Art activities are a sugar-free way to celebrate Valentine's Day.
Depending on their age, your group of preschoolers may be new to the idea of exchanging Valentines or doing anything special for Valentine's Day. Soon enough, they'll learn that this holiday is usually spent looking at cards while letting little candy pieces melt in their mouths. Art activities are a nice way to introduce the holiday to them without adding to the sugar frenzy.
Paper Bag Valentine
Preschoolers may not be able to make a class supply of homemade valentines, but they can make this special one from Enchanted Learning for a parent or teacher. You'll need a brown paper grocery bag, a hole punch, ribbon and some writing supplies such as markers. You can draw a medium-sized (about six inches wide) heart on the brown paper, then have your preschoolers cut it out themselves. Alternatively, you may want to cut it out ahead of time with some scrapbook scissors for a "fancy" edge. Punch holes around the outer edge of the heart, then cut a piece of ribbon long enough to go around the heart. Show your preschooler lace the ribbon through the holes, then let him complete the project. You can then tie the ends into a bow, then let him write a special message on the front of the heart.
Handful Of Love
Tracing activities are good for building fine motor skills in preschoolers. For this tracing activity from FreeKidsCrafts.com, you'll need two pieces of construction paper (red, pink and white are good color choices for Valentine's Day), a pencil, scissors and markers. Choose a color for the hands and fold one piece of paper in half so that the short sides are touching. Have your preschooler place his hand on the paper so that his pinkie finger is near the fold (the side of his hand should line up with the fold). Help him trace his hand, then you'll need to cut the hand print out. When you are done, open it up ,and he'll have two adjoining hands (this will be the inside of the card). With his other piece of paper, you can draw heart shapes for him to cut out, then he can glue them inside his card. When he's done, he may want to write a nice message for the card's recipient.
Puppets
Preschoolers enjoy puppet shows, and with these little heart-shaped puppets from Kaboose, they'll be putting on their own Valentine shows in no time. Using pink construction paper, cut out two heart shapes that are about three inches wide. With the points on the two hearts facing each other, glue the bottom of one heart to the bottom of another. On the bottom heart (the "body"), create two holes using a hole punch (you'll probably need to punch each hole more than once so that the hole is big enough for your preschooler's finger). Have your preschooler decorate the top heart with facial features. He can then add arms with two small bits of red pipe cleaners (just glue them to the "body"). After he adds some yarn for hair, he can write "To" and "From" gift information on the back of his puppet--unless he wants to keep it for himself.
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