How to teach toddlers about Valentine's day?

Describe the day as one of sharing love for all people, not just romantic interests . Remind the child that gifts can come in other ways besides being wrapped, and that love can be shown through acts of kindness or words of encouragement–not only in gifts or candy.

What are the learning outcomes of Valentine's day?

Learning Outcomes: understand the history behind Valentine's Day; recognise what it means to show love, affection and gratitude; ● identify how important your relationships are .

What children learn from Valentine's day?

Valentine's Day offers an excellent teaching moment for parents to share with their kids the importance of being loving, kind people, and to teach them how to be caring to others . The best way to teach your children kindness and compassion is by demonstrating it yourself.

How do you explain Valentine's Day to a 3 year old?

“ Talk about Valentine's Day as a day of sharing love for all people, not just romantic interests ,” says Dee Ray, director of the Center for Play Therapy and professor in the counseling and higher education department at the University of North Texas in Denton.

What is a fun fact for kids about Valentines Day?

Fun V-Day Facts Around 60% of Valentine's Day cards and gifts are purchased in the 5-6 days before the holiday ! The people who receive the most valentines each year are teachers! Wives, partners, and school children are close behind. Men spend around twice as much on Valentine's Day than women do.

What do you teach on Valentine's day?

Valentine's Day is about showing our appreciation for the people who matter to us, and letting them know how important they are to our lives. It's important to teach kids about showing appreciation and valuing others – and what better time to reinforce this message than on Valentine's Day.

How do you teach kindergarten about Valentine's Day?

Valentine's Day in kindergarten is fun because it's a great time to focus on friendship. As a class, you can discuss the qualities of a good friend and add them to an anchor chart . Students can then fill out a graphic organizer to outline the qualities of a friend.

What is Valentine's Day in simple words?

What is Valentine's Day? St Valentine's Day is an annual festival to celebrate romantic love, friendship and admiration . Every year on 14 February people celebrate this day by sending messages of love and affection to partners, family and friends.

What is the main theme of Valentine's Day?

Valentine's Day is celebrated every year on 14 February. It is a day of love, affection, and heartfelt expressions . It is a time to exchange cards, flowers, and tokens of love with a special someone. For many people, this is a time to express their deep love and gratitude to their families and friends.

How do you explain why Valentine's Day is important?

Even though we cherish the love we have for each other throughout the year, Valentine's Day has become a significant day we put aside to appreciate the special someone in our life . It's the time we show our unconditional love for our partners with gifts they can treasure forever.

Activities for the Toddler and Preschool Valentines Theme (2024)

Inside:Looking for some fun Valentines theme ideas? Check out what we did in our toddler and preschool classroom. Plus, I’ve included a free feelings packet printable that we used at our exploration table!

Once we end our series of winter themes, we move into the Valentines theme.

While we do talk about our feelings throughout the school year, this is a good time to add related activities.

We have a table that is designated for checking our emotions, with some printable matching activities.

We also create Valentine’s cards for our families and make Valentine’s notes for each other at the writing table.

👉 Make sure to scroll down and find the free printable activities you can download today!

Activities for the Toddler and Preschool Valentines Theme (1)

Science and Exploration Table

I printed out the pages from my feelings packet and created a matching game.

There is also a page that shows all of the emotions and we will continue to display this after our Valentines theme is over, most likely in a quiet area of the classroom. If a child is having a hard time regulating emotions, this is a good visual. It can also be used as a color sheet while you ask the child how he’s feeling.

I placed a mirror at this table as well, encouraging the children to look at their faces. Do they look happy? Sad?

(Make sure to scroll down to find this free printable packet.)

Related: Setting Up the Preschool Science Table

Activities for the Toddler and Preschool Valentines Theme (2)

Dramatic Play Center

Our toddlers and preschoolers loved our dramatic play bakery so much, we decided to extend it. (This is something we are working on doing more of.)

We had empty boxes of bakery foods, our wooden mixer, pot holders, and our silver set.

Activities for the Toddler and Preschool Valentines Theme (3)

This week we added some Valentines touches with red vinyl placemats, pink plates with heart decorations, each with a slice of pretend cake on top, and a pretty tin as the centerpiece.

On our dress-up cart we had a variety of aprons, bakers’ hats, white coats (to mimic a baker’s uniform), and some Valentines headpieces.

Activities for the Toddler and Preschool Valentines Theme (4)

Note: We quickly realized that our younger children could not handle as many pieces in this area as our older children. So, on the days our 2 year olds use this space, we pull some of the items and place them in a big box that sits on the counter. This way it’s easy to pull everything back out for our older children to enjoy.

Related: 25+ Dramatic Play Ideas

Activities for the Toddler and Preschool Valentines Theme (5)

Blocks Center

While putting toys away in our storage closet, I eyed a roll of thick red foil paper.

Playdough Table

Naturally, we had to keep the red theme going at the playdough table! In this photo you see blue playdough, but I switched it to red by the time the children arrived.

Many years ago I taught with someone who was probably one of the most resourceful teachers I’ve yet met.

She could take anything and turn it into something.

Take the heart placemat in the photo below.

She cut heavy paper into circles and then added hearts, laminating them for extra durability. These are at least 10 years old and I smile every time I pull them out of our Valentines theme box.

AND, the hearts on the placemats just happen to be of similar size to my favorite reusable heart baking cups. (We use these cups for many different activities, including our Valentines brownies.

I found some heart cupcake picks and cookie cutters, and added staples such as rolling pins.

Related: Playdough Learning Activities

Activities for the Toddler and Preschool Valentines Theme (7)

Light Table

Our 3 year olds have been into counting lately, so I created a Valentines-themed light table with hearts numbered 1-10.

I then found some foam hearts that can be counted and placed into the containers.

How will our 2 year olds use this?

Some might do a bit of counting, but I suspect most will simply pour the foam hearts into the container, over and over again.

They are still getting number recognition by noticing the numbers in each container, and pouring is an important fine motor skill.

P.S. – I am often asked where we purchased our light table. You can find it here.

Art

One of my readers recently commented that she’s noticed a theme with many of my activities: I love using wood.

Yes, I do! And over the years I’ve grown to love it more and more.

And it seems that lately I find a holiday art activity that is wood, such as our keepsake ornaments.

And guess what? I found wood hearts for a keepsake Valentines art activity! It actually took me awhile to find ones that have loops so they can be hung. I really wanted something we could hang in the classroom (because you all know how bulletin boards just aren’t my thing).

My plan is to have the children paint these, and then add some heart pieces to one side. On the other side will be their pictures.

Related: Giant Collection of Valentine’s Day Activities

Activities for the Toddler and Preschool Valentines Theme (9)

Easel

Hearts again! Are you surprised? Ha!

I want this to be a color mixing activity, so I will supply red and white paint for the children to mix together while painting the heart. A 3rd color, pink, will be a fun surprise!