Cute Conversation Heart Necklaces
by Teresa Van Liew

Enjoy this easy to make and fun to wear necklace with your kids this Valentines Day!

Everyone loves to see those small red and pink boxes appear on the grocery store shelves each year for Valentines Day. Pocket sized boxes filled with fun little heart candies and a message on each. Now, you can wear this favorite Valentines Day candy!

Once the baking and cooling has taken place, this project is fast and fun, and
it is very adaptable for different age groups. The Youngest children can simply glue on the hearts and shake the glitter. The older ones can mix and knead the dough, and even more can cut the cookie shapes. For older groups, you can still do this project! Allow them to create their own conversation hearts out of baker’s clay, self drying potters’ clay, or polymer clay. Using a small tool (an opened paper clip) they can create their own words for the top layer hearts. Supply multiple colors of thin ribbons for custom braiding and a few glass beads. They’ll create a much more advanced version and love every minute of the project, too! Have a household of varying ages? By all means, let them work independently, but side by side! The younger ones learn by watching… and the older kids feel a sense of teaching and helping. Everyone wins! 

For the basic project you will need:
 red salt dough (recipe follows)
 3 inch heart shaped cookie cutter 
 1 box candy conversation hearts
 clear drying tacky or white glue (not school glue)
 thick glue wash (1 part water/3 parts glue mixed together) 
 clear glitter
 yarn or thin ribbon

Cut one heart cookie shape from the red clay for each child. Push a drinking straw throw the dough to make a hole for the string prior to baking. Wiggle the straw slightly to make sure that you create a hole that isn’t so small that it closes during cooking. Remove straw. Bake according to directions below. Let cool. 

Using tacky or white glue, glue the candy hearts onto the larger cookie cutter shaped heart in a single layer, covering the entire shape except for the stringing hole. Use the candies that have hard to read words for this back layer, and save the best ones for the top layers. In a pyramid stacking fashion, add another layer of candy. Then another. Keep building and gluing until you have a top layer of three candies. They can be orderly and all facing the correct way, or they can be crazy and glued on however they land. Allow the glued candies to set up slightly before covering the entire pyramid with the glue wash, and then apply by gently dabbing with a paint brush. Lightly sprinkle clear glitter onto the wet glue wash. Allow to dry thoroughly. Attach the ribbon, tying large enough to easily fit over the child’s head, and then wear it with a smile!

red salt dough recipe:
 1 cup flour
 1 cup salt
 ½ cup water with 10 drops red food coloring added

Mix the dry ingredients together. Add the red water, slowly stirring. Once you can’t use the spoon, use your hands. Knead until grainy and doughy, and no longer sticky. Roll out on floured wax paper to ½” thickness and cut the heart shapes. Bake at 250’ for 2 hours, or until hard. Allow to cool completely. If creating for a group of children, write their names on the back with permanent marker at this point. This recipe makes approximately 8 three inch heart shapes.

Salt dough doesn’t always paint well. When possible, add your color right to the dough. If you still need to paint the pieces, have an adult lightly spray the cooled shapes with inexpensive hairspray (spray, not pump) prior to painting. Always perform this step in a well ventilated area, and follow all cautions on the spray bottle. Once the flour tacky residue is sealed with the spray, your surface will be much more cooperative when painting. 

Take note: These candy necklaces may look tasty, but once they leave the candy box and land on the art table… they are no longer edible. Teach this basic rule to your children: Anything can be used in crafts. But, once it lands on the art table, it doesn’t go back into your mouth. Discuss this often with preschoolers when using food items for craft projects. Can you imagine how confusing the whole concept is to a three year old? Help them out with simple rules and some explanation as you create. An easy way for them to remember this is by repeating this simple rhyme any time this subject arises: “Snack attack, but art apart.”