Valentine’s Day is almost here!! I want to give you all a quick overview of the activities we did to celebrate. Don’t forget to read through the whole post because I’ve got the FREE heart craft template ready for you to download and the link to the FREE Heart Alphabet Match. Take a look!!
Play Dough invitations-to-play are always so fun. I love how by switching out the cutters, colors and loose parts, you essentially set up the same activity over and over but it feels brand new. These play dough stations are also so fun for a range of ages. My 2 and 5 year old were both engaged for a significant amount of time.
Our loose parts were all things that I had already in the house. Acrylic table scatter from craft and party stores is a favorite loose part to include. Emmett, my 5 year old, actually found an acrylic maple leaf in the playdough, hidden from the last time he had a loose parts tray. We also had Valentine’s Day gems that I probably bought on clearance after Valentine’s Day last year. Other items to include could be colored straws, beads, or Valentine’s Day string necklaces cut up into different lengths.
Sensory bins!!! I did the sensory bins a little differently this time. This was actually the first time I tried dyeing the rice beforehand. I usually set up my bins at the last minute and forget to leave time for the dyeing process. This time, I set aside some time to buckle down and do it and it was so easy!! I used a 1 cup rice to 1 TSP vinegar ratio and just experimented with the dye. The first batch of rice was just different concentrations of red dye. The second batch I mixed in different shades of pink and purple. The last batch I left plain so that I could reuse it for another theme. The kids loved it!
We had a friend over to play during our Valentine’s Day activity time so I decided to make 3 separate sensory bins. Having one bin for each preschooler worked out so well. These bins are from the Dollar Tree so it didn’t cost me much to set up. All the other items in the sensory bins I’ve collected over the years from Michaels, Dollar Tree and Hobby Lobby. Table scatter, plastic heart containers, felt hearts and large pom poms filled our sensory bins.
Of course, we can’t celebrate Valentine’s Day without a little artwork. I decided to create a couple of large heart stencils and have the kiddos use cotton balls to dab paint into a heart shape. To set this up, I printed out the hearts (you can download the FREE template below) and cut the heart out of the middle of the page without cutting through the outside edge. This created the heart template. Then I lined the heart template up on top of a blank piece of white cardstock and taped these in a stack to the table with painters tape.
Next, I poured pink, purple and red tempera paint onto a paper plate and set up “dabbers” made out of clothespins and cotton balls. I loved watching the kiddos work so meticulously on their masterpieces. Emmett worked very carefully to fill his whole heart template up with every color. He dabbed his paint on evenly and thoughtfully. Lillian, my 2 year old, was so excited to paint, she dabbed all over everywhere! At one point, she got ahold of the jar of purple paint and began dumping it onto her paper! Her template did end up leaking because it got so saturated with paint, so just make sure to tell your preschoolers not to use too much paint or else it will run.
Our finished products! Can you tell which one is Lillian’s?? You could easily add words to this artwork and make it a Valentine or a parent gift. I decided to leave it as is because I like the simplicity of the heart on white paper. I love how we all did the same activity, yet none of the finished products look alike. I’m sure a whole class’ worth of stenciled hearts would make an adorable bulletin board.
If you would like to download the heart template to use with the Painted Stenciled Hearts activity, press the button below.
Our last activity of the morning was a Heart Letter Match. Alphabet games activities are essential to preschool, but sometimes the number of pieces in an alphabet match game can be cumbersome! I decided to add magnets to the back of the puzzle pieces and have the kids spread them out across our whiteboard. This kept all the pieces in place and allowed the preschoolers to easily see all the pieces at once.
The matching aspect of the game was really geared towards Emmett. He didn’t become interested in learning his letters until just this year and he has a few left to learn. Emmett was excited to manipulate the pieces on the white board.
As he found matches and lined them up together to make whole hearts, we took turns saying the letter names and letter sounds. I was able to see which letters he is still confusing and which ones he still needs to learn.
Emmett was so proud of himself when all the matches were made! Towards the end of the game, he even told me to stop taking my turns so he could finish them all. I left the puzzle pieces on display for the remainder of the week for the kids to take apart and do again. Lillian even practiced naming a few!
If you would like to grab this FREE Alphabet Heart match game, click the icon below.
Thank you for visiting my blog! I hope you found lots of inspiration for your preschoolers. You may also be interested in these alphabet activities…
Mrs Mama Bird 