Eco-friendly Valentine's Day: Paper Making Montessori Practical Life Activity

As Valentine’s Day approaches each year, I find myself eagerly anticipating the handmade Valentines cards. I enjoy seeing the creative artwork of my students. You can truly see how much hard work, effort, and time went into each card, making it that much more special than simply signing your name to a pre-printed, packaged card. I feel that it is a wonderful Montessori teaching moment as children realize the more of yourself you put into something, the more reward you will get out of it.

Each year…

• Globally, about one billion Valentines are sent.
• Valentine’s Day is the second largest card-sending holiday. (Christmas is first.)
• More than 36 million heart-shaped boxes of candy are bought.
• More fresh flowers, especially red roses, are bought on Valentine’s than on any other holiday.

I started thinking about the above statement and realized, even though we are making our own Valentines, maybe we still aren't doing enough to encourage good eco-stewardship. I started thinking “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”. Random thoughts kept popping in my head: How many Valentine's cards end up in landfills each year? Do people really eat all that heart-shaped candy? How sad that fresh flowers are so short-lived. Boy, the paper recycling bin needs to be emptied. Then it dawned on me! Instead of recycling that paper, we could reuse it to make our own paper, and make our Valentines from that!

Here are some great tips for an eco-Friendly Valentine's Day!