This short instructable gives the directions for the two different valentines my children gave out this year.
My oldest is in First Grade and my daughter is in Preschool.

Both Valentine ideas were inspired by Pinterest Pins, and although I couldn't make it to either Valentine Party, it was my understanding that both types of Valentines were well received by the children.

The Heart in Hand Valentine was made out of things I had in my craft stash, and the Star Wars Valentine is a 5 x 7 photo that I added words to and had printed at a local photo lab. I had my children help out where they could, but to mass produce them, I had a little help from my friends.

Read on if you would like to make these types of Valentines for your little ones.

And please feel free to Pin the photos on Pinterest for future reference!

Step 1: Heart in Hand Valentine

Starting with a white sheet of copy paper, fold it in half to make a template.

Trace around your child's hand using the thumb and first finger to make the shape of a heart along the folded edge. (See the photo for the placement of the fingers and thumb.)
Because this is a template, feel free to use an ink pen to trace around the fingers and thumb, and don't worry about messing it up.

The position was rather awkward for my three-year old, so I had to "fudge" in some lines to make the hand look normal and define the wrist.

Cut out the template. I suggest cutting out the hand along the fold to use when cutting out the final product.
Fold the chosen card stock long ways, as you will probably be able to fit two of these little hands on one piece of paper.

I found that the easiest way to cut out the fingers was to cut a straight line across the top of the finger area, and cut from that side of the paper. Once you get the hang of it, there is no need to trace around the template to cut the hand out of the card stock. Just hold the template up to the edge of the fold so that the thumb and first finger that make the heart are aligned with the fold.

I printed a sentiment on vellum that stated:
Have a beary Happy Valentines Day and I'm so glad you're in school with me!

At the time I made these valentines, I was not sure if I was going to use the gummy bears or goldfish for the treat, so I created the sentiment so that I could use either one. That statement was stuck onto the "front"of the hand with vellum-appropriate scrapbooking tape.
The font I used is called Janda Happy Day and that link will take you to fonts.com.

I had my daughter stamp the inside of the Valentine hand and write her name.
I always keep a wet paper towel inside a bowl to "clean" the stamp in between each stamping, as she used different colors of stamp pads for each of her fifteen valentines.
Thankfully, this age does not have to address each valentine.

I wrote the year on the back of the hand card and purchased treat bags at the craft store to wrap up the treats. We ended up using the gummy bears.

Other Notes:

The cutting of the hands was time consuming. I had help, and it took two women close to an hour to cut out fifteen of these types of Valentines.
On the bonus side, they were relatively inexpensive to make, as I had all of the materials, and just had to purchase the treats and the bags to wrap them in.

Personally, I think these little hands are so cute and hope that at least a few parents appreciated the handmade valentines.

Step 2: Star Wars Valentine

The original Pinterest Pin is here: May the Force Be with You with Pixie Sticks

Giving credit where credit is due, the original photo I used to make my version was found here:
jensvins on Flickr

You can download the actual photo (with the words) I made here:
DeandrasCrafts on Flickr

Using the original photo, I added the words using a Creative Memories scrapbooking program called Storybook Creator Plus and saved it as a .jpg file as a 5 x 7 photo.
The font is called "Jedi" and can be downloaded here: Jedi Font on Urban Fonts if you need it for something else.

I then sent the 5 x 7 photo to my local photo lab and got photos that were darker than what is showing on the computer screen. I was unhappy with that, but kept the photos anyway as my son did not even notice. Hopefully your photo lab will do better!

After creating the file, I printed and cut out the "back" of the card, just using a Word document on white card stock paper. I know it was not necessary, but I also know there are some parents like me that save Valentines their children get and wanted to have a date on the back with the teacher's name.

Next I used a box cutter and made slits at the base of EACH lightsaber in the photo.
I purchased Pixie Sticks at the dollar store and placed them so that the stick would fit within the dimensions of the 5 x 7 card.

I had my son write the names of his classmates on each envelope and he helped me stuff them into the envelopes. Five by seven cards fit into "A7" type envelopes that I purchased at my favorite craft store.

Other Notes:

We made 30 of these cards.
Remember that 5 x 7 photos are more expensive than 4 x 6 photos to print, but as a bonus you don't have to use up your printer ink. In my house, we use photos (or stamps) when we can.
A time consuming project, I only recommend doing these if you have the time. I don't have the time, but I had help from my friends, literally. One of my friends cut and pasted all of the "back"of the cards. I spent about an hour cutting the slits for the pixie sticks, and at least another hour placing the pixie sticks into the slits. My son and I got to spend some quality time together (maybe 45-minutes) stuffing envelopes, so that was a bonus.
The cards were done over the course of a few nights, and were a HUGE hit, from what my son described to me. His exact words to me were that many of the boys in his class said they were the best valentine they got.

Thank you for reading and May the Force be with You this Valentine's Day!