Grab Your Madly Madagascar #Valentine’s Day Ecards & #Craft Ideas ~ #madlymadagascar

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner! Why not celebrate with your favorite characters of Madagascar? The gang is back in Madly Madagascar for a new adventure based around Alex’s favorite holiday… Valentine’s Day!

To get the Valentine’s Day mood, my family has been cooking themed recipes, and creating “Love” and “heart” crafts as well. Just the other night we made my Valentine Popcorn Munch. It would have been great for a Valentine Family Movie Night. Too bad we didn’t have a movie to watch… and this is exactly where Madly Madagascar comes in!

My son just LOVES the “jungle animals” as he calls them, of the Madagascar series. The latest installment is not only packed with a great adventure of a tale, but with some pretty awesome DVD extras! Keep reading below to learn more.

SYNOPSIS

Your favorite Madagascar pals are back in an all-new adventure! Alex’s favorite holiday, Valentine’s Day, brings hilarious surprises and excitement for the entire gang. Melman plans a big surprise for Gloria, Marty tries to impress a new friend and everyone wants to get their hands on King Julien’s love potion. You’ll fall in LOVE with Madly Madagascar!

Special Features include:

First Play Trailers

• Rise of the Guardians Trailer
• Dragon Trailer Tuesdays

Episode

• Madly Madagascar (22 minutes)

Extras

• Hammy’s Boomerang Adventure
• First Flight

Buy It: At the time of posting, you can order Madly Madagascar on Amazon for just $5.99!

In honor of the release, check out these brand new Valentine’s Day ecards for each of the characters!

(To print, click any image in the gallery. Then click again to enlarge to print.) The e-cards are no longer available.

 

Though you might not be able to make your own love potion like King Julien, you can get crafty with your kids this Valentine’s Day! This guide will provide parents with fun and simple ways to create Valentine’s Day crafts with their kids, including do it yourself V-day cards and creating your own heart shaped pillows!

HEART ORNAMENT

You’ll go mad for these adorable ornaments! They’re fun and simple to make, and they double as inexpensive decorations! All you need is yarn, cornstarch glue, water, a heart shaped cookie cutter and parchment paper. First, make your cornstarch glue by combining cornstarch and water over medium heat until it is thick and translucent. Once the glue has cooled enough to touch, cut your yarn into foot long pieces, and place your cookie cutter on your parchment paper. Then, push a piece of yarn into the cornstarch glue until it’s coated, and remove any excess glue with your fingers. Next, lay the yarn inside the cookie cutter. Repeat until the cookie cutter is filled with a thin layer of yarn, then press the yarn flat and gently lift the cookie cutter off and allow the yarn to dry.

HOMEMADE VALENTINE’S CARDS

All you need to make extra special homemade Valentine’s Day cards is some colored paper (in colors like red, white and pink), markers, glue, scissors, and anything you might want to add in (glitter, beads, candy, etc.). Help your kids cut out heart shapes in their paper, and think of fun sayings to write on the cards. Decorate the cards with drawings, or glue on treats like lollipops or Sweethearts. These truly custom Valentine’s are both fun to make and receive.

MACARONI JEWELRY

Making jewelry from macaroni is both fun and easy, especially for Valentine’s Day! All you need is some rubbing alcohol, red food dye, dry macaroni, some bowls to mix in, and string. Once you’ve mixed the rubbing alcohol and food dye to the perfect shade of Valentine’s red (or pink!), drop the macaroni in and let it soak until you like the hue. Take the macaroni out of the dye, and let it dry, then use yarn or string to make necklaces, bracelets, crowns, and more for the perfect Valentine’s Day accessory!

EASY VALENTINE’S COOKIES

These cookies are fun to make and, with a little help from mom and dad, easy for the kids to help with! You need vanilla wafer cookies, peanut butter, melted chocolate chips (both white chocolate and milk chocolate), red and white colored sprinkles, pink and red gummy candies, red, white and pink decorating frosting and lollipop sticks. All you have to do is coat one side of your cookies with peanut butter and place a lollipop stick on top of it, followed by another cookie. Then, dip your cookie stick into your melted chocolate (either white or dark), covering completely. Use the remaining ingredients to decorate! Once you are finished decorating, place the pops on wax paper and refridgerate until dry.

HEART SHAPED PILLOWS

This craft is great for slightly older kids, or may take a little more participation from mom or dad. To make cute heart shaped pillows, you need fabric of your choice, a needle, thread, cotton batting, and straight pins. First, lay your fabric down flat and fold it over twice so that it is doubled up. Next, cut out half a heart shape in your folded fabric (when you open it you should have two hearts that are the same size). Next, lay your hearts together so that the wrong side of the fabric is facing out, and use your straight pins to secure the two pieces of fabric together. Then, stitch around the edges of your hearts until you’re about two inches from closing it. Remove all the pins, and turn your fabric inside out so that the right side is visible. Next, gently stuff your heart with your cotton batting until it is full, and then stitch the opening closed.

I received this information as a blogger for ThinkJam and Twentieth Century Fox. I was not financially compensated.