The Craftiest Workshop

Planning activities around a holiday is always fun.

There are always lots of children’s books available that celebrate each one.

Valentine’s Day is a special day

so read ahead and see all the ways one can play

You need to find out ways to engage all the children. Boys struggle with the lovey dovey stuff so choose books that they would enjoy; A Valentine for Frankenstein for example.

Books

Love Splat by Rob Scotton

Love Monster by Rachel Bright

There are a number of different Love Monster books

A Valentine for Frankenstein by Leslie Kimmelman

Lots of gross stuff in this one; great for boys

My Heart is Like a Zoo by Michael Hall

Each page has a different animal made out of hearts

Amelia bedilia’s first valentine by Herman Parish

I have loved Amelia Bedelia stories since I was a child

The Berenstain Bears Valentine’s Party by Jan and Mike Berenstain

Another author from my childhood. Each story teaches some sort of lesson.

There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Rose by Lucille Collandro

A play on There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly. There is one for every holiday and season almost. If you buy the old lady puppet you can re-enact the story with the items she swallows.

Little Bear’s Valentine by Else Holmelund Minarik

The Little Bear books are wholesome feel good books.

The first one was written in 1957.

Songs and finger plays

Skinnamarink

5 Little Hearts

^{(cut out five hearts from different coloured felt or fabric, glue black felt to cardboard)}

5 little hearts all in a row

The first one said, “I love you so”

The second one said “Will you be my Valentine?”

The third one said, “I will if you’ll be mine.”

The fourth one said, “I’ll always be your friend.”

The fifth one said, “We’ll all be friends until the end.”

H-E-A-R-T

^{(Tune of BINGO)}

I made a Valentine for you

the heart shape says I love you

H-E-A-R-T, H-E-A-R-T, H-E-A-R-T

The heart shape says I love you

2nd verse- clap -E-A-R-T

3rd – clap clap A-R-T

4th– clap clap clap R-T

5th – clap clap clap clap T

6th– clap clap clap clap clap

Suggestion: With older children, each letter could have a different movement like H-clap, E-stomp, A-slap thighs, R-slap chest, T-jump.

Tony Chestnut

^{(Touch the body part in brackets. Sing slowly, regular speed and then really fast.)}

To (toe) ny (knee) Chest (chest) nut (head)

Knows (nose) I ( eyes) love ( cross arms over chest) you ( point to friend)

To (toes) ny (knee) knows (nose)

To (toes) ny (knee) knows (nose)

Toe (toes) ny (knee) chest (chest) nut (head)

Knows (nose) I (eyes) love (cross arms over chest) you (point to friend)

That’s what To(toes) ny ( knee) knows (nose)

Crafts

Puzzle piece heart – print out a heart image with a 1/2 inch edge and trace it onto cardboard. Cut both the inside and outer edge. Have the children choose at least two colours and paint the backs of puzzle pieces. Get them to glue one layer and then stagger the pieces and do a second layer on top.

“I Love You to Pieces”– while I had the puzzle pieces out and was painting, I thought I would make up this craft which I have done with a preschool group. I make the popsicle stick frame ahead of time. The children would paint the pieces and glue them on. Older children could write the letters themselves if you write it out for them on a piece of paper. They could paint the background first and probably eliminate the need for glue as the pieces could stick to the paint.

I wood burned my letters in but any marker or pencil crayon would work.

Beaded Pipe cleaner Bracelet– Let children choose a coloured pipecleaner. Offer them a variety of beads to put onto the pipe cleaner. Challenge them to create a pattern. When the beaded portion fits around their wrist twist it off.

Yarn Love Monster (connection to “Love Monster ” and “A Valentine for Frankenstein” books)- wrap yarn around cardboard rectangle 100 times. Put a pipe cleaner through the gap to hold it.. Slide a piece of yarn through to replace the pipe cleaner and tie a knot. Cut the yarn on the side opposite to the knot. Glue onto dixie cup, applesauce cup or yogurt cup; trim as needed. Glue on googly eyes and a small yarn bow.

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Monster Kleenex box– this is great if the children are going to be handing out Valentine’s to each other. This can be used to receive them. Glue tissue paper squares around entire box. Add some teeth and a tongue.

Heart Animal (connection to “My Heart is Like a Zoo“)

Offer different sizes and colours of hearts and read the story. The children can choose to make an animal out of hearts from the story or another animal.

Activities

Roll and Colour – Roll and colour in hearts. Roll a six sided dice. Colour in the number of hearts that you roll. Whoever fills their sheet first wins.

Roll and Draw -draw a valentine man (each body part is a number 1-6).

Take turns rolling.

Whoever draws a full man first wins.

1 – head heart

2 – face

3 – left arm

4 – right arm

5- left leg

6- right leg

Musical Valentine– have the hearts face down. Get the children to walk on them stepping from heart to heart. When the music stops, pick a child and have them turn over their heart and do the action. Have enough hearts for all the children. Once a heart is turned over, keep it that way so you know which actions have already been done.

Alphabet Matching– lay out hearts with all the letters of the alphabet. Give each child a different plastic letter. As you can see below, I have a set of both upper and lower case letters. I wrote the upper case on one side and lower case on the reverse. Have them go one at a time and see if they can find the match. If possible try to give each child a letter that is in their name.

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Cupid’s Arrow – colour one tip of 5 cotton swabs with one colour for each child. Give each child a straw (McDonald’s size is good). They have to put a swab inside their straw and blow as hard as they can trying to hit a heart on the wall or get their “arrow” into a heart shaped bowl set in the center of the room. So many reasons this would not fly with COVID but with your own child or children you could try it.

Sensory

Red and white sensory bin– the base could be styrofoam packing peanuts, cotton balls, shredded white and red paper or white rice with some dyed red. Add things like Pom poms, juice lids, dice, mini playing cards, glass beads, plastic hearts, marbles, measuring cups, red plastic cups, poker chips, plastic letters and numbers.

This is my collection of red and white items.

Jello Playdough

1 cup flour

1 pkg jello cherry or strawberry

1 Tbsp cream of tartar

1/4 cup salt

1 cup water

2 Tbsp oil

Combine the flour, jello powder, cream of tartar and salt in a saucepan. Add the water and oil. Cook on med-low for 5-7 minutes or until the dough pulls away from the sides of the pan. Stir constantly.

Once ball is formed, turn ball out onto parchment paper. Let cool till you can handle it. Knead, adding a bit more flour if sticky. It should be able to be manipulated without sticking to hands.

Store in an airtight container. One batch fits nicely into a Cool Whip or margarine container.

Use these heart shaped tools to play with the dough.

You could offer some of the glass beads and some small beads to decorate the hearts.

Fizzing Hearts

Make these ahead of time

Ingredients

1/2/ cup baking soda

2 Tbsp water

Food colouring (red and blue, combine to make purple)

Vinegar in a squeezable bottle, turkey baster, or syringe

Directions

Mix the baking soda, water and food colouring together.

Repeat recipe with a different colour of food colouring.

Press into cookie cutter molds or ice cube heart tray.

Put them in the freezer for 30 min.

Place the hearts in a shallow pan.

Allow the children to squirt vinegar onto the hearts to make them fizz.

These are just some ideas for Valentine’s Day. The activities could easily be stretched into a week or at least a few days. This year Valentine’s Day is on a Sunday so it is a great year to do an entire week of Valentine’s activities.