Valentine’s day is about love in general. It can be shared with your spouse (I did get proposed to around Valentine’s day). It is called Galentine’s for the single ladies who get together and have a girl’s night. And it can also be a fun way to teach a young child about love and caring for each other. How to explain valentines day to preschoolers anyway? Well, that can be achieved by doing fun crafts!
There’s something about calendar holidays that make us want to do fun activities with our toddlers! Here are two fun valentine’s day activities you can do with your toddler or preschooler right now with supplies you likely already have on hand. I have also included a few fun ideas from fellow bloggers.
Fizzy Science Valentine’s Day Activity
Supplies:
- Baking Soda
- Eye droppers
- Confetti hearts or other valentine-related confetti or even red and pink food coloring.
- Vinegar
- Heart-shaped bowl. Or any bowl.
- Cookie sheet for a mess-free workspace
- Newspaper or packing paper for a mess-free workspace
Steps:
Fill your bowl with baking soda. Add color or confetti. Mix it to make fun and colorful piles of baking soda.
Fill the eyedropper (or, a syringe if you don’t have an eyedropper) with vinegar, and let your toddler drip some onto the bowl. Wow! Now enjoy the chemical reaction and the look on your tot’s face.
What’s happening? This science experiment is a combination of an acid-base reaction and a decomposition reaction. The fizzy bubbles are caused by carbon dioxide, a gas that forms when the vinegar (an acid) reacts with the baking soda (a base).
You can talk about this in simple terms with the preschooler and describe what is happening. What do you observe? What does it sound like?
Fizzy baking soda and vinegar activities are always fun, and you can modify this for any seasons or reason. Just change the colors and confetti!
Coffee Filter Heart Valentine’s Day Activity
Supplies:
- Markers or Stamps
- Eye droppers
- Coffee filters
- Scizzors
- Water
- Cookie sheet for a mess-free workspace
- Newspaper or packing paper for a mess-free workspace
Steps:
This one is fairly easy and fun. There’s a tiny bit of prep for mama, where you need to cut the coffee filter into hearts. Simple though, just fold in half and cut out the half heart shape. You can cut several at a time because they are so thin so prep time should only take a couple of minutes.
Then, place your mess-free workplace items on the table, and give your toddler the heart-shaped coffee filters. Let this kiddo draw a few dots or scribbles on the filters with the markers. Hint: crayon doesn’t work so well. I actually couldn’t find our markers, so we used stamps. If the tot wants to get a bit excited and color away, that’s fine too. But let’s use a few dots and lines for the next part and set aside the more colorful designs for other decorating uses.
When you have a couple of marked-up coffee filters, let your toddler drop some water onto the designs using the eye-dropper. Great for fine-motor squeezing and also for hand-eye coordination. I also couldn’t find our eyedropper (moving is fun, I found a syringe to use later for the science activity), so we improvised by using a straw and learning how to cap it off at one end to hold onto the water before dripping it out.
Watch the marker ink dissolve and spread onto more of the coffee filter and enjoy the patterns. Talk about the different colors and the effects of water “staining” the coffee filter.
Let dry and enjoy the art. You can even hang it up on the glass doors to let the sunlight play through them.
Fine Motor Tissue Paper Tearing to make a Valentine’s Day Card
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Supplies:
- Markers or Stamps
- Tissue paper
- Construction paper
- Glue
Steps:
Start with a piece of red construction paper and draw a large heart. You can add your message, such as “I love you to pieces” on the side.
Give the toddler strips of tissue paper and encourage tearing. Ripping and gluing are great fine motor skills.
When you have the multi-colored confetti of tissue paper, help the little one glue the paper over the heart. Stay inside the lines, and let the paper overlap. Make a fun pattern or design.
Valentine’s Day Printable!
Preschoolers will work on their fine motor skills navigating through this cute Valentine Maze. For more fun learning activities you can visit education.com, who provided this freebie for you to enjoy.
Download the Valentine’s Day Maze here!
And now, a roundup!
Valentine’s Day Activities and Crafts for Toddlers and Preschoolers
This lovely Valentine’s day sensory bin is a great idea!
My toddler would love this kitty heart craft.
And here are some non-candy valentines day card crafts. And some non-candy valentine’s day ideas for school, from me.
I love love love this fingerprint hearts tree!
Here’s a fun Valentine’s day sponge craft, and more!
Here’s a lovely idea – 14 days of Kindness notes. And a cute Valentine’s day countdown calendar.
Some great suggestions for Valentine’s day books for kids.
Here are some more Valentine’s day printables and cards.
Valentine’s Day Treats
Here’s a fun idea for preschool moms, you can make a valentine’s juice box to bring to the classroom party.
This delicious valentines day dessert is perfect for hiding from your kids.
Um, and this strawberry chocolate hearts fudge? Yes, please!
Ooh here’s a fun cooking with kids rice krispie kisses idea!
Want more? Check out my Pinterest board for Valentine’s day ideas!
What fun Valentine’s day activities are you doing with your toddlers and preschoolers?
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