Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Valentine's Day Fun!



Here are a few of the things we did to celebrate Valentine's day.

I had the kids each bring in an empty cereal box. We covered them in bulletin board paper, provided a wide array of adornments, and let the kids create! They really did a great job!


We wanted to make these stained glass tealights as parent gifts for Christmas, but we had a few parents bring in ornament crafts unexpectedly, so we put these off. It was good fine motor practice. The friends had to put glue on baby food jars, then covered with tissue. We added a coat of glue at the end to secure loose ends and provide a "finish". They are very pretty when lit. I think the parents will love these! An additional activity was to wrap them for the parents. We also added cards we made earlier in the week.



For our lobby display, we made "love bugs" out of pre-cut hearts. I am so proud of my little guys---they were so creative, even coming up with bug names for their creations!



We read the fun book, The Day It Rained Hearts by Felicia Bond.



We made our own version of the Valentine Tree for our classroom door to display some of the beautiful hearts the friends have made in our art center this week. Thanks to miller moments for the inspiration...I thought I knew all the Felicia Bond books! We also read a variety of books about Valentine's Day, the post office and writing letters.



Some of our table activities included a match/memory game with Valentine cards, heart themed size seriation, and a hearts matching game with uppercase/lowercase letter on each half of the heart. We used themed erasers, pom poms and ice trays for a variety of math games and fine motor practice.

Our heart letter matching game

A twist on a matching game the friends made up. Match the shape behind your back. No peeking!

Our pom poms and ice trays for patterning, counting, dice game and fine motor practice.

This month, we also added a post office to our dramatic play area. We had a cash register, phone, keyboard, postcards, stamps and stamp pads. I used a pocket chart to make "mailboxes" for the students to deliver notes and mail to classmates. I'm proud that my center was an improvement over last year, after visiting Getting Messy with Ms. Jessi and seeing some of the great things she was doing in her post office center!

Our little post office in dramatic play.

Stamping mail

Sorting mail and delivering it. Each student has a mail slot in the pocket chart. There is even a slot for my assistant and myself!


We have had a lot of fun, but it has been hard work for both the adults and the kids in my class! I am looking forward to our upcoming winter break/furlough days!

15 comments:

  1. Thanks for the shout out on your blog. You have great ideas and I'm excited to be your new follower.

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  2. I love your blog...such great ideas. I run an in home daycare....but we do preschool work daily. I am excited to come across your blog, hope you don't mind if I follow! Please stop by and visit me sometime. Can't wait to see the other fun ideas you post.

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  3. Holy cow, Ayn, you do so much! This is a breathtaking catalog of brilliant stuff.

    (I usually do a better Valentines week, but my Chinese New Year material got in my Valentines material this year. Our sensory table featured rice, chop sticks, metal Valentines candy boxes, red envelopes, jewelry, and coins.) Tomorrow I'm giving the kids their Valentines in New Years envelopes.)

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  4. Thanks Miller Moments and Erin! I'm glad you stopped by!

    Tom, I am so doing a Chinese New Year theme next year. I'll be checking in with you for ideas!

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  5. Thank you for the shout out Ayn! It looks great!! Your Valentine projects are awesome! I think I'll try the stain glass tealight holders today. :)

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  6. gave you an award on my blog today. :)

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  7. Oh, that letter heart matching game is my favorite. What a cute idea!

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  8. I love your buggies:) You guys are really busy! Looks like you got an award today! Congrats!

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  9. I love your post office! It's adorable, as is your tea light activity. As a parent, I always appreciate receiving cute things from my daughter's preschool!

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  10. I can tell you are a good teacher lady! Fun week!

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  11. I am here from the homeschool hop, nice to meet you! I look forward to getting to know you!

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  12. Hope you all come back again! :)

    I'm enjoying visiting all the links, too! :)

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  13. Very fun blog... I will come back! I have gotten paid to do ECE for years... now I don't get paid but do the same job! haha! I will soon be working my homeschool ideas into my blog... right now it is a bit more random! Hope to see you visit one day soon!
    Just Jenn~

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  14. What cute ideas, I just found your blog through we teach, I am so glad I did. I am looking forward to seeing the cute things that you do and trying some of them with my little girls!!

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  15. Perfect for Valentines!!! My kids love writing notes so I am going to have to put together a post office this year. Thanks for sharing on the Every Day Sensory Play Ayn!

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