VALENTINE'S DAY

Below are some Valentine's activities and ideas. Enjoy!!!

Art Activities

Provide red, pink, and white construction paper, glitter, glue, stickers, doilies, ribbon, and markers out for the children to design their own valentines. Write down the messages they want on the cards, or have them "write" their own.
Encourage the children to sponge paint heart designs on paper. Provide red and pink paint. Count with the children the number of hearts placed on their page.
Encourage the children to make a variety of hearts using materials of their choice: tempera paints, crayons, wallpaper scraps, construction paper, markers and clay. Encourage children to mix red and white paint to make their own pink paint.
Provide Valentines related cutouts for children to paint, white, red or pink; such as cupids, hearts, flowers, candy, etc.
Provide many heart shapes in a variety of sizes and colors for the children to glue onto paper or onto doilies.
Provide the children with hearts, stickers, glitter, ribbon, etc. to make their valentine sack.
Give the children doilies and glitter and let them have a ball!

Cognitive Activities

Provide hearts of various sizes and shapes and have the children sort them by color and size.
Give each child 10-15 heart candies or Valentine M&M's and a piece of paper divided into as many sections as there are colors of candies. Color in a heart matching the color of the candies for the children to graph the candies according to color.
Encourage the children to find red and non-red items in the classroom.
Have a pile of hearts or a jarful and have the children guess how many there are
Provide candy hearts and a empty egg carton. Write the numbers 1-12 in the bottom of the cups and have the children place the appropriate number of hearts into the cup.
Make patterns using different colors of beads.
Play valentine lotto or bingo using hearts cut from a variety of wallpaper samples.
Assist the children in delivering valentines to their classmates. Assist the children in identifying the names on the bags.

Dramatic Play Activities

Fine Motor Activities

Assist the children in making their own necklaces, using macaroni dyed red, pink and white or felt hearts.
Have hearts shapes drawn on paper for the children to cut out, trace or just to color.
Provide large heart cutouts and lace. Encourage the children to glue the lace around the outer edge of the heart.
Encourage the children to pick up candy hearts using tweezers.

Gross Motor Activities

Place hearts or valentines all over the room and have a valenting hunt.
Toss a heart shaped bean bag into a box.
Encourage children to hop, skip, jump, or tiptoe on a line of hearts or a heart shape taped onto the floor or drawn outside.

Group Activities

Have children take turns giving out their valentines to their classmates.
Play the game "I Took My Friend a Valentine". Children sit in a circle while one child carries a valentine around the outside of the circle, then stops to place the valentine behind a friend. That friend then becomes the carrier.

Science Activities

Mix red and white paint to make pink or red food coloring and white frosting to make pink frosting. Then eat!
Discuss the heart. What it does in our bodies, where it is, etc.
Place red, blue, or green food coloring, water and a tablespoon or vinegar into individual bowls. Provide the children with multiple strips of cloth cut from old sheets or rages that are white, yellow and brown. Have them predict what color each strip will turn when dipped into each color.

GOT SOME IDEAS YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHARE? E-MAIL ME AND IF I USE THEM, I WILL PROVIDE A LINK FROM MY PAGE TO YOURS!!! CLICK BELOW!!!

chalkboard1488@yahoo.com1997