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