Valentines Day - Post Office center, mystery card & more...
Create a Post Office Center
A post office center is a fun way to celebrate Valentines Day.
A box from the liquor store has cardboard inside to protect the bottles and it makes 10 or 12 dividers. If you have a large class use 2 boxes. Cover the boxes with colorful paper and put a name sticker for each student, and one for yourself, in the front of the divided sections.
Put a mailbag and a hat similar to the kind mail carriers wear in the center. Include paper, old envelopes, pencils, erasers, felt markers, pretend money and stickers for stamps. The school office will often save used envelopes and junk mail for the children to play with. Provide an opportunity for students to mail a real card to their caregivers.
Secret Message Valentine Day Card
This secret message Valentine card and the rooster poem and valentine craft below are from an old book, "Holiday Handicrafts" by Nina Jordan.
Children love the idea of a secret message and this card is simple enough for children in younger grades to make.
Show children how to print a rebus message, I love you, by drawing an eye, a heart, and the letter U and place the chart close to the students' work area so they can copy it.
Gather:
- Small and large heart tracers
- Pink or red construction paper
- Black felt marker
- Scissors
- Paper fasteners
- Crayons and felt markers
- chart paper
Children:
- Trace a large and small heart with a black (or red) felt marker
- Cut on the outside of the tracing line of the large heart so the black line shows up
- Cut on the inside of the tracing line of the smaller heart so the black line is gone
- Decorate the smaller heart with crayons, felt markers, and/or stickers
- Place the small heart on top of the large heart and connect with a paper fastener (see image)
- Rotate the top heart all the way to the top then copy the "I love you" symbols in the middle of the bottom heart
- Slide the top heart back on to the top
Valentines Day Rooster Art
"This little rooster crows and crows
For you're my Valentine he knows"
Gather:
- Pictures of roosters with bright colored feathers
- A heart and circle tracer
- Pink or red construction paper
- Scissors
- Black felt marker
- Small orange or red beak triangles
- White cartridge paper
- Bright colors of paint
- Poem printed out (see above)
Children:
- Trace a large heart shape and a circle with a black felt
- Cut on the outside of the black tracing line so it shows up
- Glue on a beak shape
- Assemble and glue rooster on a piece of cartridge paper
- Paint bright colors for a tail, the wattle, and feet
- Paint feathers on the rooster or color with crayons
- Glue poem to picture
Valentines Day Cooking
Valentines cooking projects work well at Center Time if you can get a parent to help you. The parent either supervises the other children or works with one or two children at a time in the cooking area. Make parents aware of cooking process and safety issues before class starts.
Keep the process and recipes as simple as possible. Reinforce cooking vocabulary such as tablespoon, broil, blend, half a cup (or metric if that is used where you live).
Valentines Day Strawberry Milkshake
Gather:
- No sugar almond milk
- Frozen strawberries
- Small fresh strawberries if available
- A blender or a hand held blender
- Straws
- A parent helper!
- Have each child drop a few strawberries and a portion of almond milk (measure with small drinking glass) into the blender
- Child places the lid on top and press the on button until they have whizzed up a healthy Valentines Day milkshake for themselves
- Child puts a small strawberry on top and inserts a straw
- Be sure to have one adult supervising the child and the blender at all times.
Simple Valentines Day Pizza (made with toast!)
Gather:
- Whole wheat bread
- A toaster oven and or a toaster
- Bread sized heart cookie cutter
- Measuring spoons
- Pizza sauce
- Grated cheese
- A different parent helper!
- Have each child toast a piece of whole wheat bread
- Child presses Valentines Day cookie cutter on to toast
- Child measures a Tablespoon of pizza sauce on their heart shaped toast
- Child measures a Tablespoon of grated cheese on their toast
- Parent helper places toast pizza in the toaster oven and broils until the cheese is melted (children can watch and eat heart toast scraps)
- Place on plate and enjoy
- Adult supervises the child and the toasters at all times.
Other Valentines day pages:
Teach math vocabulary, area, graphing and more with fun Valentine's ideas.
Use these Valentine's day ideas for a "Keep it Simple" party
Encourage literacy with these Valentines ideas
This dove makes a unique Valentine's day craft
Valentine's Art - teach art concepts
Valentines Day - Secret message Valentine, rooster Valentine art, simple cooking
