Games
Heart and Children Game- I take clip art of different children with numbers on them and then make heart manipulatives to match to them. You can make this into a file folder game or a group game. You can do this at circle and say, This little girl wants eight hearts, who can give her eight hearts?? This is good to show one-to-one number correspondence. Base the number you make on the shirts by what your children can handle (1-4 or 1-8, etc;)
Centers
Sensory table-Place red shredded paper in your sensory table and hide hearts, letters, etc; Or place white packing pieces and hide red objects, or cupids, etc;
Tracing Center-Put out various sized heart, lips, vupids, xx and oo cutters or stencils. Let the children trace them onto paper. You can also put out different "love" themed stickers, for the children to stick on their tracings.
Another idea is to tape hearts or themed cut-outs to the tracing table, and place paper over them, for children to make rubbings.
Playdoh table-Put out red, pink, and white playdoh, along with "love" themed cookie cutters.
Matching Hearts-Make various sized and patterned hearts, and let children match them. You can also use these to make patterns.
Another variation of matching hearts: (***This idea was submitted by Beth Sand***) Buy the small heart erasers (can be found at the dollar store) and let the children use them to match. You can also use these as manipulatives, instead of having to cut out all those hearts!!
Heart puzzles-Make different type of decorated hearts or cupids and laminate; then cut them into puzzles. Let the children try to put them together. I provide the children with a whole-piece picture of the puzzle, so they can have something to model after.
Science Center-Need: white carnations, red food coloring, vase filled with warm water. Show the children how the carnation is white and in plain water. (Make sure to cut the end of the stem, to make sure it will be ready to pull up the water).Then tell them you want to make this a beautiful Valentine's day flower and place some drops of red food coloring into the water. After lunch, or another activity, have them come back and see what happened.
Lace up Hearts-Cut hearts from posterboard or heavy construction paper and let children lace them up with red or pink yarn. Later decorate and use for Valentine card holders.
Postal Center-If possible, try making a postal center in your housekeeping center. Try putting in a mail bag and hat, letters, envelopes, and stamps. Let the students take turns as the mail carrier and deliver letters to the rest of the students.
