Happy Valentines Day
1) Suggested Reading:
Be My Valentine by K. Bratun
Dinosaurs Valentine by L. Donnelly
How Spider Saved Valentines Day by R. Kraus
Valentine Mice by B. Roberts
Video - Winnie the Pooh - Un-Valentine's Day
Video - Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown
Video - The Book of Pooh - A Valentine for Eeyore
Video - Clifford - Puppy Love
Video - Mister Rogers' Neighborhood: Love
Barney's Happy Valentine's Day
by Guy Davis June Valentine-Ruppe
Biscuit Loves You Valentine's Day Kit
by Alyssa Satin Capucilli Pat Schories
Bob's Valentine Surprise (Bob the Builder)
by Kim Ostrow
Mouse's First Valentine
by Lauren Thompson
Clifford's First Valentine's Day
by Norman Bridwell
Hugs and Hearts by Toni Trent Parker
Kitty's Busy Valentine
Roses Are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink
by Diane De Groat
The M&M's Brand Valentine Book
by Barbara Barbieri McGrath
2) POEMS:
(author unknown)
I'm glad it's Valentines Day today.
It's a special day, you know!!
It gives me an extra chance
To say "I Love You So!"
 3) a gift we made
Cut out a heart shape from construction paper. Let the children fingerprint with red or pink ink all the way around it. Glue it onto a white heart of the same size. I scanned a picture of each child or children to be glued on. Add two fingerprints somewhere in the center for the "Somebunnies". Draw bunny features on each. Add the saying "Somebunny Loves You" (or "Somebunnies Love You!")depending on how many kids in the family.
Write their names and date it for a special Valentine's gift. Laminate them for a long lasting treasure. We gave them to the parents and grandparents.
4) Make Valentine Muffins found on my recipe pages and serve with milk or apple cider for a yummy snack!
5) Gift Bag
Needed: paper lunch bags (white or brown)
pink, fuschia, red, purple and/or white paints
2 golf balls
cardboard box with a bottom and the four sides - cover is optional
Write the child's name on the bottom of the lunch bag first. Lay it in the bottom of the box. Drop the golf balls into the box and drip them with the paint colors of your choice. I usually put two colors on each ball. The child rolls it around back and forth making wonderful designs on the bag. Let dry and do the other side, so do it right away. I usually do it right away - it doesn't hurt the wet side. Let dry and add a gift! I like to fold the top over a couple of times, staple it and add a large red heart at the top with "Happy Valentine's Day" written on it.
6) Laminate construction paper hearts of all shapes, colors and sizes. The child can be encouraged to sort by size or color. They can be put in order largest to smallest, etc. or you can hide them all around the room and let them find the "lost hearts".
To emphasize letter recognition, have the child only look for a heart that has been labeled with the first letter in their name. OR label the hearts so that each child has to find each letter in their name.
7) Stack three to four 1/2 sheets of white paper on top of each other and fold each in half. When they are stacked, they form a book. Staple to keep the book together. Have the children cut out a heart to glue on the front. Label it - "The things I love...."
Inside each page they can draw the item or glue pictures of what they want in their book. Be sure to label each page with their responses. Other than Mom, Dad, family, and friends, here are some of the answers I can remember smiling at over the years. Dog, spaghetti, Nintendo, ME, Legos, grass, my shirt, daycare, pop, green eggs and ham, smiles. All wonderful answers!!!!
8) As well as talking about the people and things we love, make sure to talk about how to show our love. I'm sure a lot of you can relate when I say my own children have often thought I don't love them just because I yelled at them or punished them. Children need to be told that it's their actions that we sometimes don't love, not them as a person. I personally believe there is a lot of love in this world already, but think of how more wonderful it would be if everyone was shown a little more of it.
9) Let the kids string pink, red, white, or purple beads onto a red or pink pipe cleaner. The ones I use are probably about 10 inches long. Leave a 1/4 inch on each end to twist the pipe cleaner together. Form into a heart. To make it fancier, I've added a raffia bow to it.
10) Have the children trace each hand on pink or red construction paper. Help them cut the hands out. Have each child then stretch out their arms as long as they can and you measure it using red yarn. Tape the yarn to each of the paper hands. On the hand or on a label of some sorts, write "I love you t-h-i-s much"
Then when mom or dad comes, the child can spread out the paper hands and say "I love you THIS much!!!"
11) Let the children decorate toilet paper tubes. Suggested things they can use.... construction scraps, markers, yarn pieces, heart stickers, glitter glue, paper hearts, noodles, etc. Somewhere on it, write I Spy Love. The tube becomes a spying glass to find things or people they love.
12) Get the parents involved....Decorate cereal boxes at home to bring to daycare. Have a valentine exchange on Valentines Day or near that day.
13) A lesson in love and working together. Give each child one lego at circle time and tell him/her to build something. Of course you can't build anything spectacular with one block each. The lesson is cooperating with the ones we love to build something great - a friendship!
 14) Heart Strips
Start with an odd number of 1-inch wide strips for each child. Staple them together evenly on one end. Hold the staple in your hand and have the child fold the first strip on both sides down into a heart. You staple it shut whatever size you'd like it. Cut off the extra. Have the child fold down the next two and staple a little farther down. Cut off extra. Continue with however many strips are left. The last strip is the handle. Very simple.
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