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Valentine’s Day is coming up. It isn’t only for preschoolers and young elementary students. Older kids can get in on the fun, too.

Instead of cute little crafts, though, older kids may be more interested in making gifts they can give to others. It is a great way to celebrate and add a little fun into the day.

I decided to compile a list of some fun Valentine’s crafts tweens would enjoy making. Take a look.

Valentine Cards

Older kids can get involved in card making. They don’t need to make little monsters and love bugs. Upper elementary kids can make some pretty cool cards to give to friends or family.

Here are some suggestions they may like.

Fabric Scraps Valentine Cards at CBC Parents

All age levels will enjoy making these cards. All you do is fill in a cut-out heart with fabric scraps. Viola! It is that easy but very pretty. Kids can choose different colorful fabrics to make a unique card for someone they love.

If you don’t have a lot of fabric scraps, you can adapt this project by using paper strips, felt, or pretty ribbons.

String Heart Yarn Cards by Hello, Wonderful

String art is another simple project but will appeal to older kids. I can see my son mixing colors to make an interesting colored heart.

Another neat thing about this project is the different yarn patterns you can make. You can do a simple back and forth pattern making nice uniformed horizontal lines, or random diagonal patterns.

3D Heart Explosion Cards by Red Ted Art

The 3D card is super cool. Kids will love how the hearts “explode” when the card is opened. They can also decorate them with their own unique style.

The site provides great instructions and also video instructions for this craft.

My daughter would definitely experiment with other shapes. She loves finding new pop-up card designs. I think kids would enjoy experimenting with this to see what they could come up with, too.

Fun Valentine Gifts

Older kids will enjoy making useful gifts for others. Here are some simple gifts kids can make that won’t feel like a little kid project.

Yarn Wrapped Heart Bookmarks by Red Ted Art

These bookmarks are easy and practical gifts. All is required is a craft stick, yarn, cardboard, glue, and paint or markers for decorations. My kids would enjoy making them for others but also themselves.

DIY Heart Tote Bag by Clumsy Crafter

This tote bag is a useful gift idea kids can make for a parent or older sibling. They may want to keep it for themselves.

The supplies are very minimal for this project. You only need fabric paint, a pencil, and a canvas tote. Not too bad. A piece of cardboard will also be needed to cut out a heart stencil or any other shape they’d like to use for their bag.

This would also be a great project to do on a large canvas or nice sheet of art paper you can hang. The tote is a nice touch, though, because it is something practical someone can use.

Sharpie Mugs by Bren Did

Decorative mugs are a great gift idea for any occasion. They are simple to do, and people will love that the kids decorated them themselves.

It is important to remember to buy oil-based Sharpies for this project. They sound a little intimidating, but they are easy to use. The nice thing is if you make a mistake, you can wipe it off. I have done Sharpie mugs before. I’ve had to wipe off my mistakes and try again.

Other Crafts for Older Kids

Valentine Heart Tic-Tac-Toe Craft by Meaningful Mama

Kids of all ages have fun playing Tic-Tac-Toe. This simple craft uses craft sticks to make a tic-tac-toe board. Kids then decorate it with paint, stickers, or any other craft supplies.

Kids can get creative, if they like, and make up their own game pieces. They could cut out Valentine’s pictures, use stickers on card stock, or make little construction paper hearts out of two different colors.

Older kids will like to find ways to personalize this game whether it be a Lego or Minecraft design or maybe emojis.

If you are having a Valentine’s Day party, this would be fun to play using conversation hearts or other candy pieces.

3D Origami Hearts by Life is a Party

Origami is challenging. In this craft, kids learn how to make beautiful 3D hearts. There is a video tutorial to walk you through to make it a little easier.

Paper Roses by Oh! Crafts

I’ve got to say this is one of the easiest ways I have seen on how to make paper roses. They look great and are so simple it isn’t even funny.

Kids can make the roses into bouquets or use them as decorations for cards and other projects.

I hope you found some fun ideas for Valentine’s crafts for your older kids. Just because they are getting older, doesn’t mean the fun needs to end. It just needs to change.

What are some Valentine crafts you like to do with your kids?