Valentine Terra Cotta Pots

One year, my children and I painted a 4 inch terra cotta pot white and then sponge painted heart shapes in pink, red, and purple over the white paint. After the pots were dry, I put some pink, red, or purple tissue paper in the bottom to cover the hole. We poured the Valentine colored M&M's in for the "dirt". We then cut out Valentine shapes, which were our flowers. They have to be big enough to write on or glue a picture of the child on to it. We used red, pink, or purple drink straws for the stem and planted our "flowers" in the "dirt". Or you can spray paint some dowel rods white like in the picture. In this picture you see tissue paper for the dirt, that's because I forgot to buy the M&M's at the store the other day! :-) I wanted you to see a picture so you could visualize what we did. It really was a perfect gift for the grandparents.

So, you'll need:

4 inch terra cotta pot
white spray paint - let dry completely before sponge painting the hearts
red, pink, or purple acrylic paint
three heart shaped sponges
red, pink, or purple construction paper cut into "Valentine flowers"
red, pink, or purple drinking straws
red, pink, or purple tissue paper
1 bag of Valentine M&M's
color markers to write your message on the "flowers"