Jasper seems to love all holidays (what child doesn’t). Especially the holidays that include presents and candy. For Valentines Day we generally get Jasper one of those $1 boxes of chocolates that Walmart sells. Then sometimes we also get him a small Valentines themed toy. So that means Valentines Day is among Jasper’s favorite holidays (along with his birthday, Christmas, Easter, Halloween, etc). I personally enjoy Valentines Day because there are lots of fun Valentines themed projects you can do!

Valentines Themed Science Play

This project was a great success! We started by having Jasper choose a heart cookie cutter. Then he filled the cookie cutter with as much baking soda as he wanted. We had some heart confetti, so Jasper added some of this to the baking soda as well. If you are a glitter type of parent (I tend to stray away from it), that would be another fun possibility. Jasper then took the squeeze bottle of colored vinegar and added the vinegar to the baking soda. He really enjoyed watching the chemical reaction between the baking soda and the vinegar. He kept saying he was, “making scientist.”

Jasper did this over and over until we ran out of baking soda and vinegar. However, this project didn’t end there. Jasper continued to stir, mix and pour the baking soda and vinegar together, even though they no longer created a reaction. This went on for over 1.5 hours. He would have continued to play longer, but at that point we had to move on to other things.

Tools:

• Tub or container (we used a casserole dish)
• Heart shaped cookie cutters
• Spoons (we used little measuring spoons)
• Baking soda
• Vinegar (I dyed ours red with food coloring so the project would be more Valentines themed)
• Squeeze bottle
• Confetti or Glitter (optional)

This project is a great way to practice fine motor skills by allowing children to pour, transfer, as well as squeeze the squeeze bottle. In addition this is a great simple way to introduce science and the concept of chemical reactions.

Secret Message Hearts

I like to try to send something to the grandparents during the holidays. This was an easy little project that Jasper got to decorate and would fulfill my need for a Valentines day card. I pre-cut the hearts and then wrote the secret messages in white crayon. Then Jasper painted over the crayon with water colors. The water based painted doesn’t settle where the wax of the crayon is, this makes the message become visible. Even though he can’t read, he enjoyed seeing the letters “magically” appear through his paint.

Tools:

• White Paper (I used card stock)
• Scissors
• White Crayon
• Water Colors
• Paint Brush

If your preschooler is old enough to cut out hearts let them do this step. However, we are only just introducing Jasper to scissors. So I cut out the hearts for him. I also used the white crayon to write the messages on the hearts. Even if your preschooler can write well, they might have trouble with this step because it is difficult to see what they have already wrote.

This project offers many different skills that your preschooler can work on. For the younger children, they use fine motor skills to paint with the paintbrush, color recognition, letter recognition, and shape recognition. For older children they can also work on fine motor skills by using the scissors to cut out the hearts.

Tie Dye Hearts

I flatten out the coffee filters and let Jasper color the filters in any way he likes. He generally just scribbles all over it. When I use to do similar projects with my School Agers at the daycare they would often draw designs or pictures. That works just as well as scribbles. However, make sure they use at least two colors so they create a tie dye effect.

Once Jasper is done coloring the filter we put the coffee filters on our drying rack and I let Jasper spray them with water. Jasper, as well as my School Agers always LOVE this step. Apparently spraying things with a spray bottle is the coolest thing ever, for almost any age. Then we wait for them to dry. After they are dry I cut them into heart shapes. Older children can do this step themselves.

Tools:

• Coffee filters
• “Valentines Day” colored markers (We used red, pink, and purple)
• Drying rack (We use our cookie cooling racks)
• Spray bottle filled with water
• Scissors

This project is very simple. However, I love this project because it can be used for almost any theme and any age that can hold a marker! Children can practice their fine motor skill in three different ways with the tie dye heart project: by holding the markers to color, by spraying the spray bottle, and by using scissors to cut.

Candy Color Sorting

Jasper is pretty good with color sorting. However, I don’t feel like that is any reason not to practice the skill. In addition, reinforcing the concept of how to sort things out, and different ways to sort things is very important at this age. This is a great simple project to practice this with! In addition we practice counting how many candies are on each heart once he is done sorting them out!

Tools:

• Candy Hearts
• Color Sorting Hearts Printable (I laminated them, but this is not necessary for the project).

Download FREE printable color sorting hearts!

This project offers children the ability to practice sorting, color recognition skills, and counting.

Let’s not forget Jasper’s favorite part! Eating the candy when mom’s not looking!

Heart Shaped Ice Exploration

We found a super cheap heart shaped silicon ice cube tray and I knew we had to have it. These silicon ice cube trays a great for more than just making ice. You can use them for baking and making your own crayons as well (make sure to check the heat rating on the ones you purchase before putting them in the oven). However, for this project I used the ice cube tray for it’s intended purpose.

For an Alaskan child who spends a ton of time outside during the winter, Jasper can be quite whiny if he actually has to touch something cold with his bare hands. For this project I presented Jasper with a baking dish, ice cube hearts, some warm water (because I knew he wouldn’t touch the ice for long if he didn’t have anything to warm up his fingers), and other supplies that would allow him to explore with the ice. Then Jasper went to town using the warm water to melt the ice, and using the spoons to pour the ice melt back and fourth.

Tools:

• Tub (we used a casserole dish)
• Spoons and measuring cups
• Warm water
• Ice hearts (we colored ours purple, red and pink)

This project helps children practice fine motor skills. In addition it lets them explore the concept of what makes ice melt into water and how colors change when they are mixed together.

Heart Window Clings

This is another project that can be done with almost any age and is so simple. In addition, window clings run about $1 (even in Alaska) and can be found for almost any occasion. Jasper loves taking the window clings and putting them on the window. When he is done with that, he likes to pull on them and squish them. However, he does often tear them, but I don’t really mind because of how cheap these things are.

This project promotes fine motor skills with children. Jasper pulls them off the sheets they come on and then he pulls them off the window as well.

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