valentines day -preschool style

Valentines Day at preschool was a fun one.  I kept the activities simple and easy.  It made for a relaxed day- which we all appreciated.  In addition to passing out our valentines, I read a few Valentine books, specifically The Night Before Valentines Day by Natasha Wing. 

Then we played some Valentines bingo.  These were something I made up for Bee's kindergarten party last year.  I just used clipart found on google images.

Then we played some 'hot potato' with these little kissy face dogs.  When the music stopped, the children with the dogs had to meet them in the middle of the circle and put the little doggies noses together for a brief kiss.    I told the kids the dogs were married so they were allowed to give a little Valentines kiss!   They have little magnets inside and the kids thought sticking them together was pretty funny. At the end of the day several kids wanted to check out the dogs again and they stuck them all over the classroom to metal items.  I will need to do some magnet activities another day!

Then we played a heart stepping game sort of 'cake walk' style.  The kids marched around on the hearts (there are upper and lower case for a-s) while the music played and when the music stopped, they got on a heart and made sure they knew the letter.  Then I called out a few letters and those kids did what action I said.  For example, I might have said,  If you are on a Gg, wave your hands in the air, or- if you are on an Hh, snap your fingers, etc.  I used the song 'You've got a Friend in me' from Toy Story.  The kids were so excited when they recognized it. 

The craft for the day was so cute.  Lou's looked a little 'different.'  The kids hand prints  (thumb side of a fist prints really) were stamped on the paper and the kids were to add stems, leaves, etc to make roses.  I found when I was helping my kids make them that some looked better, more spiraly than others.   I think actual stems and leaves helped make it look like a bouquet of roses.  Lou said his were very thorny.