If you haven’t tried a footprint craft yet this footprint heart craft is one you must try! It’s such a simple idea but makes a beautiful keepsake you can cherish for many years!
RELATED: Salt Dough Handprint
Footprint Heart Craft with Kids
While this footprint heart works best with little baby or toddler feet, you can still do this craft with older kids! Just keep in mind you’ll need a larger heart shape to cut out.
Getting footprints from a baby or toddler is easier than you’d think! I have a few tips I like to follow that make it easier. See our painting tips below.
Supplies Needed
- Conversation Hearts (you can also use pom poms, buttons, stickers or gems to outline the heart)
- Washable paint – I like washable tempera paint. It gives a better coverage than regular washable kids paint. You can also use acrylic paint, just make sure it’s non-toxic.
- Hot glue (adult assistance needed)
- Scissors
- Heart template or large heart cookie cutter
- Pencil
- Paintbrush
How to Make a Footprint Heart
1. First you need to get your footprints.
Here’s what we did. We first painted a little bit of washable paint onto baby’s foot.
By painting it on you can make sure you get all of the areas of the foot. If you try to dip in the paint, it is really messy and you may miss some toes!
Now try to carefully place the foot down on some white cardstock paper. You may need to do it a couple of times until you are happy with the way the footprint looks.
Once you have a footprint you like, you need to do the same on the other side. Slightly angle the second print so it can form the 2 bumps inside the heart. Note – you’ll need a footprint from each foot to make the heart, start with the left foot.
Painting Tips
- Don’t worry if when you press the footprint down it doesn’t transfer all of the paint on. You can touch up some spots with a paintbrush.
- Have kids sit in a chair while painting their foot. If doing a baby footprint, you may need an additional adult to help hold the baby while you paint the foot.
- Try to add as much paint onto the foot before pressing down. They can stand up from the chair to place their footprint onto the paper. For babies you can guide the foot down on the paper while holding the baby upright.
- Make sure the foot is flat when you press down on the paper and all toes are touching the paper.
Lift the foot up gently after pressing. - Wash feet immediately for easy clean-up. I like to keep a small bowl with dish soap and water in it nearby to wash off the feet with a washcloth or baby wipe when done.
2. Trace a heart shape around the footprints.
Next, you need to trace a heart around your footprints. We used a large heart cookie cutter to get a perfect heart. You could also find a heart template online and print it off and then trace around it.
Or you can free-hand draw the heart. You will be placing some conversation hearts on top so it doesn’t need to be perfect.
3. Cut out the footprints.
Once you’ve traced out your heart, cut it out and glue it to the background paper of your choice. We used pink construction paper but you can also use cardstock, scrapbook paper or glitter paper.
4. Make the heart border.
First, select the color scheme and pattern you want. We chose pink, purple and white conversation hearts.
Then start to hot glue them down (adults should do this part) starting at the top and working your way around. For the very top part, notice that there are 2 conversation hearts inverted to form the inside of the heart.
If you do not want to use conversation hearts for the border, you can also use small pom poms, buttons, gems, or heart foam stickers.
This is a simple craft but it makes such a nice keepsake or gift for Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day. You can even frame it and keep it for many years to come!
Other options: if you’d rather not use conversation hearts, you can also use pom poms or buttons to create a border around your footprint heart.
More Valentine’s Day Crafts for Kids
These heart handprint salt dough ornaments are the perfect Valentine’s day craft!
Also try making a handprint Valentine card with your own personalized heart messages inside. We love how easy this card is to make!
Great ideas but this year message candy hearts will not be available. Do you have an alternative?
You can get little heart foam stickers, you could also cut out small hearts yourself from some glitter paper. You could use pom poms or gems. Lots of alternatives hopefully that gives you a few ideas!
Fun ideas . Like them