Love is in the air… Happy Valentine’s Day!

    

     Growing up, Valentine’s Day was kind of a big deal in my family.  Not in the traditional chocolates, flowers, balloons, and jewelry kind of way.  Valentine’s Day is actually my parents’ wedding anniversary.  Yes, my parents are schmoopy and got married on Valentine’s Day.  Imagine that wedding, will you?  Anyways, I have always spent Valentine’s Day celebrating with my parents, and this year was no exception.  Although, I did also get to have three whole days of Valentine’s celebration with my Story Time kids and boy was that fun!  You would have thought it was Christmas all over with how excited my kids were!

     As usual, let’s celebrate this holiday through pictures!

Books

I read this book to my 2-3 year olds.  It was the perfect
length and also allowed the kids to participate by guessing what
was underneath the flap. It was fun!

I read this book to my older kids because it is a little bit longer.
Filled with all of the cutesy "kitty" love stuff, this book
is an excellentread to describe love to kids.

Although not about Valentine's Day, I still used this book for Pajama Time.
I especially like this book because all of the animal are made from hearts!
We had a great time counting how many it took to create each animal.

Another great Valentine's story told in rhyme to "Twas the Night Before Christmas."
Although I didn't use this book this year, it always makes my list because it
is a quick, upbeat read that the kids like to hear.

Crafts

These are some of the Valentine's I had my kids color!
After they were done coloring, I collected the cards and took them
over to Miller's Merry Manor, an assited living facility for the elderly.
They LOVED getting the cards and it was nice to be able to bring a smile to their faces.

I found these here.  I absolutely love them!
I think they would be great for Valentine's to hand out.

How cute is this?  Though I seriously considered doing
this for my crafts, I dediced to go a different route.  Find this craft here.

Another cute craft I found online.  Very simple! 
Trace your child's hand.
Fold down the middle and ring finger.
Then glue to a heart! 
A simple way to say "I love you" in American Sign Language.

Songs

Although I didn't use this song, I found it on YouTube

and think it is SO cute! Watch and listen!  You will see!

I really like to use this song during Valentine's!

The song is upbeat and my kids enjoy that it isn't

your typical "kids song."

Games

I played HEART bingo with my 4-6 year olds.  This is great
to work on larger numbers with kids as well as give a little
incentive to be an active listener! We had so much fun with this one!

Goodies

Ok, I know I said this would be all in pictures, but, I changed my mind.  Every holiday, I like to give my kiddos goody bags.  I try to make them fun and different for each holiday.  I also try VERY hard to make them age-appropriate. Though buying things for my babies can be difficult, its a really fun challenge!  This year in their goody bags were crayons, chocolates, strawberry chewy hearts, suckers, pencils, kazoos, stickers, and candy hearts.  Each kid also got a heart-shaped crayon I found on Pinterest!

     Well, that seems to be all for Valentine's Day.  Next week, we take another break from the alphabet to celebrate Cat Appreciate Month.  My library will be celebrate the fabulous Cauli le Chat, our feline roving reporter. Stop in to donate cat or dog food to the Morgan County Human Society in Cauli's honor.  We hope you tune in to see what all the fuss is about!