Valentine's Day Paper Bag Counting Book Craft for Kids

[Darla - The Preschool Toolbox]

Paper bag books are great crafts to make with kids for Valentine’s Day (or ANYDAY)! The books are inexpensive to make and the tab pulls make it easy for tiny fingers to turn the pages.

Materials needed:  5 paper lunch sacks (per child/book), a stapler, foam craft numbers 1-10, glue sticks, assorted cardstock in Valentine’s Day colors (cut into squares the size of ½ of the lunch bag), assorted Valentine’s Day colors of scrapbook paper or ribbons for the book tabs, Valentine’s stickers (foam or paper), and crayons or markers. Note:  we purchased all of the items above at our local dollar store.  Each book cost less than $1.50 to make.

Place 5 paper sacks on top of each other and fold in half.  Staple the fold to make a book for each of the children (older children can use the stapler independently, but supervise younger children closely.) 

We made trays for the children to work on their books over the course of several days.  The trays included:  foam numbers 1-10 (younger children can make books with only the numbers 1-5, if desired), assorted squares of cardstock, Valentine’s stickers/gems, markers, and glue sticks.

It helps to make a simple number line for the children to follow as they make the pages of their books.

1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10

Have the children place the foam numbers in numerical order (younger children can use the number line as a guide.)

Younger children will need assistance making their books, but they will adore “reading” them to you over and over once they are made.

To assemble each book:

1.  Have the children glue one piece of cardstock to the “cover” of their book.  The children can decorate the cover of their book in any manner they desire.

2.  On each page of the book, have the children glue one square piece of cardstock.

3.  Once the cardstock is glued to the pages, have the children take the first number from their “number line” and glue it to the first page.  The children must then place the corresponding number of stickers on that page:  for ex:  number 1=1 sticker; number 2=2 stickers, and so on.  Have the children complete as many pages as they desire or attention span will allow at one time. 

4.  Assist the children in cutting strips of scrapbook paper or ribbon to make the book pulls.  Fold rectangular strips in half and staple to the edge of each page of the book.

 Note:  The book pages can also be made with different shapes, sight words, colors, or letters.  They are frugal books that can withstand the “wear and tear” of tiny fingers.

Have your children share their book creations with friends and family this Valentine’s Day!  The children will delight in “reading” for all the special people in their world!