Valentine's Day Round-Up for Preschoolers!

Valentine's has ALWAYS been my favorite holiday. Even though I no longer have tiny littles anymore (my baby is 8!), I still love creating for the preschool and kindergarten aged crowd. They're just so fun! 

Below is a round-up of all the free activity ideas right here on Mothering with Creativity, as well as all the paid Valentine's items I sell in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. Enjoy!

1. Celery Stamped Roses. Aren't these the cutest? All you need is celery, paint, and paper! 

2. 20 Things to do with Candy Hearts. This is the perfect compilation of activities to do with candy hearts (my fave candy!). You'll find math, science, sorting, and more! Totally free! 

3. Jell-o Sensory Play. I love making these Jell-O bins in Valentine's colors (pink, red, purple). Or, they can be for table-top sensory bin play-just add heart shaped cookie cutters! 

4. "I Have, Who Has...?" Card Game. This is a great game to play with a group of any size! If you have a smaller group of kids, pass out a couple cards to each participant. These are excellent for encouraging descriptive word usage.

5. CVC Themed Worksheet Set. If you have students working on vowel sounds or CVC words, these Valentine's themed worksheets are a cute way to practice.

6. Full Week Curriculum. Whether a teacher or a homeschooler, this set will get you ready for the entire week, all with a Valentine's theme! 

7. Activity Pack. If you are looking for variety, this pack is a great one! It has all sorts of preschool skills.

If you love Valentine's Day as much as I do, I hope some of these resources will help you to have a ton of fun with your little ones!  

Valentines play dough gift

I love these as a Valentine's gift!  My kiddos gave these out to their friends last year, and they were a hit!  All you need is:

*1-2 batches homemade play dough

*heart shaped cookie cutters

*clear plastic bags/gift bags

*typed and printed play dough recipe

*ribbon to tie the bag closed

*glue stick

*construction or scrap book paper

*funky scissors

*hole punch

*optional: candy 

1. Download a cute, free Valentine's Day font.  There are some cute ones HERE.  

2. Type up the play dough directions.  Include a personal message, too!

3. Use your fun scissors to cut out the instructions/note.  Glue it to a slightly larger piece of scrapbook paper.

4.  Punch a hole in the corner.

5.  Place 1-3 balls of play dough in your bag.  

6. Loop the ribbon through the hole on your instruction sheet, through the cookie cutter, and around the bag.  Tie it tightly. 

7. If you are including candy, tape it to the instruction card. 

8. Give it to your valentine!

Candy Skewers

Aren't these candy skewers cute?  My kindergarten class made these today for their Valentine's Day gifts to their parents.  They were super simple to make, too!  

I bought soft candies out of the bulk bins at Winco, and a pack of wooden skewers.  I used fishbowl-shaped bags that you can get at Walmart to wrap them.  

After the children placed their candies on the skewer (carefully-the tips are pointy), I cut the tip off with scissors so that it was flat when we wrapped them.  

So cute and fun!

See all my Valentine's Day activities, crafts, gifts, and projects HERE!

Pink Goop

In continuing with the Valentine's theme, the kids made pink goop yesterday yesterday.  It was not at ALL like I thought it would be, but it was so fun and the kids loved it!

All you need is:

• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup corn starch
• food coloring

Mix corn starch and water together in a bowl.  Add a few drops of food coloring.  It takes a little bit of work to get the corn starch to dissolve with the water.  

Like I said, this was not at all the consistency that I was expecting.  I was expecting a moldable substance, but that was not the case.  What we loved about this, though, was that when touched quickly  (like if you push your fist into it) it is rock hard.  If you hold a handful of it, though, it quickly turns back into a liquid and spills out over your hand.  It is so interesting!  The girls played with it for about 20 minutes before we had to clean it up because we had guests coming over.  They loved it!

As an extra mom-friendly note, it does clean up very easily with a wet rag.  It hardens when it drips on the counter or on your hand, but water will wipe it right off.  Have fun!

See all my Valentine's Day activities, crafts, gifts, and projects HERE!

We Love Daddy Valentine's Picture Gift

So, since my children finally caved and decided to give Ben his Valentine's Day gift early, I can finally post this here!  

The kids and I went to the Dollar Store and bought poster boards in red, white, and pink while Ben was out of town this week.  We made three signs reading "we", "love", and "daddy", and we used glitter and glue to decorate them.  We took pictures outside by a tree with my handy dandy iPhone, and found this super cute, three spot brown frame at Ross for $5.99.  

Ben loved it and is putting it his office at work.  I'll have to make another one for our house because I love these little faces so much.

See all my Valentine's Day activities, crafts, gifts, and projects HERE!

Candy Sorting (with Age Variations)

Sorting candy conversation hearts is a super fun task for young children.  All you need is candy hearts and a space to sort colors.  I made a mat with construction paper squares to match the colors in the bag. You could use colored bowls, cups, paper, etc.  

2 & 3 Year Olds:

Sort a handful of candy conversation hearts into a matching square or space color.

4 & 5 Year Olds:

Sort candy into appropriate spaces.  Then, to add some math to this fun, have your children chart their findings onto a graph or tally chart.  Ask questions like: Which color did you have the most of?  Which color had the least?  Did any piles have the same amount?  

Add in some sensory learning to this by having them close their eyes and taste one at a time.  Ask questions like: What flavor do you taste?  What color do think you are eating right now?

See?  Even candy can be educational ;)

See all my Valentine's Day activities, crafts, gifts, and projects HERE!

Valentine's Hat Craft

These little hats are really simple to make and your child will have an opportunity to work on her fine motor skills.  

What you'll need:

1 sheet of construction paper cut in half lengthwise

1 sheet of construction paper cut lengthwise into 1 inch strips

1 sheet of paper cut into small heart shapes (older kids could make the hearts on their own)

Tape and glue

Stickers, markers, or other decorative supplies

What to do:

Take the two thick pieces of paper and tape them together on one end.  Lay it flat and allow your child to decorate it.  Once done and dry, tape the other ends together around your child's head to form the hat part.

Next, demonstrate to your child how to "zig-zag" or "back and forth" fold the 1 inch strips of paper.  Let your child do this to a handful of the 1 inch strips.

Let your child tape or glue the hearts to the ends of the zig zag strips, and then tape the other ends to the inside of the hat so that they hang down.  

Pretty simple, huh?  I've done these for years with my preschool kids for years, and they always love the zig zag strips.  You can keep them simple with just paper, or fancy them up with glue and glitter or fun V-Day stickers.

See all my Valentine's Day activities, crafts, gifts, and projects HERE!

Adding a Little "Valentine's" to Snack Time

The Dollar Store is one of those magical places where all things great and cheap can be found.  If you are wanting to add a little extra "Valentine's" to your February days like I do, these little bags are fantastic.  They actually sell several different Valentine's Day bags.  They sell snack and sandwich sized Ziplocs with Valentine's decor, and they also sell these "treat" bags.  The treat bags are a better value, but they won't fit a whole sandwich, FYI (they do fit homemade uncrustables, though).  I bought 3 different styles of these Valentine's treat bags to use for snacks for my littles.  They came with 40 per pack!  It's something simple and cheap that makes the days leading up to the holiday a little more fun ;)  My girls LOVE having "special" bags for their snacks.

Homemade Granola Bars in V-Day Bags

Also, if you're looking for any other special stuff for Valentine's Day (treats, pencils, decorations, cups, plates, etc.), be sure to check the Dollar Store first-they have a ton of great stuff!).

See all my Valentine's Day activities, crafts, gifts, and projects HERE!

Homemade Candy Conversation Hearts

Ah, I love February.  I really do.  Valentine's Day is my favorite holiday.  I love the red, pink, and white.  I love making "mailboxes" with my kiddos and my students, and I love all the heart shaped treats and cards.  I just love it.

As a kid, my dad always bought me and my sister each a box of candy conversation hearts on Valentine's Day.  Super simple, but I loved it.  They are one of my favorite candies.

This is a recipe that I posted last year, but seriously, if you haven't tried to make your own candy conversation hearts before, you are missing out!  They are soooo good, and even better than the store-bought ones.  Side note: did anyone notice that one of the main candy heart makers changed some of their flavors last year?  It was odd.  I can't remember which brand it was though, as I'm an equal opportunity candy eater and try them all.

Read through the recipe before you do it.  You will need to let them dry for 24 hours, so you'll want to start them the day before you can eat them.  And don't forget the food safe markers so you can write cute sayings on them!

Head HERE to get the recipe for my homemade candy conversation hearts!

See all my Valentine's Day activities, crafts, gifts, and projects HERE!