Kids will enjoy this combo valentine craft and sensory activity as they create spice-scented cards for their friends & family!
I’m one of those people who hates to throw things away.
I always try to think of some way we can use up an item instead of just tossing it in the trash like these 14 upcycled Valentine Boxes kids can use to collect their cards.
My husband is the same way — he packs my son’s sandwiches in all the old bread bags (it’s a running joke at the lunch table at school now 😉
When I was cleaning out our spice cabinet during one of my recent organizing stints (I’m loving my new approach to getting organized!), I discovered a number of outdated spice containers.
Although they were way passed their prime for baking, the spices still smelled nice. And they HAD to be good enough to use for something, right?
So I tossed them into a basket and what do you know! Inspiration struck a few days later — spice-scented Valentines!
Valentine Craft & Sensory Activity: DIY Scented Cards
We decided it would be fun to create spice-scented Valentines for family and friends.
The cards are a way to ‘give the gift of time’ to each other for Valentine’s Day. Plus it’s a wonderful sensory activity too with all those yummy smells and the feel of spices as you create.
And best of all, this is a gift that kids can make for their friends or family, and parents can make for the kids!
Here’s the supply list along with affiliate links for items we used for the craft:
- Colored cardstock or heavy paper cut into quarters (we cut ours to be approx. 4″ x 5.5″ but you can also make them any size)
- Colored markers
- Glue
- Paint brush
- A variety of spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, cocoa powder)
- Decorative edge scissors (optional but they sure do make the cards look cool!)
- Wax paper
Creating Your Valentines:
1. The kids chose the color of their card based on who they were planning to give it to — then we used the decorative scissors to trim each coupon (which was approximately 1/4 of a sheet of the cardstock).
2. Write what you’d like to give the recipient on each coupon.
We tied in the sayings to some of the spices we used. You might say “Cookies SMELL delicious so let’s bake some together” or “You’re such a SWEET friend, let’s spend the day at the park!”
3. Choose which word or part of the coupon you’d like to make scented and place glue over the word or area.
For some of our coupons, we put spices on the words and for others, we scented a heart.
4. Now the fun part — cover the glue area with spices!
My kids love this step! I would recommend using one spice at a time and be careful not to inhale the spices — pour or sprinkle slowly. You can try mixing various scents — cinnamon & clove or nutmeg & ginger.
5. Let the glue and spices dry (about 20-30 minutes).
6. Once dry, shake of the excess spice.
We did this over the sink but you can also shake them onto a tray like this fun Spice-scented Writing Tray for kids to use when practicing their site words or spelling words.
You might also tap the card a little to make sure all the extra powder is removed.
There you go — wonderfully scented valentines for the ones you love!
To gift them, wrap the card in wax paper before putting it into an envelope in order to keep the spices in place.
The spice scents will last for quite a few days (weeks in fact, especially if you have fresh spices) so you can make these ahead of time so they’re ready for Valentine’s Day.
More Valentine Ideas:
If you’re looking for printable Valentine card ideas, visit our 17 Creative Valentine Ideas for some super ones!
We also have a set of free printable Valentine activity coupons — great for parents to give to kids.
