These DIY Seed Paper Hearts are a great eco-friendly craft for kids to make for Valentine's Day. They're super simple to make & are a great gift to share with friends. What's more once planted these little hearts will grow beautiful wildflowers for bees & butterflies to enjoy later in the year. Here's how we made them.
Love only ever grows when it's shared, right? Well, these little hearts are packed full of love, not only for the recipient but for the wildlife they'll help once planted too. How cool is that! What's even more wonderful is that these hearts are made from scraps of paper leftover from previous crafts so nothing is wasted, & because they're made entirely from paper & seed the paper will simply break down in the soil as the plant grows.
We've attached our Seed Paper Hearts to these cards ready to spread a little love on Valentine's Day. You can print your FREE copy of the card here - All Things Grow With Love Valentine Card
Making the Seed Paper Hearts is super easy, all you need are a few items from your kitchen:
Food blender
Sieve with fine mesh / or splatter guard
Cooling rack
Mixing bowl
Muslin cloth or teatowel
Small heart-shaped cookie cutter
Scraps of paper
1 packet of wildflower seeds
2 cups of warm water
Here's how to make Seed Paper Hearts in 5 simple steps.
1. Add your paper scraps to a bowl & then soak them in the warm water for about 10 mins making sure all the paper is submerged in the water. You can add as much paper as you wish, we used a mixture of colours & around the equivalent of 3 A4 sheets which made 10-12 hearts.
2. Once the paper is all wet add the paper & water mix the food blender & blitz until you have a pulp. This only takes a few seconds. Switch off the blender. Add your chosen wildflower seeds & carefully stir them into the pulp with a wooden spoon. We found the smaller wildflower seeds worked best & only added 3 pinches. It's tempting to add more seeds, but if you add too many the flowers won't grow so well. (Cornflower seeds, Nigella, Poppy, Foxglove, or a wildflower mix would be perfect to add.)
3. Place the muslin/tea towel over a bowl & pour on the seed paper pulp. Wrap the cloth around the pulp & slowly squeeze so some of the water drains out into the bowl beneath. Make sure you don't squeeze all of the water out as it will make it harder to form the heart-shape.
4. Place the mesh sieve/splatter guard onto a dry tea towel & place your cookie cutter on top. Take a small amount of the seed pulp & push it into the cookie cutter with your fingers. Make sure the base of the shape is covered & then push into the edges so as much water is released as possible. When you've removed the water carefully push out the heart shape & place on a wire rack. Repeat the process with the remaining seed pulp mix.
5. Leave your hearts on the cooling rack to dry overnight. We left ours in an airing cupboard & they were completely dry the following morning. Once dry you can add them to our free printable Valentine's card or share them as they are.
We printed two of our Valentine cards on one sheet of A4 card & attached the seed paper hearts with a single sticky dot which held it neatly in place.
This a great eco-friendly activity to share with children & a great way for them to encourage others to care for nature & wildlife in their area. If we all planted a few wildflower seeds in our neighbourhood we'd certainly be making the world a more beautiful place, not only for us but for wildlife too.
