FROM THE ARCHIVES: Valentine's Day

Work on categorization by using Valentine items, pictures, decorations.  Have your child sort them by color (pink, red, purple), shape and size.

Cut out heart shapes of all different sizes and colors from construction paper.  Have your child glue hearts together to make people, animals, etc.  Have them decorate the picture and tell a story.

Candy conversation hearts are great for teaching children about 6-8 yrs of age about puns and figurative speech.  See if they can figure them out for themselves.

Make pink and red play dough and have fun with heart shaped cookie cutters.

Try hiding a red hot heart in your child's cheek.  See if they can remove or move it with their tongue.

See how many rhyming words your child can think of for the words, RED, HEART, ROSE, PINK, LOVE, etc.
Play a game by taking the word RED and change the letters R to B, what word will it become?

Hide Valentine surprises or candy around the house, give your child verbal instructions on how to find them.  Try to limit the number of gestures and visual cues and see how they do just using their auditory system.

For little ones, help build body awareness by putting heart stickers on their hand, tummy, cheek, foot, etc.  See if they notice them and remove them.  For more fun, try it in front of a mirror.

For toddlers, fil a bag with red things, let your child pull the items out one at a time.  Look at their reactions, ask them to name each item.

Make some red jello and hide pieces of fruit inside and have your child eat their way through it.