Capital B: Printable Animal Valentines Cards

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Printable Animal Valentines Cards

Sometime between Christmas and New Years, Cooper asked me what holiday comes next and I told him it'd be Valentines. Without missing a beat, he said/asked, "So that's mailbox time?!" Last year, I built Cooper a little mailbox that I put a simple surprise in each day, a "14 days of Valentines" for kids I guess. Well, he loved it and has been frothing at the bit! Actually I love Valentines hullabaloo, so I might be just as excited! ;)

Cooper is very inquisitive about learning letters right now and, of course, is an animal nut! So I combined all three- Valentines, animals and letters- to create some simple cards he can play with and use with his mailbox or heart pouch, on top of just once a day surprises. I used these awesome free animal brushes from HERE. I want him to enjoy the giving and loving part of the season and not just be thinking about what he's getting himself.

I tied sets of them up and put them inside these little heart pockets I made. There's a pocket for all six of us so that Cooper and Ry can give us all little notes! The cards are made to be folded in half so that he can have room to practice the letter from the front or write and draw what he likes. He caught on instantly when he saw the letters!

I started making Ryder a set of his own and realized that usually he wants the same as Cooper, so I decided not to create a headache for myself! (As though feeding the animal craze doesn't do that for me enough!.) Anyhow, hopefully Ryder will learn to recognize the names/sounds of the pictures on them too! His scribbles all translate to "I Love You" I'm pretty sure ;) No translation needed for Cooper- he couldn't tell me enough how much he loved them and how grateful he was- made it all worth it...

Have I ever mentioned that in the first conversation Stephen and I ever had, I told him I was NOT an animal person?? Still not, just a glutton for punishment I guess.. ;)