Turn a paper towel tube into adorable DIY heart stamps. So grab your tube, scissors, paint, and paper, and let’s make some gorgeous heart art!
DIY heart stamps are the easiest
As a preschool teacher, I am constantly looking for art activities where kids can be as independent as possible.
Many moons ago, I learned that if an art activity takes YOU longer to set up than it does for the kids to actually make their pieces, then it’s your project – not theirs. This has stayed with me since, and I always try to be aware of how long I spend setting activities up compared to how long kids engage with them.
These heart stamps pass the test with flying colors!
Related: Looking for more Valentine’s Day art activities? Try these DIY Valentine’s Day crayons!
Paper towel tubes: the unexpected MVP for DIY heart stamps
We love a good project that uses materials that would normally have been thrown away.
Do you know how to spot a teacher in the wild? Find the person collecting strange, seemingly random items (ex: leaves on the ground, scraps of fabric, paper towel tubes) and squirreling them away. We’re easy to spot. 🤣
Taking something from trash to treasure doesn’t just reduce items in the landfill, but it also gives kids a meaningful, hands-on demonstration of reusing materials in new ways.
Looking for more paper towel tube projects? Check these out!
- Cardboard Tubes Sticky Wall – Happy Toddler Playtime
- Pom Pom Tube Ramp – Busy Toddler
- DIY Cardboard Tube Construct Toy – Picklebums
Materials
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- Paper towel tube
- Paint (we used acrylic here)
- Black paper
How to make DIY heart stamps
- Prep paint: Add shallow puddles of paint to a paper plate.
- Make stamps: Cut your paper towel into 1” strips. It’s much easier to cut the tube if you flatten it first (and it will need to be flattened anyway!). Once you have your little cardboard rounds, pinch one side to be the pointy bottom of the heart, and push the other side in to make the round tops of the heart.
- Stamp: Set your heart stamps in the paint and make stamps on your paper. Don’t worry one bit if the hearts don’t stamp perfectly. If you drip paint, double stamp, etc. – it only adds to the beauty of your piece! Overlapping the hearts is part of the fun, too.
Elevate your art
The finished pieces for this project are ADORABLE.
Fold your paper, use a white crayon or pencil, and turn your art into a one-of-a-kind card. The recipient will absolutely melt over the handmade artwork.
Or, glue your paper onto a piece of colored construction paper or cardstock for a colorful “frame.”
We love hanging up this type of art in the classroom because each piece looks different from the rest and represents each unique artist. Some kids will use every color offered, and others will use only one or two colors. Some kids will cover their paper with millions and billions of hearts, and others will put few. This type of project, which yields beautiful, unique pieces of art, is absolutely the best!
Also, play around with the background color! I think I have only ever done this on white paper before, but after seeing Andrea Nelson do this on black paper, I had to give it a try and I LOVE IT. Play around and experiment!
FAQ
Any age can hold and use a stamp!
No – you can use any paint you’d like. I also love doing this with pastel color paints.
You can do this on any color paper you’d love – black, white, pink, green…anything!
DIY heart stamps are waiting for you
You probably already have everything on hand and can start stamping away.
Just be forewarned: this project is very fun, and your artists will likely want to make a LOT!
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