Valentine’s Day Activities for Preschool: Food Craft, Math, and Friendship Bracelets!
Valentine’s Marshmallow Pops Food Craft for Kids
Materials needed: White or strawberry large marshmallows, craft sticks or straws, white chocolate bark, waxed paper, and assorted Valentine’s cookie decorations.
Have the children poke craft sticks or straws into the large marshmallows and set aside. Melt the white chocolate bark according to package instructions (adult only). Dip the marshmallows into the melted bark, and then twirl the end into the Valentine’s decorations. For gifts or to easily transport the marshmallow pops, place the pops into a shallow plastic cup. Insert the cups into a Valentine’s treat bag and tie with a pretty ribbon for food gifts from the children. Our kids LOVE making these treats as much as they do EATING them!
Valentine’s Day Cereal Sorting and Graphing – Cereal Colors Graph
Materials needed: One Cereal Sorting Graph (linked above), sorting cups or muffin tins, bowl or snack size bags, and fruity O’s cereal (red pipe cleaners and tape will be needed for the suggested extension activities.)
Place one large handful of cereal into a bowl or make snack sized bags if doing the activity with a group of children. Have the children sort the cereal by colors into the different cups or muffin tin compartments. When the cereal has been sorted, have the children “graph” the numbers of each color by coloring the corresponding squares on the cereal colors graph (linked above).
Extension #1: Print the Numbered Hearts and laminate for durability. Tape the heart tags to the individual bowls or compartments. Have the children count out the number of cereal pieces that correspond to the numbers indicated by the hearts.
Extension #2: Tape the Numbered Hearts tag (linked above) to individual pipe cleaners. Have the children count cereal O’s and thread the pipe cleaner through the center hole. The children could also use the cereal to make patterns on the pipe cleaners as they count out the numbers.
Extension #3: Have the children thread the pipe cleaners through the cereal holes. The children can then make individual hearts out of the pipe cleaners as suggested in the second photo above. Younger children will need assistance in twisting the ends of the pipe cleaner together.
Valentine’s Day Friendship Bracelet Craft
Materials needed: Pipe cleaners and/or string, pony beads
Kids can make friendship jewelry to give to their friends. Pipe cleaners work well for bracelets, but string or plastic cord is best for necklaces. (Reminder: do not use string or beads with children who still put objects in their mouths or are younger than 3 yrs. of age without constant adult supervision.) For large groups, have each child choose a name of another child (written on a slip of paper) and make a necklace or bracelet for that child. String the pipe cleaner or cord with beads until the desired length. Encourage older children to make patterns with different shapes and colors of beads.
For more fun ideas see our Valentine’s Love and Friendship Theme at The Preschool Toolbox Blog!