Classroom Valentines for kids that love anything with wheels!
If you kid is obsessed with vehicles and/or construction – excavators, fire trucks, cement mixers, ambulances, etc – this homemade valentines gift is for you. It’s a cross between buy and DIY. Feels like a thoughtful Valentines gift for classmates and friends, without spending a ton of time making ’em.
The boxes are cute, but inside (even cuter) there are lego-like brick crayons that can be stacked on top of each other. Something useful for kids to enjoy after Valentine’s Day is over. I made some tiny notebooks to go with ’em to round things out. So kids have something they can draw in right away with their new crayons.
Click through for sources links and the quick DIY for making mini notebooks with items you already have laying around the house.
Homemade Valentines Gift Idea
I would say these fit into the preschool valentine cards category, but I think elementary school kids would enjoy these as well.
Hayes wanted something that had to with construction or cars (anything with wheels basically). And I wanted to give his classmates something that they could use more than once / would hopefully hang onto for a while. I try not to give Valentines that would immediately get thrown away. Feels kind of wasteful.
Anyway! Here’s how to make a homemade Valentines gift that is thoughtful and still pretty easy…
Materials
Here are all the materials I used for the school Valentines…
- vehicle boxes filled with lego shaped crayons*
- kids valentines construction printable – There are a bunch of options on Etsy, but I linked the exact one I used.
- glue stick
- string
- cereal boxes – Any kind of thin cardboard will work. It doesn’t have to be a cereal box.
- paper (can be blank or lined) – I used printer paper I already had.
- paint and paint brush – You could also use kids paint sticks for this. That’s what I used and it worked just as well (and less messy).
- stapler
- small muslin bags (optional)
*The company that makes the boxes that have the crayons inside is called Goober. They sell them all over online.
They come in a set of 4 boxes and it’s $29 for that set. BUT I did some digging and found them on sale for $22 (for a 4 pack), which made each box a little over $5.
Bought them on Flying Pig Toys – they don’t have the car / construction ones on their site now. But there is a nature version that is super cute and on sale for $17 for the set of four. Moon Picnic still has the ones I used here: pocket crayons blocks set.
Cost of Valentines
For me, the final cost of each classroom Valentine came out to about $6, accounting for absolutely everything I purchased for it. Some things I already had – string, cereal boxes, paint, paper, stapler, etc.
Honestly, I don’t know if this seems like a lot of money for a kids Valentine or a little. But I did look into some cheaper options first (that still had a little Valentine gift with each one, not just a paper card) and it added up to about two dollars less per kid. There aren’t many kids in Hayes’ class, so it seemed reasonable to me to just go for the cutest option, imo.
Obviously, do what feels right to you and your budget. I’m certain that you could DIY something similar and save some money that way (see below). But for me, I just didn’t have much energy for making crayons and decorating boxes, etc.
How To Make these Classroom Valentines
1. Print and cut printables.
To make these classroom valentines, I printed and cut out the construction printable I linked from Etsy, in the materials list. You can also make your own, but for just a few dollars, buying a printable was worth for me. The less work the better.
2. Glue and add name plate.
Then, I glued them to the back of each box and had Hayes sign each one. There’s a little spot on the side of the boxes that says name, so I added each classmates name to that section.
3. Make mini notebooks.
And then I made the mini notebooks to go with it (included a tutorial below for the notebooks).
4. Package them up.
I initially thought I’d add the completed Valentines – illustrated boxes with crayons and the notebooks – to a muslin bag for each classmate. Which you can see in some of the photos below.
But then I realized it wouldn’t be easy for the teachers to pass out because the name on the box would be hard to see when they’re in the bag. And I didn’t want to have to make additional name tags for the bags.
So, I pivoted and made the notebooks even smaller, so they would fit inside each box.
I had to make them a little thinner in this case, since there wasn’t a lot of room in the boxes with crayons already in there. But I got them in! And then I tied them up with string to make sure nothing fell out. That’s why you see two different options for packaging in the photos.
Make your own ‘brick’ crayons
If you want to make Lego(ish) crayons and save some money, I have a tutorial for melting crayons into molds.
And I found a ‘bricks’ mold on Michaels that is similar for under $6.
If you’re willing to put in the work, this is a less expensive option. They’re not exactly the same…I think the ones I bought are cuter bc there are different shapes and they stack onto each other. BUT the DIY version would still be really sweet.
How to Make Tiny Notebook Valentines
I wanted to add a little DIY to these construction / vehicle Valentines.
I decided notebooks would be the best option because they’re quick, easy, and free (since I had everything I needed already). Love using things I already have for this kind of thing.
To make the notebooks, I just followed the instructions from my DIY notebooks tutorial. But instead of using wallpaper as the covers, I cut up thin cardboard from cereal boxes and painted them on both sides.
I let my son paint the outsides with paint sticks to give them a more customized kiddo vibe. Similar to my cereal box art project.
