Heart Art Projects and Painting Ideas for Valentine’s Day

Heart-shaped art projects are fun for kids and adults to make at home or in the classroom for Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, or Grandparents Day.

These creative heart art project activity ideas are fun for children and adults of all ages to paint. Do you like making or painting heart-shaped art? If you answered yes, you will LOVE the creative heart arts and crafts on this massive list of heart art painting ideas below. Make fun art with hearts for someone you love, or encourage your little artist to create heart-work at home, in an art studio, or in the classroom with the list of unique and inspiring heart art project ideas below. You might also enjoy this list of flower art projects and painting ideas for people of all ages.

Although these easy heart painting ideas and heart crafts make perfect Valentine’s Day gifts, many are also excellent for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Grandparents’ Day, Weddings, anniversaries, or birthdays. Or try these fun heart art activities to share your love and show your sweetheart how much you care anytime. The heart art project ideas listed below are for kids and adults of varied artistic abilities. You will notice that there are several different kinds of heart art tutorials to inspire artists of all ages, from beginners to advanced. You might also enjoy these Valentine’s Day crafts and gift ideas, as well as this list of Valentine’s Day art projects, activities, and painting ideas. Both posts included even more fun ways to create arts and crafts with heart shapes.

Heart Arts and Crafts for Kids and Adults

Heart arts and crafts are fun to make for Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Grandparents’ Day, or an anniversary. Although painting heart art is a fun activity for several holidays, creating heart art and crafts is the perfect way to say I love you to loved ones any time of year. Get a set of printable heart outline templates to make heart arts and crafts–>HERE! You might enjoy these lists of rainbow art projects and Saint Patrick’s Day art and craft projects.

What is the symbolism of the heart?

A heart symbol is often used to express the idea of the “heart” metaphorically or symbolically in heart art paintings and murals across the globe. Although it is depicted in an anatomically inaccurate form, the heart symbol is often used in art, crafts, and other DIY projects to represent the center of one’s metaphorical heart. This can include intense affection, love, and other emotions, especially romantic love. (However, art that consists of a heart, or hearts, can also be a symbol or metaphor for the shadow emotions that oppose it, such as fear, anger, rage, or pain.)

Is the Heart a symbol of emotions?

The heart is most often linked to our strongest emotions, including love. When an artist creates art with hearts, it typically symbolizes strong feelings of “love” (or the pain of love). In other words, the artwork often reflects emotions of love, friendship, courage, or loyalty, along with intense feelings of care (or fear of loss), for both the viewer and the artist. This makes heart arts and crafts an excellent gift for family and friends for Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Grandparents Day, anniversaries or birthdays, and Christmas.

What does the heart mean in Design?

The heart is a popular shape that typically means love and represents vitality, bonding, association, trust, and integrity in design and other visual art. Scroll down to see the heart art projects, painting ideas, and crafts for inspiration. Each heart-work project tutorial will show you how to creatively adapt this shape in several ways.

How do you make heart art?

Heart art is art created with a heart (or several hearts). In other words, arts, crafts, sketches, doodles, drawings, and paintings with a heart shape (or several heart shapes) are included in the artwork, shaped into a heart, or made into heart shapes. Use simple materials to create heart-shaped art in unique ways with the heart art projects, crafts, and painting ideas included below.

Since there are so many gorgeous types of heart crafts and painting ideas. I organized them into different heart art categories based on the type of heart craft, painting, or the materials needed to make it. Please visit the creator of each project for materials and complete step-by-step instructions.

Printable Heart Outline Templates for Arts and Crafts:

There are several printable heart templates you can use to create heart arts and crafts in the Rhythms of Play Learning Center. As a reminder, all members of the Rhythms of PLAY CLUB can find them in their personal dashboard. Simply log in to select the printable heart templates you’d like to use for heart arts and crafts. Then, print your favorite heart outlines to use as templates. Alternatively, you can draw or sketch your own heart outlines to use as templates.

Best Heart Art Projects, Crafts, and Painting Ideas:

As mentioned above, I organized this massive list of heart arts and crafts into multiple categories. However, because a few projects fit into more than one category, they are listed multiple times. Categorizing them this way helps you easily find the type of heart art project you want to create with the supplies you have available.

Whether you are looking for a project to create independently or an art teacher seeking a new art lesson to teach in the classroom with your students, there is a wide variety of heart art activities to choose from. Of course, I will continue adding more art projects and heart-painting ideas as we write new tutorials and include more heart-shaped artwork. Bookmark this page and check back often to see the new heart projects we find!

Heart-Shaped Watercolor Art Projects and Painting Ideas:

Here’s a list of watercolor heart art projects children and adults of all ages will love. Try the watercolor heart painting ideas on the list below with kids from toddlers to teens at home or in the classroom.

• Color Mixing Surprise Heart Art. Surprise artists with words and drawings that magically appear on the page using the watercolor heart art lesson from Rhythms of Play.
• Bleeding Hearts Art Project for Kids. Use watercolors to create pretty rows of bleeding hearts with step-by-step instructions by Meri Chery.
• Kandinsky-Inspired Heart Art. Explore color mixing, experiment with light and shadow, and give children of all ages an introduction to abstract art with the art tutorial by Arty Crafty Kids.
• Sunburst Heart Heart. Create heart art resembling a sunburst with Art Bar.
• Flying Heart Balloon Painting Idea. Use watercolor paints to make flying-heart balloon art, following the instructions from the Art Projects for Kids Blog.
• Watercolor Valentine Hearts. Pass out homemade watercolor heart-shaped Valentine cards with step-by-step instructions by Art Bar.
• Warm and Cool Mosaic Heart Art. Make heart mosaics with warm and cool colors with the project tutorial by A Faithful Attempt.
• Newspaper Heart Art Postcards. Use the instructions on Art Bar to create Valentine’s Day cards with a heart to hand out to classmates and friends.
• Fizzing Heart Art. Combine science and art to create beautiful and unpredictable results with fizzy heart eruptions! Get step-by-step instructions for this heart art project on The Pinterested Parent.
• Raised Salt Paint and Watercolor Heart. Create raised salt art in the shape of a heart with the step-by-step art tutorial by Rhythms of Play. (Pictured below)

Related: Rainbow Shamrock Salt Painting

Mixed-Media Heart Art (Heart-Shaped Watercolor Resist Painting Ideas with Crayon Wax, Oil Pastel, or Glue as the Resist Medium):

Create mixed-media heart art with the watercolor resist ideas below. Children and adults of all ages and artistic abilities will enjoy these heart art activities. Use watercolor paints and a resist medium (wax stick, crayon, oil pastel, or glue) to create these easy heart art projects. Watercolor-resist heart art painting ideas can add an element of surprise to your heart-shaped art projects. You might also enjoy learning more about the art and science of watercolor-resist mediums with this watercolor-resist STEAM Experiment. 

• Concentric Heart Art Project. Make concentric hearts with oil pastels, then paint over them with watercolor to create beautiful heart art. See the step-by-step instructions for this heart craft on Friends Art Lab.
• Valentine Watercolor Resist Heart Art. Use oil pastels and watercolor to paint heart art with instructions from Creative Family Fun.
• Faux Stained Glass Heart Art. Use black glue and watercolor paints to create faux-stained-glass art on paper, following the instructions from The Artful Parent. Alternatively, create faux stained-glass hearts on a glass candle holder with step-by-step heart art instructions on Rhythms of Play.
• Kids Heart Art Project. Use a black crayon and watercolor paints to create mixed-media heart art, following the instructions from Color Made Happy.
• Watercolor and Glue Resist Multi-Colored Heart Painting. Use hot glue and watercolors to make multicolored heart art, following the instructions from Arty Crafty Kids.
• Watercolor Surprise Heart Art. Use a wax stick, white crayon, or oil pastel to create hidden art that the artist can see when painted with watercolor, using the heart art lesson from Rhythms of Play. (Photo below)

Tempera Paint Heart Art Projects:

Get out the tempera paints and invite children from toddlers and preschoolers to teens to paint hearts with fun heart painting ideas for kids and adults. Make painted heart art for Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day with these easy craft ideas.

• Heart Art Symmetry Painting. Make Valentine’s Day blot art symmetry paintings with the fun process art activity by the Artful Parent.
• Heart Spin Painting (the creator of this easy heart spin painting used acrylic paint, which is fine; however, I recommend using tempera paint instead so you don’t ruin your salad spinner. Tempera paint is water-based and washable, while acrylic is not.) Get step-by-step instructions on the Projects with Kids Blog.
• Valentine Shaving Cream Marbled Heart Art. Use shaving cream to create marbled art prints with the craft tutorial by Hello, Wonderful.
• Valentine’s Day Heart Art Activity. Create overlapping hearts on a large sheet of paper for children paint for Valentine’s Day. This easy art project from Busy Toddler is simple to create and great for kids.
• Bubble Wrap Heart Art. Use the step-by-step instructions on Friends Art Lab to make bubble wrap heart prints. The tutorial includes a neat trick you can use!

Crayon, Colored Pencil, Chalk, and Chalk Pastel Heart Art Ideas:

Use crayons, colored pencils, chalk, and pastels to draw (and smear) hearts in all shapes and sizes with the heart art ideas included on this fun list of project ideas:

• Radiating Hearts. Use colored pencils to create a radiating heart with instructions from the Art Projects for Kids Blog.
• I Give You My Heart Pastel Art. Make paper heart collages with handprints, using art project instructions from Kinder Art.
• Smeared Pastel Heart Art. Smear pastels on white paper to create heart art with step-by-step instructions by 2 Soul Sisters.
• Chalk Pastel Heart Art for Kids. Use chalk pastels, a heart art template, and black paper to create colorful, radiating heart art, following the instructions from the Projects with Kids Blog.
• Heart Chalk Stencil Art for Kids. Create an art collage using chalk and a heart-shaped stencil, following the craft project instructions from Buggy and Buddy.

Heart Art Projects with Marker Pens:

Get out the washable or permanent markers and invite children from toddlers to preschoolers, kindergarteners, teens, and adults to create heart art drawings with the ideas on this list of creative heart arts and crafts you can make with marker pens:

• Valentine Heart Art with Sharpies and Foil. Create unique heart art crafts with aluminum foil and permanent markers with the art tutorial by Happy Hooligans.
• Two Hands and One Heart Drawing. Learn how to draw two hands holding a heart, or get the printable coloring page on the Art Projects for Kids Blog.
• Sharpie and Alcohol Heart Art. Use rubbing alcohol and permanent markers to create heart art, following the Happy Hooligans art lesson tutorial.
• OP Heart Art Techniques (Bulging Hearts). Create bulging-heart art that pops right off the page with the Expressive Monkey project tutorial.
• Heart Print Art. Use washable markers and coffee filters to make heart art prints with the tutorial by Fun-A-Day.

Heart-Shaped Print-Making or Stamping Art:

Creating hearts and heart-shaped prints with toilet paper rolls, pipe cleaners, cookie cutters, bubble wrap, coffee filters, and other common materials is fun for kids and adults alike. Make heart prints with any of the heart-shaped print-making and stamping art ideas below. Scroll to the next section to see a few cute Fingerprint and thumbprint heart art stamp printmaking projects.

• Heart Printing Abstract Art. Create abstract art with paint and cookie-cutter heart prints with project instructions from Nurturestore.
• Cardboard Toilet Paper Roll Heart Stamp Art. Make art prints on paper with cardboard paper tubes with the heart craft instructions by Tinkerlab.
• Bubble Wrap Heart Art. Use bubble wrap to make art prints with the neat trick from Friends Art Lab.
• Pipe Cleaner Stamped Hearts Printmaking Project. Make pipe-cleaner stamps to create heart prints with the art activity for kids by Hands-On As We Grow.
• Heart Print Art. Color coffee filters with markers, then make heart art prints with the printmaking instructions by Fun-A-Day.
• Thumbprint Heart Magnets. Use your fingers and thumbs to make thumbprint heart magnets with the heart craft project from Rhythms of Play.

Fingerprint or Thumbprint Heart Art Ideas:

Encourage children and adults of all ages to create heart-shaped prints by stamping their fingers and thumbs with these creative heart-stamping ideas. These adorable “Thumb-buggy” fingerprint love bug cards, with a thumbprint heart head, are always a favorite with family and friends for Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, and more. Ideas include several more greeting card slogans and messages you can use on your cards in addition to “Thumb-buggy Loves You.” Get the complete step-by-step tutorial for this fingerprint art project HERE–> Fingerprint Lovebug Cards. Or, try the other fingerprint heart art and craft ideas below.

• Thumbprint Heart Art and Craft Ideas. Visit Rhythms of Play for a round-up of creative thumbprint heart craft projects, or try the fun heart art activity ideas below!
• Fingerprint Heart Relief Art. Stamp fingerprints to create a negative heart art print with the lesson tutorial by Mum in the Madhouse.
• Heart Made from Fingerprint Art. Make a heart with fingerprints with the art activity by Busy Kids Happy Mom. Use a different color for each person to make a family or classroom fingerprint heart!
• Fingerprint Heart Art. Make fingerprint heart keepsakes with the instructions by Messy Little Monster for Red Ted Art.
• Thumbprint Heart Art Glass Magnets. Use your fingers and thumbs to stamp hearts, then turn them into magnets with the heart craft tutorial by Rhythms of Play (photo below)

Heart Handprint Art:

Make heart art with handprints with this list of ideas. Heart handprint art is always a favorite keepsake gift idea for parents and grandparents, and makes a great Valentine’s Day gift that toddlers, preschoolers, kindergartners, and young elementary-aged students can make for family and loved ones.

• Handprint Art Heart Valentine. Use little hands to make a handprint heart Valentine surrounded by O’s and X’s to represent hugs and kisses, respectively, with the step-by-step tutorial on Burlap and Blue.
• I Give You My Heart Handprint Art. Create a handprint holding a colourful aluminum foil heart using the mixed-media art activity by Kinder Art.
• Handprint Art with Thumbprint Heart Craft. Stamp your handprint on paper or a canvas, then place a thumbprint heart in the palm of your hand with the DIY tutorial from Rhythms of Play.
• Valentine Handprint Heart Art. Create handprints in a heart shape with a heartfelt message surrounding it. This project tutorial is no longer available, but you can see the original photograph on Pinterest by Dali Mama Blog.
• Salt-Dough Handprint Art with Footprint. Make a salt-dough heart with a handprint(s), footprint(s), or one of each, using the project instructions from Rhythms of Play.

String Heart Art Ideas:

String heart art projects are fun for children and adults to make for Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, or just for fun, any time of year! Try any of the heart-shaped string art ideas below.

• Heart String Art Tutorial for Beginners. Discover how to make negative heart string art, along with a few other shapes, with the easy DIY instructions by Feels Like Home.
• String Heart Art with Yarn. The string art project by Repeat Crafter Me teaches how to create a positive heart string art with yarn and thumbtacks instead of nails.
• Heart String Art Project. Learn how to make an adorable Heart String Craft with step-by-step instructions on EzeBreezy Life Simplified.
• Make Heart String Art. Here’s another great example of heart-shaped string art by Hello, Wonderful.

Negative Space Heart Relief Art Project Ideas:

Negative relief heart art involves creating a heart shape by leaving it uncolored. Create heart relief art with fingerprints, cotton balls, or pencil erasers with these fun negative space heart art projects and painting ideas:

• Fingerprint Relief Heart Art Canvas | Mum in the Madhouse
• Cotton Ball Relief Heart Painting Ideas | Sunshine Whisperers
• Pencil Eraser Heart Relief Art on Canvas Bag | Clumsy Crafter

Heart Tree Art:

Heart trees are tree art projects and painting ideas featuring hearts dangling from or sitting on their branches, instead of or in addition to leaves. Give any of these heart-tree art projects a try!

• Valentine’s Day Heart Fingerprint Tree | Easy Peasy and Fun
• Tree with Paper Hearts Valentine’s Day Craft | Easy Peasy and Fun
• Glass Paint Heart Tree | Rhythms of Play (photo below)

Keepsake Heart Crafts and Personalized Gift Ideas for Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Grandparents’ Day, or Any Day!

There are several more personalized keepsake heart crafts with step-by-step tutorials on Rhythms of Play. The heart-shaped crafts listed below make great gift ideas for Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Grandparents’ Day, anniversaries, and Christmas. Give any of these incredible homemade heart arts, crafts, and gift ideas a try today:

• Salt Dough Handprint and Footprint Heart Craft
• Glass Paint Heart Candle Holder
• Quadruple Heart Candle Holder
• Personalized Heart Candle Holder
• Heart with Celtic Knot Woodburning Tutorial with FREE Heart Template (for teens and adults only!)
• Hanging Heart Suncatcher Prism Crafts
• DIY Heart Mason Jar Lantern
• Heart Love Bug Craft
• Thumbprint Heart Magnets
• Fingerprint and Thumbprint Heart Keychain Charms
• Easy Thumbprint Heart Necklaces
• Thumbprint Heart Crafts and Gift Ideas (photo below)

Heart Crafts and Keepsake Gift Ideas:

You may also enjoy this collection of heart crafts and keepsake gifts Kids Can Make for Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Grandparents’ Day, an anniversary, and Christmas. Just click on the link above to see them all!

Valentine’s Day Art Projects and Painting Ideas:

If you like making art with heart shapes, you might also enjoy this list of Valentine’s Day art painting ideas and arts-and-crafts projects featuring several heart-themed projects.

Related: Nature Crafts and Nature Art Activities That Use Natural Materials

Gorgeous Heart-Shaped Art and Crafts for Kids (and Adults too!):

We hope you enjoyed these heart arts and crafts for kids and adults. In this fun collection of project ideas, you can find heart art projects, heart painting projects, and even heart crafts!

You may also enjoy Valentine’s Day Art,  Shamrock Arts and Crafts, and Easter Art projects Kids LOVE!

For more heart fun, go on a heart-shaped nature scavenger hunt! We have even made a video featuring all the heart shapes we found in nature, sure to be enjoyed by kids and adults alike.

Learn more about Nell Regan Kartychok, author of this round-up of heart art painting ideas HERE, and Rhythms of Play HERE!

If You Liked Heart Art, You Might Also Like:

• Spring Bucket List Seasonal Activity Guide
• Best Valentine’s Day Gift Ideas for Him or Her
• Easy Flower Art Projects Kids LOVE!
• Best Fingerprint Art Ideas for Kids