Valentine's PreK Style

As Valentine's Day gets closer I wanted to share some of my favorite games that I have created from extra Valentines I had laying around.

I have a habit of hitting the local dollar stores after holidays. When I find boxes of Valentines for 25 cents each, I have to get creative! (: 

Matching and sorting games are probably the easiest games to create from Valentines. Most boxes have 3 or 4 cards of the same design, so in one box of 24 cards you have anywhere from 8 to 12 matching pairs.

I choose to laminate my cards so they will last for a few years. I also put them all in a handy pencil box to keep them together. 

We look for matching Valentine cards and we sort them by theme, such as Sponge Bob, Toy Story or Barbie. After we sort them we count how many we have in each pile and compare which ones we have the most or least of. There are so many great uses from these colorful cards. Sometimes the kids just like to sort through them and pick out their favorites. I hear a lot of great conversations as the they start looking through them.

For those kids that have a hard time sitting down for your matching games try adding matching cards to large cubes or dice. The kiddos love rolling them to see if they can get a match. 
These cubes were given to me many years ago by a fellow teacher. I love them because I can slide new things we are working on into the slots and use them over and over each year. You could also create something similar using small cardboard boxes.

Ask parents to save you their child's unused Valentines. I bet each child in your room has 6 or 8 Valentine's left in the box when they are done filling them out for their classmates.

Add blank ones to your writing center along with a class list and a word wall with Mom, Dad and Grandpa on them.  They will enjoy writing their names on them and giving them to their friends, teachers and the school secretary or taking them home to their parents and siblings.