If you’re looking for a fun and easy way to create a handmade card for a loved one, try this Torn Paper Collage Heart card. It would be perfect to make for Mother’s Day or Valentine’s Day or any other occasion when you want to send your love to someone.

Torn paper collage is a great form of art to do with kids. It gives them a chance to be messy, and they don’t feel like they must aim for perfection. Even the littlest crafters like toddlers and preschoolers can have fun with this craft, but kids of all ages (even adults) enjoy this activity.

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Materials:

colored construction paper (four 1-inch strips per card)
scissors
glue stick
heart printable (or plain sheet of thin white paper 8.5X11)

Steps:

Use a glue stick to attach torn colored paper to the heart card.

Download and print the free printable (or draw your own heart on the bottom right corner of a sheet of thin white paper (printer paper is perfect).
Cut out the center of the heart so only the black outline remains.. (Save the cut-out to decorate with.)
Now fold the paper into fourths to make a card. The heart outline should end up as the front cover. (see video)
Tear the strips of colored construction paper into small pieces.
Apply glue (one spot at a time) to the part of the card that will sit behind the heart cut-out when the card is folded into its final form.
Stick bits of torn paper to each spot of glue before it dries. Little by little, cover this bottom quarter of the paper with bits of colored paper.
When that whole quarter is covered with torn colored paper, outline the top half of the card with glue and fold down over the colored paper to seal the card closed. (see video)
Personalize! Decorate the inside of the card however you want. One option would be to color the heart center that you cut out in step two and attach it to the inside of the card.

paper valentine card showing a purple and teal colored heart and writing that says xoxo — Use the heart cut-out to decorate the inside of the card.

Tips:

While it’s not necessary to use the printable for this activity, it makes the process smoother for those who don’t want to freehand their own heart outline. (See the note below about accessing the printable.)
Using thin paper makes it easier to fold this card than if you chose to use thick paper.
Use a bone folder if you choose to work with cardstock or other thick paper.
We chose to work with white paper because we felt it really made the torn paper collage pop. But feel free to use colored printer paper or cardstock.
We love the saturated colors of the Tru Ray brand construction paper (linked to below). The card shown below was made using a lower quality construction paper.
This activity can be used with kids as young as three, but other preschoolers, elementary age kids and even teens and adults have enjoyed this homemade card handicraft.

How to access the printable:

All of the printables on this site can be found in the Free Resource Library. Subscribe (using the form at the bottom of the page) to gain immediate access to all the downloads. Don’t worry we won’t spam your email. By signing up for The Budding Artists newsletter, you will only receive an email when we have a new art or craft activity we think you’d like to know about.