Valentines Day Activities by Jean Warren

VALENTINE’S DAY

VALENTINE ART

HOMEMADE VALENTINE
Let your child make a valentine for someone special.

	Give him a large heart cut from red paper.
	Set out such materials as yarn, ribbon, lace, rickrack, heart stickers, and glitter.
	Invite him to glue the materials onto the heart any way he wishes and help him add his name.
	Then let him glue his heart onto a paper doily to complete his valentine.
Variation: Cut small pictures from magazines for your child to glue to his paper hearts.

SWEETHEART NECKLACE

	Give your child a heart shape, about 3 inches tall, cut from red construction paper.
	Have her brush glue all over her heart.
	While the glue is still wet, have her sprinkle on some red glitter.
	Allow the heart to dry.
	Then punch two holes at the top of the heart and let your child string it on a piece of white or red yarn to make a necklace.
	Place necklace around your child’s neck and tape the two ends together so that it can be taken on and off, with out untying. (It is safer this way.)

HEART BUTTERFLIES
	Set out some large craft sticks and some small heart stickers.
	Show your child how to stick two hearts to the top of a stick with their points touching.

DRAWING HEARTS

	Let your child make heart shapes using a red marker.
	Give your children some red chenille stems to form heart shapes.
	Set out red play dough and cut out heart shapes with cookie cutters.

DRAWING HEART RHYME

	Teach your child how to draw a heart.
	First they make a “lazy 3” then below it they make a large “V”.
	Recite the following rhyme as your child practices making hearts.
	I’M A LITTLE HEART Tune: “I’m A Little Teapot” I’m a little heart as you can see. I’m rounded at the top like a lazy three. Then on my bottom, I’m a great big V. I’m a heart. Will you love me? Jean Warren

ADDITIONAL VALENTINE ART

	Check the Skill station for Cutting Skills – Cutting out hearts.
	Check the Art Station for more Valentine Art activities.
	Check the Toddler Station for Heart Art.

VALENTINE GAMES

KNAVE OF HEARTS

	Set out paper hearts in the middle of the floor, one for each child playing the game.
	Have the children walk around the hearts, while you play some music.
	While the music plays, the Knave of Hearts (you) steals a heart.
	When the music stops, each child tries to grab a heart.
	The child who does not get a heart leaves the game and becomes the next Knave of Hearts.
	Continue playing the game until there are only two children left.
	The last two children are both winners.
	Avoid giving prizes to the winners. Winning should be enough.
	Be sure every child ends up with a paper heart at the end of the game.

CANDY HEART GAMES
Purchase a small box of candy hearts with messages on them. Help your child use the hearts for the following games.

	Sort and count the hearts by color.
	Look for familiar letters and words on the hearts.
	Guess how many hearts are in a handful. Then count and eat!

COUNTING HEART BUTTERFLIES
You will need five of the heart butterflies described in the art activities above.

	Make five butterfly puppets.
	Find a shoe box and turn it upside down.
	Use a craft knife to cut five 1-inch slits, parallel to the short ends of the box, down the middle of what is now the top of the box.
	Draw some flower shapes on both sides of the slits.
	Stand the five butterflies in the slits, and then recite the rhyme below.
	As you do so, have your children act out the rhyme below by removing the puppets one at a time.

FIVE LITTLE BUTTERFLIES
Five little butterflies on flowers galore,
One flew off, then there were four.

Four little butterflies among the sweet peas,
One flew off, then there were three.

Three little butterflies with nothing to do,
One flew off, then there were two.

Two little butterflies resting in the sun,
One flew off, then there was one.

One little butterfly, now the only one.
He flew off, then there were none.
Jean Warren

HEART CONCENTRATION GAME
You will need 12 small plain index cards for this game.

	Draw a heart on each card.
	Color two hearts red, two blue, two green, two yellow, two orange and two purple.
	Turn the cards upside-down on a table (or the floor)
	Take turns with your child turning over two cards at a time looking for matching hearts.
	If you make a match, you get another turn.
	If you do not make a match, you must turn the cards back over.
	The skill in the game is to remember what colors have been turned over and where they are located.
	The player with the most pairs is the winner.

VALENTINE BALL GAME
Find a small plain rubber ball and draw red hearts on it with a red permanent marker.

Have children sit in a circle.

Give the ball to a child and have it roll the ball to a friend and recite the following rhyme.

“Here is a valentine just for you.
Can you pass it on to someone new?”

VALENTINE SEARCH

	Tape one end of a long piece of yarn to a special valentine or a valentine treat.
	Hide the valentine where your child can easily reach it.
	Then arrange the long yarn piece so that it passes over pillows place on the floor, around chairs, under a table, and so forth.
	Give the loose end of the yarn to your child.
	Invite her to follow the yarn wherever it leads to discover her hidden valentine.

POST OFFICE GAME
Take advantage of Valentine’s Day to teach your child something about how the mail works.

	Invite him to make a valentine for a family member or pet.
	Let him put the valentine in an envelope and with your help address it.
	Let your child add a postage stamp.
	Then take the envelope to the post office with your child.
	Over the next few days, encourage him to check the mail at your house.
	Discuss how the valentine got back to your house.
	Have the child deliver the valentine to the recipient.

ADDITIONAL VALENTINE GAMES

	Check the Skill Station for Valentine Coordination Games
	Check the Game Station for Heart Learning Games
	Check the Game Station for Valentine Listening Games

VALENTINE LANGUAGE

COUNTING BOOK

	Make a simple book for your child by folding a piece of typing paper in-half.
	Write the following rhyme on the bottom of the four pages.
	Also, write the numerals of the rhyme at the top of each page.
	Have your children illustrate and read the book to you and family.
	ONE, TWO, HEARTS ON MY SHOE One, two, hearts on my shoe. Three, four, hearts on the door. Five, six, hearts on my stick. Seven, eight, hearts on my gate.

VALENTINE BOOK

	Make a simple book for your child by stapling together several pieces of paper.
	Write “My Valentine Book” on the cover.
	Then glue a small commercial valentine on each page.
	Give the book to your child and invite her to read the valentines to you or others.

HEARTS EVERYWHERE BOOK

	Set out old magazines, scissors, plain white paper and glue.
	Let your children cut or tear out magazine pictures of different people or objects (child, firefighter, mom, mountain, bicycle, banana, tree, etc.)
	Have children glue each object to a separate page.
	When each child has 4-6 pages ready, give them some heart stickers.
	Have them place two or more heart stickers somewhere on each object.
	When child finish, staple their pages together, along with a cover page that says “Hearts Everywhere”.
	Then write “Hearts on the (object)” at the bottom of each page for the child.
	Let the children take their books home to “read” to their families.

ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE ACTIVITIES
Additional language activities for hearts can be found at the Pattern Station.

VALENTINE SNACKS

VALENTINE DAY SNACKS
Say “I Love You” with surprises such as these.

	Make French toast and sprinkle it with powdered sugar.
	Use red ketchup to squeeze a heart onto a hamburger patty.
	Make heart shaped cookies for your child to frost.
	Heart shaped candies.
	Cut sandwiches into heart shapes with a cookie cutter.

VALENTINE SONGS

VALENTINE, VALENTINE
Tune: “This Old Man”

Valentine, Valentine,
I’ll be yours if you’ll be mine.
Here’s a great big hug and lots of kisses, too.
They all say that, “I Love You”.
Elizabeth Scofield

ADDITIONAL VALENTINE SONGS
Additional Valentine songs can be found at the Music Station.

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