Tactile stickers for Valentine’s Day cards activity

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, students are excited about making and sharing Valentine’s Day cards. Here is a fun-loving idea on how to support accessible Valentine’s Day cards by creating tactile stickers that students can adhere to their cards. The stickers can be shared with sighted peers (making the cards that they give accessible to your student who is visually impaired) and for your visually impaired student to create cards for his/her sighted peer. This activity can also be used to encourage sighted peers to be exposed to and/or learn a little braille!

Creating the Valentine images (Step 1)

In the video tutorial below, Jessica, shares how she created her tactile Valentine’s Day images using an iPad with the GoodNotes app and a PIAF tactile graphic machine.

Jessica also demonstrates how she uses the free Braille Translator website in order to add simulated braille inside her heart image.

Jessica shared an explanation about the end of the video:

When tracing over an image in GoodNotes (such as the heart image in the video), the original image is considered the “page background” and that original background image is typically not included when you export the image. When you draw over the original image, the drawing is considered to be an “annotation”. If you paste the braille photo on top of the heart annotation and try to use the “lasso” tool to duplicate the heart with the braille, the lasso tool only picks up the heart annotation. The heart annotation and the braille photo are not “grouped” together.

Note: When exporting the final image as a PDF to be printed, you have the options to include page background and/or annotation. Usually for PIAF tactile graphics, we trance an image (no braille added) and we export just the annotation.

UPDATE: Lasso tool

You DO have options with the lasso tool that enables you to lasso handwriting, images and/or text boxes. Togge all three options on, you can pick up everything (e.g. annotated heart and braille simulation) in order to copy and paste the entire image.

Screenshot of GoodNotes app with a row of 3 hearts with braille circled with the lasso tool; 2nd row has copied/pasted 3 hearts.

The next image shows the Lasso Tool menu with these options turned on: Handwriting, Images and Text Boxes.

Screenshot of GoodNotes with Lasso Tool menu open: handwriting, images and text boxes are turned on.

Make the images tactile (Step 2)

After the heart PDF is printed on the Swell paper, run the document through the PIAF machine.

Photo of the black and white tactile hearts coming out of the PIAF machine.

Making the stickers (Step 3)

Once the Valentine images are run through the PIAF machine, then use the double-backed adhesive sheets (available in APH’s Feel ‘n Peel Sheets, Carousel of Textures package). It is highly recommended to adhere the full double-backed sheet to the back of the heart page before cutting apart the raised images!

Simply give each student the desired sticker(s); each student can peel the back off and adhere the sticker to their Valentine’s Day card!

Photo displaying the package of double-sided adhesive sheets from the APH Carousel of Textures, heart stickers, iPad with GoodNotes app, and iPad pencil.

Resources

6 Black and white tactile valentine's hearts with

Download Braille Stickers Black and White pdf (hearts created in the video tutorial)

Download Valentine Heart Be Mine in Color pdf (same as black and white image above, but with color)

You can also use color! If you have a dual media student or are sharing the stickers with sighted peers, you can choose to use color. Print the final document on PIAF paper in color. When the page goes through the PIAF machine, only black lines are raised. The other colors (such as red or pink used on the Valentine’s Day hearts) will NOT raise.