Fun Valentine’s Day Activities For Kindergarten
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Hey teachers!
Can you believe Valentine’s Day is just around the corner? Literally, I’m pretty sure we were just celebrating New Year’s! Well, I try to stay ahead of the game and have started planning out my Valentine’s Day activities for kindergarten for the month of February! I 💗 planning ahead because that means I am not stressing to gather materials and plan at the last minute! It’s been a goal of mine to always be prepared at least a couple of weeks ahead of time with themed activities or activities that need preparation. That way when it come to planning the holiday week, I’ve got all prepared, just need to schedule it in! It’s a great feeling! 😎
So with that being said, here are my favorite, fun Valentine’s Day activities for kindergarten I love to use with my kiddos!
Valentine’s Day Activities For Kindergarten
Count and Link
Count and link is a newer activity that I started doing with my kiddos! Counting and linking is such an EASY math center activity to implement. It is so similar to so many other math center activities, yet it is different because students are linking rather than clipping or placing a manipulative. As plus, the linking provides fine motor work!
Write The Room
We write the room every season and holiday! Writing the room is one way that I keep my kiddos moving while learning during the school day.
There are four different write the room activities that I use: Dot cards, ten frames, Valentine’s Day words, and sight words! One thing that I love about the sight word version is that it is editable and I can include any 12 sight words that I choose!
Number Match Game
Many of my math centers are based around number sense. Every season I create different and engaging ways to build a strong number sense foundation. This is Valentine’s Day number match I use in my math centers around Valentine’s Day! In addition to building number sense, this activity also reinforces cooperative learning! Children order the mailbox cards by number and then take turns choosing one number card to match. Also, the children help one another and check everyone’s work!
Beginning Sound Match
This initial sound literacy center is run similarly to the number match center. The students order the alphabet cards and then take turns choosing a beginning sound picture to match to the letters.
Short Vowel Matching Game
In this short vowel center, students work to isolate the medial vowel sound. There are large red hearts for each of the five vowel sounds and students match the chocolates to the correct vowel! This is a tricky concept for many kindergarteners, but the constant practice is so important! They can also help check one another’s work!
Letter Matching Game
In this alphabet center, students order the envelope letter cards and them match the stamps!
This center runs in a similar fashion to the number and initial sound match! See what I do? By using center that run pretty much the same, I am constantly reviewing and reinforcing cooperative learning strategies. Eventually, students are able to complete their center smoothly and independently! That leaves me more “teacher-time” to work with intervention groups!
Ten Frame Kindergarten Activities
Ten frames are a tool that I use ALL of the time in my classroom. I love how ten frames hit on so many skills, for example:
- Helps children to “see” numbers
- Makes counting quantities simpler
- Forms a foundation for place value and more complex numbers
- Compose and decompose numbers in relation to 5 and 10
This is also a center I use in my math groups often for two reasons:
- Ten frames are fantastic for building a strong number sense foundation
- Low management because I only need to teach once! (and refresh here and there 🤷♀️)
I create these ten frame activities for EVERY season and continue to add more! If interested, click the image below to see the bundle on TpT!
Mini erasers are a hit in my classroom for this activity (and many others)! I purchase my mini erasers either at the Target Dollar Spot or on Amazon! Below are some Valentine’s Day erasers available on Amazon.
Other ten frame blog posts you may like:
Why Use Ten Frames In Kindergarten
How To Make A Simple Ten Frame Printable
Valentine Sensory Bins – Literacy & Math
I LOVE sensory bins! If you follow me on social media, you know that I post about sensory bins often and use them with my own two kiddos. Be sure to find me on Instagram @sparkling.in.primary to see more ideas!
Sensory bins are a MUST in early education classrooms, because they provide students an opportunity to learn through the senses, explore, create, and interact with peers. Learning through play is a strategy we need to “re-incorporate” back into our early primary classrooms.
More on play-based learning and sensory bins in these blog posts!
- The Sensory Bins Master Guide
- The Sensory Bin Kit for Kindergarten and Preschool
- Fall Sensory Bins
- Halloween Sensory Bins
Sight Word Games – Dab It!
Kids love using dabbers! This is also such a simple activity, made fun by using various tools! Some tools that I have used are:
- Dabbers
- Markers
- Stickers
- Colored Pencils
- Twistable Crayons
- Mr. Sketch smelly markers
- Stamps
- Highlighters
There are so many options.
Sight Word Memory
Memory is such a fun guessing game for kids! Sight word memory is played with, you guessed it, sight words! In addition to learning and reinforcing sight word recognition, student are also working on cooperative learning strategies!
The sight word memory games I use are editable, so I can choose the sight words I want my students to work on during center time. Also, I can differentiate between my center groups by choosing the words that specific group needs to work on.
Below is my editable sight word memory pack, with 25 themes that can be used all school year, making management easy!
Sight Word Games – Jumbo Cube Roll!
Kids LOVE jumbo cubes! The cubes are so versatile because I can use them for so many different centers, just switch out the cards! In this sight word center, children take turns (yup…practice turn taking) rolling the jumbo cube and reading and recording the sight word the cube landed on. With this being in a center, the kiddos can work together and help one another if they don’t know a word. It’s a win-win!
Pictured below are the jumbo cubes I use!
Craft and Counting Books
Crafting and counting books give kids the freedom of completing a craft on their own while practicing counting strategies, reading, and strengthening fine motor skills! So many reasons why these books are great for centers.
To prep the tissue paper, I cut large tissue paper sheets into approximately one inch squares, but I just came across these mini tissue paper circles! They are perfect for this!
Also, the books are set up side-by-side so all you need to do is print, cut down the middle, and staple.
Count and Clip Cards
Counting and clipping is so similar to counting and chaining! Teach your kiddos how to complete once, and then management becomes easier! This is also a great activity for strengthening those fine motor muscles!
Fun Valentine’s Day Activities For Kindergarten
My hope is that these Valentine’s Day activities for kindergarten help you in your February center planning! Click on the images to view the activities. As I create more activities, I will add them to this blog post!
You May Also Like:
Sensory Bin Guide – FREE Download!
Whether you are a seasoned or a newbie with sensory bin centers, it is always helpful to refresh and discover new ideas! Click the image below to grab the guide!
Sensory Bin Kits
Due to my love of sensory bins and enjoyment of helping teachers to bring more academic play into their school day, I created the Ultimate Sensory Box! You can see ALL about the Ultimate Sensory box in my blog post, The Sensory Bin Kit For Kindergarten And Preschool.
Other Blog Posts:
Last week I blogged about the 7 Best Valentine’s Day Books For Kindergarten. You can view that that blog post here!
If you love using sensory bins in your classroom, or you would like to start, see my post, The Sensory Bin Masterguide here!
Be sure to “PIN IT” for later using the image below!
Have a fantastic week friends, talk to you soon!
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