Do you celebrate Valentine’s Day in your preschool classroom or homeschool? Keep reading for the sweetest preschool Valentine’s Day activities that are sure to make this February more festive and fun!
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PRESCHOOL VALENTINE’S DAY ACTIVITIES
February is here, which means it’s time to break out all of the red, pink, & purple in your preschool classroom or homeschool. What better way to practice math & literacy skills than by teaching a Valentine’s Day unit that encourages kindness, love, and friendship?
Keep reading for over 15 Valentine’s Day activities for your preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten students. These ideas include math, literacy, fine motor, gross motor, sensory play, snacks, and more!
Oh, and there are a few freebies in this post, too!
>>>Grab all of these Valentine’s Day math & literacy printables HERE!<<<
PRESCHOOL VALENTINE’S DAY ACTIVITIES: LITERACY
Choosing books is one of my favorite things to do with each new unit. Check out our favorite Valentine’s Day books here!
Phonological awareness skills are the key building block to reading success, which is why they should be practiced a little bit every day. In order to keep things fresh & engaging, I like to use phonological awareness games that go along with my current theme. Click here to check out these Valentine’s Day phonological awareness games that will help your little ones become strong readers in less than 10 minutes a day (and with zero supplies!)
You’re definitely going to want to start your Valentine’s Day unit with these valentine vocabulary cards! They are the perfect way to introduce your little learners to the vocabulary that goes along with this holiday. You can use these words in your writing center, as a Write the Room activity, or as a picture match.
If we want our preschoolers to be strong readers one day, they need to start with strong phonological awareness skills first. One of the ways we can do this is by helping our kids hear & identify the syllables within spoken words. These Love Monsters make practicing this skill of identifying syllables so much more fun!
Another phonological awareness skill that our preschoolers need to develop is identifying and producing rhymes. This Love Bug Rhymes activity can be modified to meet your learner at his or her level (by either identifying a rhyme or producing one of their own). Plus it mixes in graphing, too! (We use these spinners, but you can also create a spinner out of a paper clip and a pencil).
Another area we want our kids to develop before becoming readers is phonemic awareness (which is under the umbrella of phonological awareness). This includes helping our preschoolers hear the first sound in words. This Valentine’s Day activity allows them to practice this skill in a hands-on way…by matching the stamp with the letter to the heart with the picture on their valentine envelope.
Do you use butcher paper in your classroom or homeschool preschool? I love it because it allows little ones to work on a bigger space, which uses more of their whole body in their activities. This lowercase letter match uses butcher paper and FREE heart letters which you can read more about (and download) in this post.
PRESCHOOL VALENTINE’S DAY ACTIVITIES: MATH
Building number sense to 10 is a key component in preschool math skills. One of the best ways to do this is by using ten frames. I love this activity because your little one can use it to practice subitizing, one-to-one correspondence, number identification, and matching numerals to a quantity. Plus how cute are those hearts?!
If you’ve purchased any of my preschool activity packs, you know that most of them contain a slider activity. Why? For a few reasons! First, kids think sliders are fun because they’re different! It’s a great way to change things up while practicing the same skills. And second, they’re LOW prep! Instead of having to cut apart individual number or picture cards, you just cut the slider strip and slide it through the mat. Win win!
I’m always looking for different ways to practice basic 2D shapes in preschool. I love these cards because they give students the chance to find matching shapes (visual discrimination) while also naming the shapes, naming the characteristics of the shapes, and forming the shapes themselves.
Oh no, broken hearts?! Don’t worry, your little one can fix them! These puzzle hearts are perfect for students to practice subitizing and numerals. They’ll match the hands to the dice, and when they do, the numeral will appear!
If you have a deck of cards and some candy hearts, you have the perfect math activity! For this game, preschoolers will match the candy hearts onto the heart playing cards. This is great for fine motor development, one-to-one correspondence, and number identification.
PRESCHOOL VALENTINE’S DAY ACTIVITIES: SENSORY, SNACKS, & HANDS-ON IDEAS
Slime is always a hit with my preschoolers, and this Fluffy Slime has a great texture & smell. We used it to make Love Monsters, which was really fun! I love how each Love Monster is unique and different.
After we made these Heart Valentines last year, I knew I wanted to try something similar this year, but a tiny bit different…and these Heart Doily art projects from Pinterest were perfect! All you do is tape a heart doily down onto a piece of white paper, and then have your preschooler use paint or do-a-dot markers to paint over it.
The final product looks so great! And they can make it unique and individual by using different colors, coloring the entire border (or leaving it white), or coming up with something else that will make it special.
Target Dollar Spot for the win! These felt hearts came with yarn and plastic needles for preschoolers to practice lacing. Such a great fine motor activity to build the necessary strength for students to be able to write and draw.
Have you ever tried this science experiment before? It’s perfect for Valentine’s Day! Put white flowers into different jars of colored water, and see if the white petals change colors. Preschoolers will be so excited to use this experiment to form a hypothesis, make predictions, and make observations.
Here’s another interesting science experiment that will be sure to amaze your preschoolers! On a white plate, use a dry-erase marker to draw shapes. (The hearts worked better for us than the rainbows). Then slowly pour in warm water and watch the dry-erase pictures float around! You can have your preschooler use a straw to gently blow the dry-erase pictures around the water.
I always incorporate sensory bins into my themes, and this Valentine’s Day sensory bin made from dyed chickpeas is perfect for February. Add this FREE color matching activity to it for a hands-on learning experience. You can read more about this sensory bin and download the freebie by checking out this post.
You can make the most delicious valentine snack mix with popcorn, pretzels, Chex cereal, and vanilla almond bark. Lay out parchment paper on a baking sheet, then put some popcorn, pretzels, and Chex cereal on top. Melt the almond bark in a separate bowl & drizzle it over the mix. Then you can add whatever else you’d like (we chose M&Ms and sprinkles). Mix it all together, then let it dry for a bit. Once it’s dry, it’s ready to eat.
Here’s one more snack idea for you that mixes a treat with literacy…XOXO Graham Crackers! My own kids LOVE this snack & have fun helping me make it each February.
THE SWEETEST VALENTINE’S DAY ACTIVITIES FOR PRESCHOOL
I hope these ideas helped you fill-in your Valentine’s Day lesson plans for your preschool classroom or homeschool! All of the printables for this unit (that aren’t freebies!) can be found in my Valentine’s Day Love Mini Activity Pack.
Do you celebrate Valentine’s Day with your preschoolers? Do you have any fun activities that would be great for it? Comment below or find me on Instagram [@littleslovelearningblog] and let me know!
love these ideas? pin for later!
Happy Learning!
