Wax Paper Hearts

What You Need:

• Wax paper
• Red and silver glitter
• Hot iron and ironing board
• White, pink, or red card stock
• Scissors
• Compass and sharpie pen

What You Do:

1. Start by laying a long sheet of wax paper on an ironing board surface covered with an old sheet. Then loosely scatter glitter across the surface of the wax paper. Careful here: you don't want to lay on your glitter too thickly. Leave plenty of wax paper space so that the layers can adhere!
2. Now lay another long strip of wax paper down on top of the first one, and run a hot iron over it to adhere the two layers. (You may be tempted to run the iron over the wax paper repeatedly, but don't—this will pull too much wax out. Once over firmly is just fine!)
3. Transfer the sealed paper to a flat cutting surface. Help your third grader use a compass to mark out a 10” circle, and then cut it out.
4. Now fold the circle to make a three-sided, special wax paper envelope! Following the diagram above, you will fold three arcs one at a time. It's just large enough for a special heart-shaped note for a friend; have your child cut one from the white, pink, or red card stock by folding the stock in half, cutting it, and folding out for a symmetrical heart. Have her write a "heartfelt" message, put it in her special envelope, and seal it with a heart sticker. She can write her salutation on the front of the envelope and feel proud of this special, unique Valentine. And you, in turn, can feel proud to have helped your child send a special message that continues to help her develop those all-important lifetime literacy skills.