| Valentine's Day is a favorite for children since it | | | | large heart shapes from construction paper or |
| provides an opportunity to express their love for | | | | cardstock. |
| the important people in their lives as well as a | | | | Next, cut each of the hearts in half length-wise. |
| clever excuse to eat candy. It's also a great time | | | | Write a number on the left side of the heart, and |
| of the year to incorporate some preschool | | | | draw that many dots or small hearts on the |
| valentine games into the lesson plan to reinforce | | | | other side. Next, mix up the halves and try to |
| the central theme of love. | | | | see if the children can match the numbers with |
| Most of these games focus on the theme or | | | | the correct amount of dots or hearts. |
| image of the heart, which is central to Valentine's | | | | Here's a fun game that has children identifying |
| Day festivities. Also, since Valentine's Day is a | | | | pictures on a heart shape. Cut out one heart for |
| non-secular holiday, parents won't raise any | | | | each child in the class. Next, have the children go |
| objections to these preschool valentine games. | | | | through magazines to look for interesting pictures |
| While the most obvious of the preschool valentine | | | | of animals, people, flowers, or anything else they |
| games is the making of and distribution of | | | | find intriguing. Once they've decided on a picture, |
| decorated or store-bought valentines, don't be | | | | they cut it from the magazine and paste it to the |
| afraid to move beyond this classic activity. A | | | | heart. |
| great variation of the valentine making game is to | | | | After all the children have finished, gather the |
| have each child make a valentine for their family | | | | hearts and place them in a bag. One at a time, |
| using paper, paint, glitter, stickers, and whatever | | | | children pull a heart from the bag and identify the |
| other art supplies are on hand. | | | | picture on the heart. They can also try to guess |
| Once the valentine is completed, place it in an | | | | whose heart it is. |
| envelope and help each child write their address | | | | Yummy Sorting Game! |
| on the envelope. If time and the weather permits, | | | | Last but most certainly not least for these |
| take a short field trip with the children to the post | | | | preschool valentine games is one that uses little |
| office so that they can mail the valentines to their | | | | candy hearts to help children with their sorting and |
| families. | | | | matching skills. Place a small amount of candy |
| Heart Numbers | | | | hearts in a bowl and have children sort them |
| Some preschool valentine games allow children to | | | | based on color or words. Try to see if they can |
| work on their sorting and matching skills. For | | | | find two identical hearts. Once the game is over, |
| example this game called "Heart Numbers", has | | | | the clean up is simple- children get to eat the |
| children matching numbers with the corresponding | | | | hearts! |
| amount of dots or hearts. Cut out a number of | | | | |