Lessons & Classroom Games for Teachers
Valentine's Day is a favorite for children since it provides an opportunity to express their love for the important people in their lives as well as a clever excuse to eat candy. It's also a great time of the year to incorporate some preschool valentine games into the lesson plan to reinforce the central theme of love.
Most of these games focus on the theme or image of the heart, which is central to Valentine's Day festivities. Also, since Valentine's Day is a non-secular holiday, parents won't raise any objections to these preschool valentine games.
While the most obvious of the preschool valentine games is the making of and distribution of decorated or store-bought valentines, don't be afraid to move beyond this classic activity. A great variation of the valentine making game is to have each child make a valentine for their family using paper, paint, glitter, stickers, and whatever other art supplies are on hand.
Once the valentine is completed, place it in an envelope and help each child write their address on the envelope. If time and the weather permits, take a short field trip with the children to the post office so that they can mail the valentines to their families.
Heart Numbers
Some preschool valentine games allow children to work on their sorting and matching skills. For example this game called "Heart Numbers", has children matching numbers with the corresponding amount of dots or hearts. Cut out a number of large heart shapes from construction paper or cardstock.
Next, cut each of the hearts in half length-wise. Write a number on the left side of the heart, and draw that many dots or small hearts on the other side. Next, mix up the halves and try to see if the children can match the numbers with the correct amount of dots or hearts.
Here's a fun game that has children identifying pictures on a heart shape. Cut out one heart for each child in the class. Next, have the children go through magazines to look for interesting pictures of animals, people, flowers, or anything else they find intriguing. Once they've decided on a picture, they cut it from the magazine and paste it to the heart.
After all the children have finished, gather the hearts and place them in a bag. One at a time, children pull a heart from the bag and identify the picture on the heart. They can also try to guess whose heart it is.
Yummy Sorting Game!
Last but most certainly not least for these preschool valentine games is one that uses little candy hearts to help children with their sorting and matching skills. Place a small amount of candy hearts in a bowl and have children sort them based on color or words. Try to see if they can find two identical hearts. Once the game is over, the clean up is simple- children get to eat the hearts!
Mary Robinson has been teaching preschool for well over a decade. You can get instant access to her preschool activities, crafts, and lesson plans by visiting her website:
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