With Valentine's Day having just passed, here are a few of the successful love-themed activities my preschoolers loved.
Kindness Rocks:
Materials: rocks, paint (we used tempera paint), paint brushes, paint palette, sharpies, mod podge
Process: As Valentine's Day grew closer, the children were eager to spread love and kindness around our school. We read the book "Charlotte and the Rock" by Stephen W. Martin. Charlotte found joy in her pet "rock," so why couldn't we spread joy around our school with rocks? And so the process began. We collected rocks from around our school and brought them in to be washed and dried. This itself was its own process. During gathering time, we brainstormed kind words, phrases, and pictures that would spark joy. Our list included "BE KIND," "LOVE," "SPREAD KINDNESS," "HAPPINESS," "KIND HEART," and many more. With this list in mind, we were ready to decorate. We painted all of our rocks using paint recipes to make our own unique colors. After drying, a teacher (and a few children with exceptional small motor skills) wrote our words on the rocks. The next step was to cover the rock with mod podge so weather wouldn't tamper our messages. With our rocks complete, we needed to notify the school. We worked together to develop a message that was shared school-wide of our Kindness Rocks Project. Finally, the most exciting step-- hide the rocks. Students walked around individually with a teacher to hide the rocks both in and outside our school. What joy this project brought to our school community!
Solo Cup STEM Challenge:
Materials: plastic red (or white or pink) cups
Process: To introduce the the activity, I posed the following challenge to a small group of students. I really want to build this tower as high as [insert child's name], but every time I stack them they just fall inside each other. Could you help me problem solve? Instantly, my children were hooked. They went through trial & error to come up with a plan. Finally, one child was successful. Then another. As their stacks rose, so did their excitement. For older kids, create specific shapes or challenges for them to build. To support this project with literacy, check out "Dreaming Up" by Christy Hale.
Love Messages:
Materials: cardstock, tape, foam paint brushes (circle & heart shaped), Valentine's-colored paint, paint palette
Process: To prepare, the teacher will need to cut a large heart from cardstock. Tape this heart on top of a full-sized cardstock. Students can use the foam paint brushes to cover the entire paper with reds, pinks, and purples. Let dry. Remove the heart-shaped cardstock, revealing a plain white heart, and set the painted heart aside for the What is Love? project. Inside the blank heart, prompt and discuss with the children what they would like to share with their parents, grandparents, siblings, or another loved one. Use this space to write the children's words. These may range from silly, such as "Let's set up a Christmas Valentine's tree," to serious, like "I wish for everyone to love one another."
What is Love?:
Materials: heart-shaped cardstock covered in Valentine's paint colors (from the Love Messages project), sharpies
Process: In gathering time and during casual conversations with children, we asked the question "What is love?" or "What does love look like?" Children's thoughts and feelings around love are as unique and special as their personalities. Write their responses on the heart-shaped cardstock to display around the room. Parents' hearts will be so full when they read the responses. They will be great to look back on in a few years, too!
How Many? Counting Activity:
Materials: Valentine's manipulatives, sentence strips
Process: We started with a large bowl of Valentine's manipulatives (we used small erasers) and the children sorted them into smaller bowls. Then, for an activity to challenge their one-to-one correspondence and provide discussions of comparisons, the children lined the erasers along sentence strips. When all of the erasers were laid out, the group counted each eraser. The total was written on the sentence strip at the end. This process continued for the other varieties of erasers. Discussions of more and less continued and their excitement bursted as we were able to count as high as 91!
Broken Heart Number Puzzle:
Materials: red construction paper, sharpie, laminator, dice
Process: To prepare, we created these puzzle pieces by cutting large hearts out of the construction paper. Then, cut the heart in half with a zigzag pattern. On one side of the heart, use a sharpie to write the number (ex: 3), and on the other side of the heart, mark the corresponding number of dots (ex: •••). When writing the dots, use typical dice patterns to encourage subitizing. Laminate the heart halves for an activity that can be used for years. To play, children roll the dice (can use one or two), count the total number of dots, and find the matching puzzle pieces.
Make a Pattern:
Materials: unifix cubes, handmade pattern prompts
Process: Because of the GoNoodle song "Banana Banana Meatball," patterns have become a huge interest. Create simple pattern cards to challenge children using both picture and word cues. Then, the activity is ready! Place pattern prompts and a pile of red & white unifix cubes for children to challenge their patterning skills.
Pink Smoothies:
Materials: frozen strawberries (2c), fresh strawberries (handful), frozen banana (1), whole milk (1c), yogurt (1/2c), blender, plastic knives, plastic cups, straws
Process: To encourage excitement, we involved the children in the "cooking" process as much as possible. After washing hands and discussing safety, each child cut strawberries and bananas to add to our blender. Then, we measured the appropriate amount of frozen strawberries, whole milk, and yogurt to add. Once an adult works the blender, the delicious pink smoothie is ready to enjoy! This was a great addition to our Valentine's celebration. The above recipe makes about 4 servings. Convert the recipe to work best for your classroom.
Happy Love Day! For extra support, see the photos below of the activities in action.
Keep spreading kindness,
Ms. E Warner
Comments