This post includes fun Valentines Day activities for preschoolers!

Valentines Day Activities for Kids

I have the warmest memories of going out with my Nana to play BINGO. Doing something with my Nana was always fun. I loved seeing her in her element, how much people loved her, and I can't wait to introduce my boys to the joys of playing BINGO.

Short Vowel Word Bingo is fun and can easily be made into a learning game. This post highlights one of my sons' favorite Valentines Day activities. Simple to put together and the kids will have a great time. Plus, they might even learn something!

Language

Short Vowel Word Bingo

Materials for Valentines Bingo

• Do A Dot Art Markers to mark words on a card
• Heart Punch to make word cards
• Construction paper or card stock
• Bag or basket
• Pen or Pencil
• Download the FREE Bingo Cards

Steps to Valentines Day Bingo

• Paper hole punched many hearts of various Valentine themed colors
• Write the short vowel and sight words onto these hearts
• Give each child a Do a Dot Marker and a handful of heart if she chooses to mark with a heart, too
• Fill bag or basket with word hearts
• Blindly choose a word heart from the bag, or ask the child to choose a word heart
• Announce the word
• Locate and mark the word on the Bingo card
• If you're playing the game, you can choose a line or “cover all” to complete the “work”

What Kids Get from this Activity

• Have fun!
• Learn sight words and short vowel words without the pressure
• Pattern recognition

Nomenclature Cards

I am a sucker for Valentine's Day. Don't hate me. This post includes a free Montessori language download.

Love me.  Like, give me a big hug and {{squeeze}}, not too hard, though. I am fragile. 

In our home, Valentine's is an occasion not to celebrate romance (I will take the romance, don't get me wrong). Valentine's Day is a day, heck, a month, to honor our loved one, to focus on compassion, and to be kind to those people in our lives. For example, take the 100 Acts of Kindness Project hosted by my good friends at Toddler Approved and Coffee Cups & Crayons. Definitely check out their 100 Acts of Kindness Private Facebook group, too.

In that same spirit, we have fun and we acknowledge all the love and goodness in life with the hope that these feelings will stick around for a while. I can't wait to read our Love Notes from our “I Love You Because” jar we began a few weeks ago.  I also created a sweet set of Valentine-themed three part cards available FREE for you to DOWNLOAD.

Valentine Nomenclature CardsWhat are Nomenclature cards?

3 Part Cards are an essential part of Montessori Language learning. The goal is to arm a child with vocabulary to use as they walk through the world soaking in the environment. The cards work in a few ways: to identify and name objects with images and label and to isolate various parts of an object or animal. For example, in my FREE Types of STEMS cards versus my FREE Parts of a Turkey cards.

Each part is isolated with a color, usually red, and the child learns to identify the part and the name. For more detail on using and preparing cards, Montessori Printshop is a great resource. For more detail on how to use nomenclature cards, check out my post on Montessori's Simple Nomenclature Cards Lesson.

Valentine's Day Pre-Reading Activity

This activity was spontaneous and driven by my son. He is on the cusp of reading so every day his desire to learn sounds amazes me. Plus, this pre-reading activity is easy and inexpensive, which is always nice.

Materials needed for this pre-reading activity include foam hearts and a marker.  I wrote uppercase letters on one side and matching lower case letters on the other side. Spread the foam hearts around the floor and invite your child over.

Explain that when you say “Moose”, for example, he must find his way to the heart with the “m” on it. He can make his way to the appropriate heart by hopping, sidestepping, lunging or whatever action he chooses to meet the goal. Simple. We mixed it up a bit by working on ending sounds. You can do the same and take it a step further with “ch” for example and soon words and rhyming. The possibilities are endless.

This post includes a few Easy Valentine Activities for Kids!

Easy Valentine Fine Motor & Math Activities for Kids

Heart Lacing Activity – Fine Motor Activity

Easy Valentine Activities – Materials

• a hole punch
• red paper
• scissors
• a lace, ribbon or yarn

Valentine Activities – Approach

1. Cut a heart
2. Punch holes around the edge of the heart
3. Lace away

Sorting & Practical Life Activity

Sorting is great for fine motor skill and problem-solving cognitive development. This activity helps young hands develop fine motor skills and problem-solving. I love simple activities that go a long way.

I bought this tray at a local senior center consignment shop. The pail, the heart-shaped container, and the Xs and Os are from Target. Like with many practical life materials, I had the mini tongs in our kitchen.

I placed all the Xs and Os into a Valentine theme pail. Then I showed my son the activity. Pick up the tongs, grab an “O” and place it in one side of the heart container. Then repeat with the “X”s.

Soft Texture Heart Sensory & Math Activity

Valentine Activities – Materials

• a glue stick
• red paper
• red pom poms
• a marker

Valentine Activities – Approach

1. Gather your materials
2. Draw a heart & circles to match the pom poms
3. Use the glue stick to place the pom poms onto the heart
4. Explore & enjoy the soft texture of your pompom heart

Pattern Cards

Pattern recognition and building help build a strong math foundation for children. Here is a simple yet effective pattern activity for your preschooler. I like this pattern because it is extremely simple, isolating really just the pattern itself or the difference between “X” and “O”. Notice the color and size are the same. For our learning, this piece is important.

Here is the FREE download of the simple pattern and the Xs and Os I purchased from Target. These Foam Letters and Numbers would give you plenty of patterns with which to work and they are inexpensive!

A sweet book to read around this time of year is called Hug Time.

Valentine's Day Art

I have recently become obsessed with resist painting for many reasons – cool design, easy to pick up, and loads of fun for your kids creating color patterns and designs. Applying this concept to Valentine's Day is simple and very sweet.

Valentines Resist Art

Here is what we did to create our resist heart:

• I bought a handful of small canvases (3 inches by 3 inches). Go nuts with size. I bought small because the recipients live far and we have to pop these in the mail.
• We used sticker paper to cut out a heart shape and then centered the heart onto the canvas.
• I got out three small bowls for paint and a few brushes.
• I used red, yellow and blue paints. Before I handed the activity over to my 2.5-year-old, I put a base of red paint on the canvas. I wanted to be sure the red came through given the special occasion. Sometimes with painting, although always beautiful, the result can be a mish-mash (technical term) of gray and brown when all the colors mix together in the process.
• Then I handed it over to my 2.5-year-old. As he painted away I explained what the special reason behind the project. He likes hearts, understands they mean “love” and was thrilled to be sending them to his grandparents. Young children astound me in their understanding of emotions, relationships, and the world, generally.
• Then we let it dry. Once dry I peeled off the heart sticker and smiled at the result.

Melted Crayon Hearts

Here is what you need:

• Crayons (we used old bits and pieces)
• Heart mold (silicone works best)

Here is how you do it:

• Preheat over to 250 degrees
• Break up crayons and fill your heart molds
• Place molds into the oven for around 20 minutes or until the crayons melt
• Let cool (I let them cool overnight)
• Pop out of the mold (silicone molds makes this part easy)

Each crayon will turn out differently. Love the uniqueness!

Sensory

I love Valentines Day because you get the chance to not only think about those you love so dear in your life but you also have a chance to tell them and reflect on that love. A lovely “holiday”. Like most of my tubs, this one is super easy and quick. Most of the items listed below I grabbed at Target. Michael's, Amazon and many crafts stores are sure to have ample Valentine Day supplies. Here is our Valentines Sensory Love Tub.

Valentines Sensory Tub

For this tub, we have:

• pink, red and purple colored rice as the base
• pink and red bouncy balls
• small erasers with the word “love” on them
• a super cool red mini mailbox
• heart shaped (plastic) “slinkies”
• heart shaped containers for scooping
• Valentine-themed cupcake wrappers for scooping
• my favorite, “table scatter” of X's and O's
• I included a few (the wee ones figure it out fast & can't resist) traditional Valentine sentiment candy “be mine”, “oh my” , etc

We all had a blast with this tub. Love the colors, the feel, and the sentiment. All round goodness.