There are a number of fun family activities associated with holidays. One of the holidays that can be especially for kids (and parents) is Valentine's Day. It's a great time to teach your children about giving heartfelt messages -- no expensive gifts required. One of my favorite Valentine's Day crafts is the melted crayon heart. The heart can be given as a gift, or it can be taped to paper or cardstock to make a homemade Valentine card.

Making a Valentine's Day Crayon Heart
First of all, you will need the following items to make the melted crayon heart:

• Pieces from crayons (old and broken crayons are great for this), with the paper wrappers removed.
• Muffin tin with heart shapes (you can find these at most baking stores -- especially in February).

If you plan to mount the crayon heart in order to make a Valentine card, you will need these additional items:

• Heavy construction paper or card stock.
• Mounting foam available at most craft stores or art supply shops (double sided -- regular tape will not be strong enough).
• Scissors
• Markers

The first thing to do is heat the oven to 250 degrees. While the oven is warming up, send your kids in search of crayon pieces. Put the crayon pieces in the heart shaped muffin tin molds. It takes between 10 and 15 minutes for the pieces to melt into fun, swirled hearts. A cookie sheet placed under the muffin tin can catch overflow.

Let the crayon hearts cool. While this is happening, I like to increase the temperature in the oven and make sugar cookies with my son. When we're ready to bake the cookies, the melted hearts have usually cooled so that we can take them out of the molds.

If you plan to make cards with the melted crayon hearts, take the heavy paper and cut out large shapes (circles, squares -- or even larger hearts). Use the mounting foam to stick the crayon hearts to the heavy paper and use the markers to write a message and decorate to your heart's desire.

One of the things that children love about Christmas is decorating the tree. It is possible to have a great family activity by making ornaments for the Christmas tree. It's a fun family activity that will help you create memories that will stay with your children for years to come. You can put up a small, three-foot tree -- exclusively decorated by homemade ornaments -- or you can add a few of the homemade ornaments to your main tree.

Classic Christmas Craft: Pinecone Ornaments
One of the classic homemade ornaments is the pinecone. You can get them from nature (make sure you bundle up if you go outside), or you can buy some at a craft store. (If you are at some craft stores, you can get scented pinecones as well.) You can make ornaments by putting glue on the pinecone, and then rolling it in glitter, which will stick to the pinecone. It is also possible to wind pipe cleaners around the pinecone or use sequins or spangles instead of glitter. We like to set the pinecones on branches, positioning them near lights. However, a pinecone hanger can be made with a loop of yarn.

Popsicle Stick Trees
You can make miniature Christmas trees out of popsicle sticks. Use a long stick or tongue depressor as the trunk. Next, lay additional popsicle sticks horizontally across the "trunk." As you move up the tree, cut the popsicle sticks so that they are progressively shorter -- resulting in a tree shape. Decorate the mini tree with sequins, glitter, small foam cutouts or anything else you can think of. Make a hanger using looped yarn.

Stained Glass
You can make ornaments that look like stained glass with a special kit. They are usually rather inexpensive. The kits come with plastic ornaments that can be painted with transparent colors. (Have your kids wear old T-shirts or a smock when painting.) When dry, the ornaments have the look of stained glass. They are especially attractive when hung in front of lights.