling to shake.

As always, I was on the sidelines filling in large gaps where the glue didn’t pick up the beads and making sure the Dumpling didn’t rip the tissue paper off once they were glued on. She actually was too busy pouring the beads from one container into another to pay much attention to the hearts at this point.

Once the hearts dried, I glued them onto a card. We love you, daddy! Happy Valentine’s Day.

Colorful Ice Hearts

The Dumpling recently painted on ice as an activity in one of her playgroups and absolutely loved it. To replicate the activity at home with a Valentine’s Day twist: I set out to make heart shaped ice. I didn’t have ice molds, so I experimented using my trusty cookie cutters instead—seems like I have done everything except bake with them!

Materials

• Shallow plastic tray that is bendable (I upcycled a plastic food tray)
• Plastic heart cookie cutter
• Water

Instructions

Step 1: Pour several millimeters of water into the plastic tray with the cookie cutter inside. Please note that using too much water will make it hard to break off the excess ice later.

Step 2: Freeze on a flat surface.

Step 3: Gently break off the ice along the outside edge of the cookie cutter. The entire sheet of ice should come off the tray easily but be careful not to remove the cookie cutter.

Step 4: Put the cookie cutter back in the tray and add more water to the inside of the mold. It’s okay if some water leaks out. Optional: Add the ice that was broken off from the previous step to create a jagged effect.

Step 5: Freeze on a flat surface.

Step 6: Clean off the ice around the heart and gently wiggle/bend the mold free. If it’s stuck, wait a minute and try again.

Activity Ideas:

Color the Ice

Instead of painting directly on the ice, I also sprinkled salt over it at the start of the activity. Salt lowers the ice’s freezing temperature, so crevices will form where the ice starts melting. When the Dumpling painted food coloring on, the colors ran into the cracks for a beautiful effect.

Once the ice started turning brown, I rinsed it with water for a clean slate again.

Color with Ice

Once the ice soaked up enough food coloring, I asked the Dumpling use it as an “ice crayon” to color with it on paper.

Or just add food coloring before freezing.

Making Tissue Paper Suncatchers With a Toddler

I love asking for the Dumpling’s help in my arts and crafts because it’s a great way for us to work together…even if she’s more troublesome than helpful most of the time. Now that she’s older, I began involving her in more steps throughout the process whereas in the past, she was only responsible for only one task (or the entire activity consisted of only one task).

One of the first “big girl” projects we did was making suncatchers out of tissue paper for Valentine’s Day. There are many tutorials online—I just tweaked and combined steps from various ones to suit the needs of working with a two year old.

Materials

• Tissue paper cut into squares
• Scissors
• Plastic tray or plate (make sure it’s bendable)
• Elmer’s glue diluted with equal amounts of water

Notes Before Starting

Whenever the Dumpling is involved, I always do the prep work behind the scenes beforehand. For example, I had the tissue paper cut and the glue diluted at the start of the activity to avoid dealing with my daughter growing impatient.

I brought out only the supplies needed at each step. For example, I had the tray and tissue paper out during step one and kept the glue hidden until step two. Otherwise the Dumpling would fidget with the glue prematurely.

I also learned that activities often don’t go as planned with a toddler. If I ask the Dumpling to do X and she ends up doing Y, then Y it is! Even though it’s frustrating at times, I have come to accept that exploration is more important than results at this stage.

Step 1: Layer the pieces of tissue paper onto the plastic tray

This was actually a good exercise for the Dumpling to practice her fine motor skills since the tissue paper required gentle handling—she crumpled and ripped a few, but casualties were expected. I was on the sidelines spreading clumps apart, filling in thin areas, and putting the pieces back into the tray because she kept taking them out after she was done.

Step 2: Drench the tissue paper with the glue mixture

I put the diluted glue in an old plastic sauce container for the Dumpling to pour in. To prevent her from taking the now wet tissue paper out (yep, she was still at it), I took the tray away immediately and thanked her for a job well done. Yay!

Yes—that’s it. She helped with two steps.

Step 3: Let the tissue paper dry completely and peel off

The entire sheet should come off easily without tearing.

Step 4: Cut into hearts or other desired shapes

The Dumpling was quite pleased with the results, but it took her a while to realize that these are fragile (the epiphany came after destroying the fourth one) and needed to be handled with care.

Craft Idea #1: Instead of taping the hearts on a window like traditional suncatchers, I strung them into a mobile and hung it inside the Dumpling’s tent.

Craft Idea #2: Use them in Valentine’s Day cards.