Valentine’s Day Activities for Preschoolers- Busy Box

Valentine’s Day is a fun holiday to celebrate. Hearts, Candy, Flowers oh my! All the girly shapes and colors are right up my preschooler’s alley. As a teacher and a mom, those repetitive skills we are teaching can be made more fun with a holiday twist. In this Valentine’s Day Activities for Preschoolers post, I will give you loads of good ideas for your next holiday busy box. Amazon shopping, printables, and DIY examples are included.

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Pre-Reading Activities

Print Motivation and Awareness

Books, Books, and More Books. I have actually created a whole post about our favorite Valentine’s Day Stories. Below are some awesome interactive Valentine’s Day board books to read with the youngest readers.

I chose my favorite book to create some finger puppets to play with while reading! Read the story a few times through with your kiddo and then give them the puppets and watch the magic happen. They will remember and read through the story with the puppets on their own. For now, you can subscribe and download a free template in my busy box resource library– free!! Then you can make them on your own.

Letter Knowledge

Heart Letter Match. Cut out 26 hearts of matching sizes. Write the uppercase and matching lowercase letters on opposing sides of the heart and cut down the middle. Laminate and get matching. I made a printable set here!!!! Right on my Teacher Pay Teacher store. Color and Black and White Options!

Find the letter- create a heart-shaped magnified glass. (You can use a free template in my busy box library.) Have your kiddo spot letters with the heart around the house, in books they are reading, or when they are playing matching games. Bonus points if they find the letter and then write it down.

Pre-Writing Activities

Fine Motor

Puzzles-Check out this cute Valentine’s puzzle on Amazon you can order personalized with your kiddo’s name.

Don’t forget puzzles are easy to DIY with a printer and a laminator. The kids might even have fun helping you create them!

Beads are also great for fine motor practice.

Tracing Family Words- Get your kiddos to make some fun valentines for their family. You can write the message and have them trace all the words, some of the words, select letters, or even just the heart. Family words included are Mom, Dad, Sister, and Brother. They read, trace and then decorate!!

Don’t forget the play dough time to get those fine motor skills working. Draw hearts and have the kiddos roll snakes to trace the heart shape. Practice the words small, medium, and large as they create different sizes. Here is some gluten-free play dough you can get on amazon and here is a recipe to make some of your own at home.

Pre-Math Activities

Sorting, Patterns, and Making Sets

Gather fun Valentine objects into alike groups and patterns. Hearts, flowers, and candies can be sorted. Use real objects, paper cut-outs, stickers, or stamps. Counting the objects and saying or writing the number is great practice for making sets. Please subscribe to my YouTube channel for regular ideas on how to practice these skills!

There are some awesome things available at Dollar Tree perfect for this activity! I used conversation heart stickers, heart doilies, fake roses, and Valentine’s Day stamps.

I even created a 10 Frame and Number Line to Practice Set Creation!

I hope you found some useful ideas for creating a Valentine’s Busy Box full of Activities for your preschooler. Don’t forget to fill their attention needs before hoping they will play independently with a busy box. Fun, loving, and playful attention is the most important part of getting them to play independently!

You get access to all the wonderful printables and templates available for this post. I send out a sweet email every other week with more goodies to keep your preschoolers busy and boost your mom motivation.

If you have already Subscribed and Know the Password to the Busy Box Library- Go Here to Get Your Valentine’s Goods!