The Day it Rained Hearts

*****The children each brought Valentine cards to share with our friends. 


Gathering: Make Bags for Our Valentine Cards

I wanted to make our Valentine mailbags with umbrellas and hearts to go with our book.  

  

Materials needed: White paper bags, small heart stickers, 3 cupcake liners per child (we used cute Valentine themed ones), 3 pipe cleaner halves, glue,crayons, letter stickers for names 

1-Glue cupcake liners upside down to look like umbrellas.  Bend the pipe cleaner to look like an umbrella handle and add it to the bag.  
2-Place heart stickers on the bag to look like it is raining hearts.
3-Add letter stickers for their names.  

4-Place valentine cards inside for our friends.

Circle Time: The Day it Rained Hearts

We read The Day it Rained Hearts by Felicia Bond.  It is a very sweet and simple story of a little girl who makes Valentines for all of her animal friends one day that it rained hearts from the sky.


 We sang a sweet song together after our story.  My little girl has sang it all week long. 


I wrote one letter on each of five hearts, and took one away each time we sang the song. 

Heart-o (tune of bingo) Instead of clapping, we blew kisses, each time we took a heart letter away.

“There is a word and it means love and heart is it’s name-o.
H-e-a-r-t.  H-e-a-r-t. H-e-a-r-t and Heart is it’s name-o.”


Art: Heart Garland

In the story the little girl strings together 7 hearts to make one of the valentines.  

Materials Needed: 7 large hearts per child (hole punch the hearts on each side to make for easy threading), yarn or ribbon, glue, crayons, sequins, stickers, any other collage materials you might want to bring

1-It was easiest to FIRST let the children thread their hearts together.
2-Decorate the hearts with collage materials provided to make your own garland. 

 

Snack: Valentine Popcorn, Strawberries, and Pink Milk

We enjoyed yummy Valentine Popcorn we made from this recipe at Nest of Posies. It is VERY ADDICTIVE!

We rounded out the treat with strawberries and pink milk!

Heart Activities

1-Conversation heart scoop “relay”

We had two buckets set up across the room from each other.  One child begins at the starting line next to a bucket filled with conversation hearts. Give each child a measuring cup scoop (Target had heart shaped ones in the dollar section).  The children carried the filled cup and emptied it into the bucket across the room.  Then they returned the cup to the next friend waiting.   

Helpful hint:
Don’t make it a competitive game.  But do supply enough materials for two or three “teams.”  (6 buckets, 3 scoops) That will give each of the children several turns, but still an opportunity to practice taking turns while their partner goes.

2- Let It Rain Hearts

We used paper and foam hearts to rain down on our little ones.
This was a fun idea inspired by Totally Tots!
(Idea based on activity found here).

3-Stacking Conversation Hearts

Give the children large conversation hearts and allow them to try and make the tallest tower they can before it falls.  They loved this game and kept trying over and over again. 

Snuggle Puppy

Special Instructions: Bring a shoebox covered with wrapping paper and a Valentine card for each Mommy and Me friend.  

Gathering Activity: Doggie Valentine Boxes

We made these adorable puppy boxes to hold our valentine cards.  We printed the pieces off in black and white and let the children color them.  The Mommies had to do the gluing part on the boxes.

Then the kids delivered their cards to each other.

Circle Time: Snuggle Puppy by Sandra Boynton

At the beginning of the year, I asked each of the moms to send in a list of their favorite books.  Snuggle Puppy by Sandra Boynton was on almost everyone's list.  I love this sweet book, and saved it for a special Valentines' Day treat!  The book is a little song from a parent to a child saying how much they love the child.  We read the story in circle time.  There is a CD available that includes the music and lyrics to the book, so after we read,  we listened to the song.  If you don't have the CD, you can also find it at .http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUEMxwU7yy0  (Warning: This song is very catchy and gets stuck in your head all day long)!   We each chose a puppy dog to snuggle with while we read the story.

We also sang the song "H-E-A-R-T" to the tune of Bingo.  I had written the letters on hearts and the children took turns taking on heart away after each time we sang.  It made it easier for them to keep up with the song.

"There is a shape and it means love and Heart is it's name-o. "H-E-A-R-T,  
H-E-A-R-T,  H-E-A-R-T, and Heart is it's Nameo."  Repeat leaving off a letter each time.  Blow kisses for each missing letter.  (adapted from here).


Art:  Valentine Conversation Heart Art
Materials Needed:  Glue dyed pink, hearts cut out of posterboard, sponge brushes, candy conversation hearts.

1-Paint the heart pink with the glue.

2-Place the conversation hearts on to the painted heart.

3-Dry flat.

Snack: Rice Krispie Hearts, Apples, and Strawberries

Games: Conversation Heart Games

1-Conversation Heart Scooping: We practiced scooping skills by moving hearts from one bowl into another.  Simple fun, great fine motor skill practice.

2-Large Conversation Heart Stacking: We built towers with the large conversation hearts and counted how many we could stack before they fell.

3-Valentine Sensory Box : We explored and scooped heart shaped gems, pom poms, balls, sparkly letters, and heart boxes.