This straw painting technique is one I remember doing often as a kid, thanks to that magical blue Childcraft Make and Do book. It’s easy, only a little bit messy, and makes for some awesome monsters, amoebas, or whatever you’d like to call your shapes.

Just water down some paint so that it’s good and runny for blowing. I used regular acrylic craft paint, but poster paint would work, too. Dollar Store ice cube trays work great to hold the paint!

Then use a straw or an eyedropper to spread drops of paint around the page. These inexpensive pipettes from Amazon would be perfect so that the kids can easily do their own paint drops!

Since we were making monsters, I put 2-3 large drops in just one color right in the center of a 1/4 sheet of paper, but when we did them the next day, we used a full sheet of copy paper and lots of colors to talk about color blending. My kids had a blast getting the colors to mix with each other!

Set them aside and let them dry overnight. You can also press them in a stack of books to flatten them out, if you want.

Now, for the card! I was so inspired by this adorable card on Etsy and I wanted to put my own spin on it for my kiddos. I have a printable template for you (like always!) so you can download and print a card with a Happy Valentine’s Day message, just the monster hug message, or completely blank to draw your own huggy creation. (Just click on each link to get the free download from Box.)

Once you’ve printed the template on either regular paper or cardstock, cut out the shape and fold it like so:

Fold it in half, crease, and then open it back up.

Along the crease of the arms, gently fold it back the other way.

Fold one edge of the arm down to match up with the edge of the paper, and crease the diagonal at the top, stopping at the middle crease.

Then fold the arm back along the pre-made fold, and fold the top of the card down and press firmly — your corner will have a triangular part folded out.

Repeat for the other arm.

Now when you close the card, the arms should fold in, and then pop out when you open it!

As I said, we painted separate papers and cut and glued them in, but you could easily paint on the template before cutting and folding, too.

Then just glue or draw some eyes and a mouth, write or paste on your message, and pop it in the mail!