Last Minute Preschool Valentine’s Cards (Rorschach Painting)

The munchkin has been going to preschool a few mornings a week and last week they got their first “homework” assignment. Nothing too complicated, just making Valentine’s Day cards for their classmates and teacher. But not being a huge Valentine’s Day person, I kinda forgot.

Luckily (?) I remembered the day before the cards were due, during that witching hour we all know as “the time between nap and dinner.” We had about 30 minutes before I had to start cooking, so we turned to a simple painting project many of us probably remember from our own childhood: Rorschach painting! (I’m not sure if that’s what it’s really called. But that’s what I call it.)

To make a Rorschach painting all you have to do is pour puddles of paint onto a clean sheet of paper. Use a few colors of paint and put all the puddles on one side of the paper. Then fold the paper in half and press the two sides together as shown in the second image above. In mere moments you’ll have a beautiful, colorful painting that roughly resembles a Rorschach test.

(Rorschach tests were inkblots used by psychologist Herman Rorschach in the 1920′s to analyze people’s perceptions. He would show people ink blots and then ask them what shapes they saw. For instance: what do you see in the image above?)

Let your paintings dry and then cut them into heart shapes. You can use the blank side of each heart to write “Happy Valentine’s Day” or whatever else you like. Easy right? The munchkin thought it was super fun to see what patterns the paint would make. And of course, he loved squishing the paint between the pieces of paper!

We finished our valentines just in time for the munchkin to take them to preschool. Whew! Hopefully no one will be able to tell the difference between these and a Valentine’s Day craft that was you know, um, planned in advance. :)