I Love You This Much!

Disclaimer:  I do not claim any of the activities as "my own".  Often I tweak an activity I have found in resource books and off the internet to make it reinforce the skills we are working on.  This idea came from a "Mailbox" publication called Arts and Crafts For Favorite Themes, though I have used something similar over the last 15 years, many times, prior to being reminded of it this past week.  :-)

A favorite from today was our "I Love You This Much!" Valentine. 

Skills focused on:

   Fine Motor- scissors, accordian fold, drawing/writing

Directions:

1.  Fold a 12"x18" piece of construction paper in half.  Draw a half of a heart starting at the folded center.  Child cuts the half of heart and opens it up to see they have made a whole heart.  Vocab:  symmetrical.

2.  Trace hands on a colored piece of construction paper. 

3.  Cut two 2-inch strips for the arms from a 12x18 piece of construction paper.  Show your child how to "fold and flip" to create accordian style arms.
4.  Since most preschool students are not yet able to cut out handprints, while the child is creating the arms, you can cut out the hand prints.
5.  Glue a hand at the end of each "arm" and glue the arms to the heart.
6.  Encourage your child to draw facial features and write/copy "I love you" and "this much!" on the hands. Rebus works well with preschoolers! We also flipped the heart over and the child wrote "To: _____" and "From:_______".  We paperclipped it shut with the arms/hands folded inside so it's a "surprise hug".