Valentine’s Day

Valentine's Day Theme in Preschool

Valentine Books

Valentine Music

Valentine DVD

Valentine’s Day Party Planner
valentine classroom party guide
The free Valentine’s Day Classroom Party Guide is available in the printables section at the bottom of the page. This 22 page guide includes several pre-written notes to parents for Valentine parties, a pre-written note to parents explaining how the Valentine card exchange works, ideas for Valentine card holders, party activities, games and much more!

FREE Valentine Treat Toppers
valentine treat topper printable
I give my students a treat bag along with a card enclosed in the bag for Valentine’s Day. In an effort to streamline this process I created a treat topper for the bags that can now be used as my Valentine card.

I created two different treat toppers for you using digital clipart from DJ Inkers. One is for a teacher to give to students and the other is more generic and can be used by anybody. You can find download the free Valentine treat bag toppers here.

Valentine Literacy Activities

Red Heart, Red Heart What Do You See? Book
Materials: die cut hearts in many colors, Xerox paper with words to story printed at bottom, stapler, glue.
Making books with your class is always fun! First, prepare an original copy of the “book” on your computer, it goes along with the Brown Bear Brown Bear story; “Red heart, red heart, what do you see? I see a blue heart looking at me.” etc… Next, have your students make their own books by gluing their hearts to the appropriate page. When everybody has all of their pages completed staple them together to make a book for each child that they can easily “read”. You can make your own personal copy of the book beforehand and read it to the class every day during your Valentine unit so they will understand how to “read” it when theirs is finished.

Valentine Card Class Book

Materials: Valentine cards that your class has given you, glue, cardstock, construction paper, stickers
Pre-program as many sheets of cardstock as you have students with the following phrase copied at bottom “Roses are red, violets are blue, here is the Valentine I got from you”. Next, glue one Valentine card to each page, with the picture showing and write the child’s name underneath the card. Laminate all the pages, bind, and you’re ready to read this masterpiece to your class. It’s sure to be a big hit in the class library. At the end of the year take the book apart and let each student take his or her page home or raffle off the whole book to one lucky student.

Name Heart Caterpillars
Materials: construction paper hearts die-cut in red and pink, glue stick, sharpie or black marker.
Have each child make an AB pattern using the two different colored hearts. Next, the students write one letter of their name on each heart with a black marker to make a “name caterpillar”. Use the glue stick to glue the caterpillar together. These caterpillars make great wall decorations or a cute bulletin board display.

Valentine Beginning Sounds

Setting: Small Group, Literacy Centers
Objective: Phonological Awareness- Beginning Sounds
Materials: 3 Valentine containers, objects from the Lakeshore Letter Sound Tubs, index cards, Sharpie marker, tape
Directions: Select objects from 3 different letter sound tubs and place in a brown paper bag. Write the corresponding letters on index cards and tape to the front of the containers as pictured above. Students will take turns closing their eyes and selecting objects from the paper bag, identifying the beginning sound, and placing the object in the correct container.

Valentine Card Sight Words
valentine sight word cards
Setting: Small Group, Literacy Centers
Objective: Sight Word Recognition
Materials: student Valentine cards, Sharpie marker, envelopes, mini mailboxes or other container
Directions: Write one sight word on the back of each student Valentine card with a Sharpie marker. Next, seal and cut envelopes in half and write the same words on the front of each envelope half. Give each student a mini mailbox or other Valentine container to hold their cards. Students will match the Valentine cards to the correct envelopes and place the matched pairs in their container. I use the Rainbow Words sight word program so the 6 words pictured above are the first six purple words from our rainbow.

Valentine Magnetic Sight Words
Magnetic Valentine Sight Words
Setting: Small Group, Literacy Centers
Objective: Sight Word Recognition
Materials: Magnetic cookie trays (Found at Dollar Tree), Valentine paper hearts, tape, magnetic letters, word rings
Directions: Laminate and tape paper Valentine hearts to magnetic cookie trays, the hearts pictured above are from a notepad. Next, give each child their individual sight word rings (details can be found on the sight word page) and place the corresponding magnetic letters in a small Ziploc bag. Each child at the table gets one magnetic cookie tray, a ring of sight words, and a bag of matching letters. Students will spell the sight words words from the rings on their cookie tray.

The Heart Emergent Reader
In the resources section below you can download a free emergent reader titled The Heart. This document is in Power Point format so you can project it on a screen or use it with your interactive whiteboard. The book focuses on the sight words is and the as well as the color words.

Valentine Syllables
valentine syllable game
Setting: Small Group, Literacy Centers
Objective: Syllables
Materials: mini Valentine mailboxes (from Dollar Spot at Target), Sharpie marker, 1, 2, and 3 syllable picture cards, construction paper hearts, glue stick, scissors, laminating film
Directions: Write one number on each mailbox (1-3) with your Sharpie marker. Cut out one construction paper heart for each syllable picture. Cut and glue the syllable pictures to the hearts and laminate for durability. Students will take turns selecting a card, identifying the picture and number of syllables in the word, then placing the card in the corresponding mailbox.

Valentine Math Activities

Valentine Heart Counting
Setting: Small Group, Math Centers
Objective: Number identification, number sense
Materials: 10 Valentine themed party plates, Sharpie markers, heart erasers or real conversation hearts
Directions: Write the numbers 1-10 on the plates. Students place the correct number of erasers or candies on the plates.

Valentine Patterns

Setting: Small Group, Math Centers
Objective: Patterning
Materials: Patterning grid- one per child (available in printables section below), Valentine stickers or erasers
Directions: Give each child in the small group one patterning grid. Place the stickers or erasers in the center of the table in a container so all students can easily reach them. The students will use the stickers or erasers to create a pattern.

Valentine 1:1 Game
Setting: Small Group, Math Centers
Objective: 1:1 correspondence
Materials: printable Valentine mat- one for each child in the small group, cardstock, laminating film, foam die, Valentine erasers or real conversation hearts
Directions: Print the Valentine mats on cardstock and laminate. Give each student in the small group a mat. Place the erasers or candy in the center of the table in a container so they are easily accessible to all students. Each student takes a turn rolling the die and putting the corresponding number of erasers on their recording sheet. When there is one eraser on each space on the mat they are finished.

Heart Roll ‘N Stamp

Setting: Small Group, Math Centers
Objective: Number recognition, number sense, one-to-one
Materials: foam die, Valentine roll ‘n stamp sheets (see printables section below), red Do-A-Dot markers
Directions: Students take turns rolling the die, identifying the corresponding number on their paper and stamping that number with a red Do-A-Dot marker.

Valentine Counting 1-5

Setting: Small Group, Math Centers
Objective: 1:1 correspondence
Materials: 1-5 counting grid- one per child, Valentine stickers or stamps
Directions: To play this game each child in the small group gets a counting grid sheet. Place the stickers or stamps in the center of the table in a container so all students can easily reach them. The students will place the correct number of stickers or stamps next to each number on the counting grid.

Fun Valentine Activities

Sweetheart Photo Frame Magnet

Materials: Individual Sweetheart conversation heart boxes with clear, cellophane heart cut-out on front; one box for each child, small photo of each child, strip of self adhesive magnets, tape.
This is a great Valentine present for your students to give to their parents. Give each child a small, empty box of conversation hearts. Make sure you get the boxes that have the heart shaped cut out on the front. Take individual pictures of each child., then cut the child’s picture out and insert it into the box so that that it will show through the heart shape window in the front. Tape the picture to the inside of the box to secure it. Add a strip of self-adhesive magnet to the back of the box and this makes an adorable refrigerator magnet for the parents. You may want to tape the top of the box shut also to protect the picture.

Valentine Bag

Materials: white paper lunch bags, die-cut red construction paper hearts, glitter glue, paper doilies, conversation heart stickers.
These bags are a quick, cheap, and simple way to collect Valentine cards. First, have each student glue a white paper doily to the front of his or her bag. Next, glue a construction paper heart in the center of the doily and have students write their name using the glitter glue. Depending on the age of your class you may have to write their names for them first on the heart with pencil and then they can “trace” over the outline with glue. Next, give the students a supply of valentine stickers and have them embelish their bag.

Valentine Box

Materials: Quaker oatmeal containers, red and pink construction paper, die-cut hearts in various sizes, white paper doilies, red heart shaped paper doilies, glue, stickers, crayons.
Wrap a sheet of red or pink construction paper around each oatmeal box and tape it securely. Have each student glue a white paper doily to the front of the container. Next, glue a red heart doily in the center of the white one. Finally, have students decorate the rest of the box using a variety of heart die-cut shapes and stickers and write their names with crayons.

Parent Valentine Card

Materials: scissors, pencil, white construction paper, red or pink paint, Xeroxed copy of poem for each child.
Have students cut large hearts from a sheet of red construction paper, you may want to give them a tracer for help, have the shapes Xeroxed onto the paper first, or I used a die-cut. Next, paint each student’s hand with pink or red paint and place in the middle of the heart to make a handprint. When dry, glue the poem to the construction paper and have the child sign the poem at the bottom.
Poem: “Here is my hand and with it my heart, for I have loved you right from the start”

Flower Science
Materials: white carnations, red food coloring, water, clear vase or container for flowers.
Here is a great Valentine science idea! Put some red food coloring in a clear vase or container of water. Next, cut the stems of the flowers to fit your vase and cut an “X” into the bottom of each stem, finally, place the flowers into the vase of red water. The flowers should start to soak up the red food coloring by the next day and they will begin to change color! You could do a prediction activity, a science journal, or take pictures of the flowers each day and make a class science book.

Love Comes in All Colors
Materials: watercolors, white paper, heart shape Xeroxed on paper.
Give each child a paper with a heart shape copied on it. Have the children watercolor their paper using the watercolor paints. After the pictures are dry cut the hearts out along the black line and put on a bulletin board with the caption “Love Comes in All Colors ”

“I Love…” Lift-the-Flap

Materials: red construction paper, scissors, crayons, glue, small pre-cut hearts.
Fold one sheet of red construction paper hot dog style. Next, open the paper and make three cuts from the bottom of the paper to the folded line. Place the three cuts evenly so you are left with four flaps when you fold the paper back to the hot dog position. Have the students glue small, pre-cut hearts to the front of each flap or if they are able they can draw them. Under each flap they can draw a picture of somebody they love (mom, dad, grandma, sister, pet etc).