Teaching and learning

Valentine’s Day themed activities for preschool

7 Valentine's Day activities in different development areas for your little ones
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January 16, 2024
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In a rush? Here’s a quick rundown.

  • Get ready for February with these Valentine’s Day activities in your classroom
  • Activities for the little ones to learn science, math, engage in messy play and sensory bins, and just sing some catchy songs!

Valentine’s Day themed science activities

Growing Salt Crystal Hearts

valentines day salt crystal hearts

Source: Little Bins for Little Hands

What you’ll need:

  • Salt
  • Water
  • Measuring spoon, spoon and container
  • Tray
  • Construction paper hearts

How to do it:

1. Make a saturated salt solution.

A saturated salt solution is one where the solution has absorbed as much salt as it can hold, and any additional salt added will not dissolve but instead remain undissolved at the bottom of the container.

To make your saturated salt solution, you will need hot water - you can either let the tap water run and get really hot, or just boil some water. 

Slowly add salt until the water can’t hold anymore. The hotter the water is, the more salt you will be able to add, and the more salt you add, the more saturated the solution (which is the goal!)

2. Place your construction paper hearts on a tray or dish and pour just enough of the saturated solution to cover them. It’s ok if there is some leftover salt in your container! 

3. Set the hearts covered in the saturated solution aside and watch!

What’s happening?

As the salt solution cools and the water evaporates, the sodium and chlorine atoms that make up the salt are no longer separated by water molecules. So, they are able to bond together and eventually form a cube-shaped crystal.

Valentine’s Day bubbles

valentines day bubble making

Source: Little Bins for Little Hands

What you’ll need:

  • 1/2 Cup Light Corn Syrup
  • 3 cups Water
  • 1 Cup Dish soap
  • Measuring Cups
  • Spoons
  • Themed accessories (like Valentine’s day cookie cutters, or red straws)

How to do it: 

Just mix all the ingredients together and you are ready to start making bubbles! Just dip the heart shaped cookie cutters or any other accessories into the mixed solution, and then blow!

Valentine’s Day themed math and pattern recognition activities

Candy hearts math

Source: Messy Little Monster

What you’ll need:

valentines day candy hearts math
  • 1 Package of candy hearts with words on them
  • Paper plates
  • Permanent marker
  • Bowl

How to do it:

1. Start with all the candy hearts in a bowl

2. Grab a paper plate to do the activities on

3. With the permanent marker, draw the math equation on the paper plate (+ or - and =)

Plus, there are plenty other math activities that you can do with candy hearts

  • Counting: Count a handful of conversation hearts. How many are there altogether?
  • More/less: Count out two small piles of conversation hearts. How many are there? Which pile has more or less?
  • Number recognition: Write numbers on paper plates. Can kids add the correct number of conversation hearts to each plate? 
  • Patterns: Create different patterns with the candy hearts colors and words. 
  • Sorting: Sort candy hearts by colour.
  • Making Shapes: Create shapes with candy hearts. Introduce new shapes by drawing an outline of the shape on the paper plate and then place conversation hearts along the lines.

valentines day tic tac toe board

Valentine’s Day tic-tac-toe

Source: Rainy Day Mum

With X’s and O’s to mark your spot, tic-tac-toe is already Valentine’s themed!

What you’ll need:

  • You can easily download and print out a free tic-tac-toe board, or just make some on paper
  • Cut out X’s and O’s so the children can place it on the tic-tac-toe board

Valentine’s Day themed sensory bin

Source: Pre-K Pages

valentines day sensory bin

What you’ll need

  • Any Valentine’s day themed object you can find! You can use what you have in the classroom, at home, or just make a quick run to local CVS, Target, grocery store or dollar store! -- Some examples could be candy hearts, heart-shaped rocks or stones, pink or red toys, and so much more. Mix all of these in pink or red rice to make it even more Valentine’s day themed!

How to do it:

No steps or instructions! Just let the children touch, feel, explore and play with everything in the sensory bin.

Valentine’s Day themed songs

valentines day sing along songs

Source: PreKinders

Get everyone singing and dancing with these fun Valentine’s day themed songs.

  1. Valentine’s Day by Jack Hartmann
  2. If You Love Me and You Know It by the Kiboomers
  3. H-E-A-R-T by the Kiboomers
  4. Skidamarink by Super Simple Songs 

Valentine’s Day themed messy play

Tinfoil and paint hearts

Source: Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds

What you’ll need

valentines day messy play tinfoil hearts
  • Tinfoil
  • Your choice of child-safe paint

How to do it:

1. Cut the tinfoil into large hearts

2. Let the kids paint!

You can let the children paint with paintbrushes or other objects like Q-tips, or stamps. Also, let the little ones try mixing colors and learn what other colors they can create.

The foil is a nice change from just construction paper, as it adds more sensory play to it. The texture of the foil is slippery, but also, the creases can create bumps, and different elevations.

Fun-A-Day also had great messy play activities for Valentine’s day! 

The big ideas

download pdf
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Official Danish Government Reopening Advice

Guidance from the Danish Health Ministry, translated in full to English.

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UK Nursery Covid-19 Response Group Recommendations

The full recommendations from a working group of over 70 nursery chains in the UK.

Please note: here at Famly we love sharing creative activities for you to try with the children at your setting, but you know them best. Take the time to consider adaptions you might need to make so these activities are accessible and developmentally appropriate for the children you work with. Just as you ordinarily would, conduct risk assessments for your children and your setting before undertaking new activities, and ensure you and your staff are following your own health and safety guidelines.

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