Valentine’s Day coloring pages

February 14 is a day of small handmade things, and that is what these twelve sheets are about. An envelope lies open with a heart sealing the flap, a cupcake carries one heart on its icing, a gift box waits under a wide bow, and two owls share a branch with a heart between their heads. Six more take longer: a mailbox with its door swung open and the envelopes tumbling out, a cat and a dog each holding half of one paper valentine, and two children at a table pressing cutters into rolled dough.

Anything drawn in a few thick outlines suits a small child, so hand over the bears, the roses or the box with the bow first. The mailbox and the cookie table carry faces, envelopes and sprinkles enough to take most of a wet afternoon. A finished sheet folds down the middle and becomes the card itself, with the back left clear for a name, which is where most of them end up.