6 Printable Valentine’s Day Activities for Preschoolers
Valentine’s Day is one of my favorite holidays to celebrate in preschool. There’s nothing like spending a week or so doing activities that remind us of those we love and care about. Try adding these highly educational preschool Valentine’s Day printables to your Valentine’s Day preschool theme.
Quick and Easy Preschool Valentine’s Printables
Do you get to celebrate Valentine’s Day in your preschool classroom? If not, that’s okay. These Valentine’s printables can easily be added to a Friendship theme also. The clipart in these learning activities feature hearts and friends.
These toddler and preschool Valentine activities are sure to brighten your student’s day. In fact, these can be used for toddlers, preschoolers and kindergarteners! But there are no Valentine’s Day worksheet here, just cute, colorful printables that can be used again and again. They are sure to make for a fun Valentine’s Day party in your home or classroom.
FAQ About Teaching Preschoolers on Valentine’s Day
I often get asked how to teach about Valentine’s Day in preschool. The commercial side of Valentine’s Day is very different from how we might approach the holiday in a preschool setting. Let me tell you how.
It’s traditional to do a card exchange on Valentine’s Day. It’s always something preschoolers look forward to and something that remains special. In addition to that, we also celebrate by doing a valentine process art project and doing thematic learning activities like these printable Valentine’s Day centers. You can try these Montessori inspired tray activities, have a special Valentine’s Day snack, and enjoy this beautiful Valentine’s Day sensory bin.
The best way to teach toddlers about Valentine’s Day is to teach the meaning of the holiday. It’s not about candy and receiving gifts; it’s a time to celebrate love and friendship and the joy of having other people in your life. This is a good opportunity to teach your toddler about kindness, too, by using these 28 days of kindness cards.
Say it back! Sometimes preschoolers don’t hear the words “I love you,” so I say it back to them. It’s important to teach preschoolers it is ok to express their positive emotions. If you feel uncomfortable telling your preschooler you love them, then say something like “I appreciate you,” or “that makes me feel so special,” or “I love having you in my class.”
Related Reading
Printable Activities for Valentine’s Day
These preschool Valentine’s Day printables can be used during circle time, in small groups, and in your Valentine themed preschool centers. They are easy to prep and require only the most basic classroom supplies.
Materials
- Valentine’s Day printable activity pack
- laminator and laminating sheets (optional)
- or dry erase pouches
- small counters
Add Some Valentine Flair to Your Lessons
One of the easiest ways to turn any activity into a holiday one is to add some holiday themed manipulatives to your preschool lesson plans. These are what I use for Valentine’s Day.
Broken Heart Alphabet Matching
Students match upper and lowercase letters in this broken hearts matching game. Each piece of the heart has either an uppercase letter or a lowercase letter. Students practice their letter knowledge skills by matching them.
There are three different colors of hearts, so if the entire alphabet it too overwhelming for your preschooler, you can select just part of the alphabet to practice at once.
Additionally, these letter cards can be used for more than just matching activities. Try flipping them over and playing memory, or placing them around the room and having your preschooler find all the pieces before putting the puzzles together.
You can find upper and lower case activities here.
Heart Patterning Cards
These are not your average patterning cards; since the hearts are patterned, they require visual discrimination skills, which is a really important pre-reading skill! Students practice completing the patterns on the cards by filling in the next heart at the end of the pattern.
This Valentine’s Day Activity Pack includes twelve different hart patterning cards to add to your preschool math centers or small group work.
You can find more patterning activities here.
Valentine’s Clip Counting Cards
Preschoolers adore the “love bugs”on these Valentine’s counting cards so much that they don’t even realize they’re practicing their counting skills. Students count the number of hearts and love bugs on the cards and then select the correct numeral from the choices on the card.
Using clothes pins adds a fine motor component as well, and because there are three options of numbers to choose from, students get extra practice in number identification.
You can find more counting activities here.
Valentine’s Visual Discrimination Games
Visual discrimination is an important pre-reading skill because it teaches preschoolers how to see differences in objects…including letters. In these visual discrimination games, students roll a dice and search their mat for a matching Valentine’s butterfly or bird. Then they use a manipulative to cover it up, and the game continues until everything on the mat has been covered.
There are three different images included on each mat, but they are all somewhat similar. Preschoolers practice finding the exact butterfly or bird that matches the one on the dice. Sometimes the difference is just spots on the wings or stripes.
Valentine’s Pre-writing Cards
These pre-writing cards feature both pre-writing lines as well as shapes. Students practice tracing the lines with a dry erase marker, but these cards can be used in many more ways.
These pre-writing cards are not limited to just tracing. You can see all my ideas for these cards in this post.
Valentine’s Dinosaur Beginning Sound Matching
There’s nothing cuter than a Valentine’s themed dinosaur! Students match the dinosaur letter card with the card that features the beginning sound.
Each card has a colored border, so the alphabet can easily be divided into sets. You can hand select which letters and beginning sounds you want your preschooler to practice, or you can just pick all the cards with one border color.
You can find more beginning sound activities here.
Get Your Printable Valentine’s Activities Here
Looking for something to help teach your preschoolers about kindness and friendship, as well as letters and numbers? Looking for Valentine’s Day activities for toddlers? Remember, there are no preschool worksheets in this pack! Just super fun, reusable Valentine’s Day printables for preschool and kindergarten, and even toddlers!
This Valentine’s Day Activity Pack includes six super fun activities and multiple variations of each!
Grab your copy by clicking the link or image below.
>>> Valentine’s Day Activity Pack <<<
Don’t Forget Valentine’s Picture Books
Preschoolers love being read to, and it’s really good for them…even for Valentine’s Day activities. Here is a small booklist of the Valentine’s picture books in my own preschool library.
I’m Sarah, an educator turned stay-at-home-mama of five! I’m the owner and creator of Stay At Home Educator, a website about intentional teaching and purposeful learning in the early childhood years. I’ve taught a range of levels, from preschool to college and a little bit of everything in between. Right now my focus is teaching my children and running a preschool from my home. Credentials include: Bachelors in Art, Masters in Curriculum and Instruction.
