Mandy Ehman at Life…Your Way, is offering Valentine links all this week for you to enjoy with your families. Today, her feature is treats and crafts for kids, so I thought I’d share a fun kid-friendly treat I made with my boys over the weekend. (Click here to see all of today’s links!)
Hip Hip Hooray for Valentine’s Day!
I find it interesting, given the interesting discussion on praise that we just had, that Valentine’s Day is creeping around the corner. It may seem unrelated to some, but in my mind if there is one thing that is an even more powerful reinforcer for children than praise it is love. Pure, unconditional love. That can be shown through the words you say, the actions you take, and the time you spend together.
Valentine Art You Can’t Buy
I’ve struggled to find Valentine decorations I like. I’m really trying not to have “stuff” for the sake of “stuff”. Similar to the guide used by Tsh of Simple Mom, I’m trying to choose things for my home that I find beautiful, useful, or meaningful. And the standard decor in the Valentine aisle wasn’t fitting any of those three targets. Inspired by these posts by the Nester and Childhood 101, I decided to make these Valentine canvases with my three boys.
Turn to an Old Custom for a New Tradition on Valentine’s Day
Heart Art
Sorry for the delay in posts! It’s teething time again around here, and I’ve been spending a lot of time snuggling a certain 10-month old. You’d take snuggling him over writing too if you saw those eyes!
So, while I was planning on giving you plenty of heart art ideas here, I’ll finish the write up of the ones I had ready and link you to some great ones I’ve found on another site by a blogger I assume doesn’t have any teething ten-month olds.
Five Valentine Treats!
Looking for a tasty treat to make for or with your kiddos on that special day of love? Here are five treats that will make the day memorable!
Heart Biscuits
Valentine Candy Heart Count
Here’s a fun math activity that combines counting, one-to-one ratio, numeral recognition, color recognition, sorting, graphing, number comparison, and well, sugar! That’s a lot to do in one activity, but I promise, your kiddos will enjoy it nonetheless. And it’s only partly because of the sugar part.
Have You Met My Friend Stinky Face?
I have a friend who has made a tradition of giving books to her children on Valentine’s Day. (No, she’s not the one named Stinky Face.) She tries to find some kind of love themed book to give to each of her children. I love this idea, and as I thought about my favorite love themed children’s book, particularly from the perspective of a mom, my hands-down favorite is “I Love You Stinky Face” by Lisa McCourt.
This is a great story about a child who keeps asking his mother “what if” questions to test how much she really loves him. Questions like, “What if I were an alligator with big, sharp teeth?” or “What if I were a green alien from Mars and I ate bugs instead of peanut butter?” Of course the mother answers in perfect, funny, unconditionally loving fashion
Valentines, Friends, and Communication
Ahh, February! The kiddos have just gotten over the withdrawal symptoms caused by the sudden drop in blood sugar levels after Christmas, so of course it’s the perfect time for another confectionary holiday!
Now, I’m a middle of the roader when it comes to holidays and preschool. I don’t quite agree with the notion that they should be completely abolished from school. They are what kids are interested in, and I believe curriculum should emerge from the child’s interests. Though, I also don’t agree with the idea that a holiday is an appropriate curriculum theme in and of itself for an extended period of time. So I like to take the holiday and find connections to other social or science based themes. As I think of Valentine’s Day, I think of friendship and writing and sending notes and letters. I think of the social skills involved in creating and maintaining human relationships. These are skills children need to develop. (While we’re at it, there are plenty of adults who could use a course on those skills as well!)