Make Animal-Themed Valentines

What You Need:

• Old magazines with animal photos
• Glue or glue stick
• Scissors
• Craft knife
• Cutting board
• Construction paper
• Colored markers
• Ruler

What You Do:

1. Before going through the magazines, figure out how many cards to make.
2. Make four cards per piece of construction paper. Pull out as many pieces as you need. Use a ruler to measure half the width and half the length of the paper and draw a very light line with pencil. Either use scissors to cut, or make a cleaner cut with an exacto knife. To use the knife, first place a cutting board beneath the work. Then, hold the ruler along the area you want to cut, and run the exacto knife along that line to make a clean cut.
3. Fold each card in half. For a clean fold, place a metal-edged ruler along the edge you want to fold, and run your finger along the paper to press it into the ruler edge. Carefully fold along that line.
4. Next, go through your magazines and find the photos you want to use for the cards. Check that each photo will be the right size to fit on the front of one card. 
5. Cut the photos from the magazines. Kids can be creative and cut the photos into circles, hearts, or creative shapes, or cut them to fit the size of the front of the paper. If they want, they can use markers to embellish the photos and draw on hearts or “Happy Valentines” messages.
6. Next, carefully glue the photos on the front of the cards. Smooth out any wrinkles and wipe away any extra glue using paper towels or extra construction paper.
7. Allow the glue to dry.
8. Once the glue is dry, use a marker to write messages in the inside of the card. If you’re having a party with guests, address one card per guest or write a personal message. If kids will be giving them away in class, they may prefer to write a generic “Happy Valentine’s Day” message.
9. Now you have personal, fun cards to give away for the holiday!