Valentine's Day Cards

Kyle and I made our annual cards for Valentine's Day this week. First, we talked about how we show our love to family and friends we care about. Then, we talked about our plan to make the cards:

Use toy cards to paint tire marks onto paper; let dry.
Cut heart shapes out of tire tracks paintings.
Clue hearts onto paper.
Put car stickers on tire tracks.
Glue a picture and saying onto each card..{"We 'wheelie' wuv you!"}


Sign and address each card; mail.

Making Valentine's Day cards is an easy way for kids to show their love for the people they care about most.

Valentine's Day: Day Five

Valentine's Day Party

Celebrate Valentine's Day by playing games, passing out cards, making crafts, decorating cookies, and eating V-day themed snacks.

Make sure each child has a mailbox/container to house all the cards/gifts.

Games:
Musical Hearts--similar to musical chairs, only using large, colorful hearts on the floor.

Heart Bingo--use V-day themed words and conversation hearts as markers.

Pin the Heart on the Valentine--make a poster-sized Valentine Card with heart (or other shape) in the center. Blindfold children and give them a matching shape to try to pin in the correct location.
Crafts:

Chocolate Playdough--children can make their own playdough "chocolates" to take home.

Valentine's Hat

Valentine's Heart Crown

Snacks:

Strawberry Hearts--spread cream cheese on graham crackers. Cut hearts in half, vertically, and cut out a notch at the top to form a heart shape.


Heart Sandwiches--cut out a heart shape in bread and spread with jam (or other toppings.)

Cupid's Arrow Ham & Cheese--cut a heart out of ham; use string cheese (or a pretzel stick) to form the arrow through the heart.

Valentine Card Snack

Heart Sugar Cookies--decorate

More Snack Ideas

Valentine's Day: Day Four

Valentine's Colors, Numbers, and Shapes

Yesterday we learned about giving valentine's day cards/gifts to our friends and the people we love. Today we're going to use what we've learned about Valentine's Day (hearts, cards, etc.) to practice our colors, numbers, and shapes.

Sing:
10 Valentine's Cards:
One pink, two pink, three pink valentines.
Four pink, five pink, six pink valentines.
Seven pink, eight pink, nine pink valentines
ten pink valentine cards*

*substitute with different colors OR sing backwards.


Have children mail the Valentine's Cards into the correct colored envelope!

Valentine's Colors Emergent Reader

Valentine Carnation

Directions:

• Put one white carnation flower per child in a cup of red water (water with red food coloring) over a few days the carnation will begin to turn red, and continue turning as long as it is in the water. Let your children take home their flower on Friday to share with their families.

Set up Centers for children to practice their colors, shapes, numbers, etc.

• Educational Crafts (use empty chocolate boxes)

Give children directions of matching the colors/numbers/letters/shapes into their correct location.

• Color Word Match or Here

• Easel Heart Painting

Materials: Easel Paper, Pink, Red and Purple Paint

Directions: Cut out hearts from the paper and attach them to your easel. Let your children paint theri very own extra large valentine.

• Heart (and other shapes) Cookie Cutters and Play Dough

Directions: Set out heart cookie cutters and play dough. Let children experiment with mixing colors, making different shapes.

• Draw the Details

• Bingo Dauber Pages

Valentine's Day: Day Three

Valentine's Cards

Read a book about Valentine's and/or love:
Guess How Much I Love You--Sam McBratney
Valentine Mice!--Bethany Roberts
My Little Valentine--Carol Roth, Jennifer Beth Harris
Max's Valentine--Felicia Bond
One special part of Valentine's Day is handing out cards, gifts, or candy to our friends and family. It's a small way to show how much we care about and love these special people in our lives.
Today, we're going to make some Valentine Cards, get them in envelopes to send out, and put them in mailboxes.

Sing some songs about Valentines cards to get children excited about what they will do:

I'll Make A Valentine

(sung to London Bridges)

I’ll make a bright red valentine
Valentine, valentine

I’ll make a bright red valentine

And give it right to you

I’ll trim it with lace and bows
Lace and bows, lace and bows
I’ll trim it with lace and bows

And give it right to you

Copyright Jean Warren

Oh Valentine (to the tune of: Oh Christmas Tree)
Oh Valentine, oh valentine
I think you'll like my valentine
It's big and pink and lacy too
Three special words say I love you
Oh valentine, oh valentine
I think you'll like my valentine.


Valentine Pouches--or click here

Need: collage materials, paper plates (some cut in half)

Give each child a paper plate and a half. Help the children staple the paper plate halves to the whole paper plates to make a pouches. Have the children decorate the note holders with various collage materials. Have the children write their names in bold letters across the tops of the plates. Hang the decorated note holders in the room. The note holders can be used to place Valentine cards in.

Making Valentines:

printable cards or here

Set up a station for making cards. Include paint, valentine's stampers, glitter glue, stickers, markers, construction paper, coloring pages, etc.


Idea:
"Thumb" body loves you
Use child's thumbprints to form a heart shape. Cut out and glue onto card.

Now that your Valentine's are made, talk about placing them in envelopes, addressing them, (putting stamps on if mailing) handing/mailing them out.

I'm a Little Valentine (to the tune of: I'm a Little Teapot)

I'm a little valentine
Red and white,
With ribbons and lace
I'm a beautiful sight.

I can say "I love you,"On Valentine's Day.
Just put me in an envelope

And give me away!

Place in mail pouches or got to the post office and mail them away.

Valentine's Day: Day Two

H is for Hearts

A symbol of love (and Valentine's Day) is a heart. Giving someone a heart means you love and care about them very much.

H is for Hearts Page

Read a book about love, such as The Day it Rained Hearts--Felicia Bond or Love Bugs--David A. Carter--it's a pop-up book of "love bugs." Or, make your own heart book like this one.

On Valentines Day (to the tune of: B-I-N-G-O)

On Valentine's Day, a special day,
I give each friend a heart.H-E-A-R-T, H-E-A-R-T, H-E-A-R-T,
I give each friend a heart.

OR

There is a shape and it means love
And Heart is its name-o
H-E-A-R-T, H-E-A-R-T, H-E-A-R-T
And heart is its name-o

[Continue leaving out a letter on each repeat and use a clap in place of the letter.]

Author Unknown

Conversation Hearts Activities:

• Count--how do I love you? Let me count the ways!!!
  
• Sort by Color
• Sort by Size
• Sort by words
• Make a graph to show how many of each color are in the package.
  

Paper Heart Activities:

• Cut various sized hearts from pink, red, and white construction paper. The children can sequence the heart shapes from small to big or vice versa. Glue onto paper in correct order.
• Cut out matching hearts in various colors. Spread out all the hearts and have children match the pairs.
  

Art:

Handprint Heart:
Dip both hands in paint. Place the hands on paper with fingers touching. A heart shape will form. Once dry, outline in black to define a heart.


Paper Heart Wreath--use the paper hearts you already cut for one of the above activities!

Heart Necklace

Need: red, pink, and white paper hearts(punch wholes in the center), plastic straws cut in 1 inch sections, yarn, masking tape

Place a piece of tape around one end of each length of yarn. Tie a piece of the straw to the untaped end of the yarn. Have children thread pieces of straw and paper hearts onto the yarn. Encourage the children to make patterns. When finished, help the children tie the ends of the yarn together.

Animals Made from Hearts or here

Valentine's Heart Tree

Heart Crafts from DLTK

Disappearing Hearts:

Materials:

• White Vinegar
• Red and Pink Tissue Paper
• Paintbrushes
• Heavy White Paper

Directions:

• Before beginning the project cut tissue paper hearts in several different sizes. Have your children paint vinegar onto their white paper and then place the tissue paper hearts onto the paper. Once the tissue paper dries it will peel off to reveal beautiful heart designs.

Valentine's Day: Day One

V is for Valentine's Day

Read a book about Valentine's Day. (Clifford's First Valentine's Day--Norman Bridwell.)

V is for Valentine Coloring Page.

Discuss the history of V-day, some of the traditions, and that it's a time to show the people we love how much we love them by doing nice things/giving gifts.
History of Valentine's Day from history. com.


I LOVE YOU!~

• Practice saying, "I love you," with your child. Try learning this phrase in other languages, too.
• I love you Cut & Paste
  

If You Love Me (to the tune of: If You're happy and you know it)

If you love me and you know it, clap your hands
If you love me and you know it, clap your hands
If you love me and you know it
Then your face will surely show it
If you love me and you know it, clap your hands

Other verses:

Shout "I Love You!"
Blow a Kiss

Valentine's Day Colors:

Mixing red and white, have children make different shades of pink. Add pink and purple in for more painting fun!!!




Valentine Coloring Pages

• Here
• Here
• Here
  

Valentine's Day helps us celebrate love and to show our love to the people we care about most!