1-2-3 Come Do Some More Valentine Activities With Me

I love Valentine's Day; it's one of my favorite parties at school too, so I'm constantly dreaming up new ideas to make the day special, while still learning standards.     Today I'm featuring 3 of my newest creations. 

“Valenteens” are goofy little heart people that feature a ten-frame. 
I designed the craftivity to showcase teen numbers, which can be toughies for kiddos. However, because of the blank templates provided, you have the option to simply make a silly valentine, or one with numbers 1-12, for younger students.

Children can create a boy or girl "valenteen", by where they glue the bow.
The bows come blank, as well as printed with a teen equation.

There is a blank full-size heart pattern, so that children can draw their own silly face, as well as 10 hearts with a variety of faces for them to choose from.

I’ve also included a 1/2 heart pattern. Print and fold on the dashed line. Keeping the paper folded, students cut on the black line and then unfold their paper to reveal a large heart.   My students are always amazed at this, adding to the fun of our lesson.

There are 4 options for the 10 frames: a blank set, a set with numbers, a set with hearts, and a set with numbers & hearts.

If you choose the blank set, children can make X’s & 0’s (hugs & kisses), use stickers, bingo daubers, or draw and color shapes to fill in the boxes.  For that finishing touch, I’ve also included gloved hands and shoe templates.  

You don’t have to have legs, but I think they add to the silliness of the “valenteens”, plus accordion-folding paper is a fun fine motor skill, that helps strengthen finger muscles.

I included links for the "My Funny Little Valentine" song, so you can play it while your kiddos work on their creations. 
There’s also a poster of the refrain, as well as an “Our Funny Little Valenteens”  poster to use in the center of your bulletin board display. 

Next up is the "Hh is for Hearts" alphabet wheel. I'm currently in the process of making one for each letter, and introduce them when the theme is appropriate.    

Dollar Deal Alphabet Wheels, are a quick, easy & fun way to practice letters, and build the vocabulary needed to give an example of a word, with that beginning sound.

They feature 6 nouns that begin with that letter, and come in black & white, as well as full-color, so that you can use a colorful one for an independent center and use the black & white pattern for a whole-group or individual word work activity, where kiddos make their own.

Finally, The “100 Chart, Heart Art” is a very versatile activity, as I’ve differentiated the directions for PK to 2nd grade. 

“Mystery Math”  hidden pictures, are a quick, easy & fun way to practice recognizing some of those big numbers that kiddos often trip over, when learning how to write and count numbers.

Using a 100s chart so students are seeing numbers in proper sequence, helps them wrap their head around a variety of math patterns, and is especially helpful to visual learners.

I’ve included a 100s chart worksheet without directions, so you can do this as a whole-group, “Listening & following directions” activity.  For younger kiddos, simply call out the numbers they need to color. 

I feel even young children can gain number sense by doing this as a “monkey see-monkey do” activity.

I’ve also included a set of spatial directions for you to read to older students: “Find the number 66. Color that box and the box that is UNDER it.”

There’s also a worksheet that includes the numbers to color, if you want to use this as a homework assignment, table-top activity, independent center, or something for early finishers.

To practice double digit addition and subtraction, there's a worksheet where students have to solve problems to find out what numbers they are supposed to color.

Completed projects make a cute February bulletin board.   Use the “We LOVE Mystery Math!” poster in the middle of your display.  

The featured FREEBIE today is a set of valentine 10-frames.  A nice "go along" to the Valenteen 10-frame craftivity mentioned above. 

Besides the 10-frame cards, the packet also includes heart-themed, counting tiles, plus math symbols and number cards, so that you can make equations and play a variety of games. 

Well that's it for today.  Thanks for stopping by.  Wishing you a blessed day filled with lots of "warm fuzzy" moments.

"Doubt thou the stars are fire; Doubt that the sun doth move.  Doubt truth to be a liar, But never doubt I love." -William Shakespeare