20+ Adorable Valentine's Centers for Preschoolers

It’s no secret that preschoolers will love these adorable Valentine’s Centers. The best part is that they are not just adorable… each of these centers provides a valuable opportunity for young children to practice fine motor, language, and cognitive skills.

Valentine’s Centers for Preschoolers

Valentine’s Centers – Sensory Table

Mix up a big batch of Valentine’s rice for the sensory table. It’s simple, cheap, and quick. When the students are done playing with it, store in an airtight container and reuse another time.

Directions:

Add white rice to a big ziploc bag.
Squirt in some liquid watercolors. Choose Valentine’s colors (purple, pink, magenta, red).
Shake the bag to coat the rice thoroughly.
Spread the rice out to dry. (It will be dry within a few hours.)

Scoop, Fill, and Pour

It’s really important to remember to give students time to just play and explore a new sensory bin filler when it is first offered. They need the chance to feel it, discovering its texture, weight, and properties. They need the chance to experiment with how it sounds and how it looks. They just need to explore it by itself for a while before we expect them to do “other” things in the sensory table!

Add simple materials like dry, empty water bottles, small scoops, and cups. Students will practice their hand-eye coordination by filling and pouring out the bottles. These full bottles also provide some “heavy work” for busy kids.

For a fancier set-up, add heart-shaped bowls, silicone cups in heart shapes, small plastic hearts, and matching scoops or tongs. (Everything in the picture was purchased at Hobby Lobby. The plastic hearts are also readily available at Dollar Tree.)

One-to-One Matching

Offer some extra fine-motor grasp practice with this sensory table center. Add pom-poms in different sizes and Valentine’s colors. Provide ice cube trays (these are silicone trays from Hobby Lobby) and small tongs. The students can fill the trays by placing one pom-pom in each compartment.

Heal my Broken Heart

This math center has the kiddos counting hearts and matching them to the correct numeral. When the match is correct, the heart is whole again! (This is one of the printable centers that is included in the Love Unit.)

After printing these hearts and cutting them apart, add a little piece of magnet tape onto the back of each one. Draw 6 hearts onto a cookie sheet and place it in the sensory table.

When the students dig and find the matching pieces, they can put them together onto the cookie sheet.

Cloud Clay

Preschoolers describe this cloud clay as “playing with cotton candy”! It rolls flat and molds like play dough or clay. But it is light and soft like powder. Such a fun and unique sensory experience for students.

(Cloud clay is available HERE from Discount School Supply.)

Valentine’s Centers – Math

Light Table Counting

Practice counting sets of little hearts with this homemade center. Just take heart cut-outs (these are foam, from a craft store Valentine’s project) and write a number on each one. Add transparent hearts (available at Dollar Tree and most craft stores) and invite students to count the matching number for each one.

Valentine’s Pattern Sorting

Students sort a pile of colorful hearts by their pattern: zig-zag, solid, striped, and polka dot. Sorting is so good for cognitive development! (This is one of the printable centers that is included in the Love Unit.)

Sweetheart Tic-Tac-Toe

Set up a tic-tac-toe board by creating a 3×3 grid with cute washi tape. Provide acrylic hearts in 2 colors (or 2 different mini erasers, etc.). Students take turns trying to achieve three in a row.

Hugs & Kisses Patterning

Preschoolers work on simple AB, AAB, ABB patterns. At this center, they find the hug or kiss to continue the pattern. (This printable center is included in the “Love” Circle Time Unit.)

Light Table Patterns

Use transparent heart shapes to make simple patterns on the light table. Print the patterns on plain copy paper or on old-fashioned transparency sheets. (Free printable HERE.)

Heart Sticker Shapes

Peeling stickers off and applying them to a paper is a great fine motor practice for young children. It helps them when it’s time to open food packages, band-aid wrappers, and more.

Print the shape pages HERE for free.

Valentine’s Number Mats

Practice recognizing numbers, subitizing, counting and sorting with these Valentine’s Number Mats. Give each child 2 mats, the 8 sorting pieces that go with them, and a small cup of mini-erasers or counting pieces. To play, they choose a sorting piece, identify the number that is represented, and place it onto the correct number mat.

Special Delivery Bulletin Board

This vertical interactive bulletin board gives children another opportunity to practice number identification, subitizing, counting, and sorting while also encouraging them to work together. (Social skills are so important, aren’t they?!)

See more pictures of interactive boards HERE and print the pieces for yourself HERE.

Valentine's Day Bulletin Board for Preschoolers

Valentine’s Centers – Literacy

Make writing more enticing by offering seasonal writing trays. (These little pink trays are from the Target Dollar spot.) Print the heart letters and laminate. Fill a shallow tray with red, pink, or white sand. Students can use their fingers, a Valentine’s pencil or a special heart-topped stirrer to copy each letter into the sand.

Print 10 sets of seasonal letter cards to use with your writing trays all year long:

Beginning Sound Stamps

Each Valentine’s postcard needs a stamp! To complete this center, the students say the name of the animal, and then find the stamp that has the correct beginning sound. (This printable center is included in the “Love” Circle Time Unit.)

Heart or Valentine

This is another beginning sound sort. (Identifying beginning sounds is one of our major literacy goals this winter!) To play, the students say the word that is pictured on the card. If it starts with H, it goes in the H envelope. If it starts with V, it goes in the V envelope. (This printable center is included in the “Love” Circle Time Unit.)

“What is Pink?” Book

Emergent readers (ages 4-6 years) need lots of practice reading predictable, repeating text. The goal for them is not to sound out the words. Rather, the goal is to practice pointing to each word and matching their voice to print. It is okay and expected that they will have the story memorized. They will need to use the pictures to help read it and the teacher can read the page for them and ask them to read it back. These are all ways that emergent readers develop their Concept of Word.

This simple book, “What is Pink?” has repeating text that says:

Can you see my pink shirt?

Can you see my pink bike?

Can you see my pink hat?

Can you see my pink shell?

Can you see my pink rose?

For some added fun, give each child a google eye ring. Call it a Valentine’s monster. Have them place it on their reading finger as they point to each word. It helps draw attention to the words and makes it more fun to practice this emergent reading skill.

Valentine’s Centers – Fine Motor

Children love to do centers that they can wear and take home! These bracelets are simple: red, pink, and white pony beads with some special heart-shaped beads mixed it. The students string the beads to make a bracelet.

Tie it onto their wrists and let them take it home. This center is a definite crowd-pleaser with boys and girls alike.

Valentine’s Day Ribbon Weaving

Weaving is a complex skill that involves fine motor finger isolation, bi-lateral hand coordination, and patterning (up-down-up-down).

All of the supplies for this weaving center are from the dollar store:

White grids are dish-draining mats. (If these are not available, a cookie cooling rack or the side of a plastic basket would also work.)
Inexpensive, seasonal ribbons cut to match the length of the draining mats.

Valentine’s Heart Painting

Students can practice their concentration and motor skills with this simple, beautiful heart painting project. Print the heart templates for free HERE.

Valentine’s Day Circle Time Unit

All of these centers, plus a week of Circle Time activities, art ideas, playdough mats and more are included in this Love Unit for Preschoolers.

Valentine’s Day Books

Here are so lovely books to read to your preschoolers on Valentine’s Day:

Valentine’s Centers for Preschoolers

Valentine’s Centers for Preschoolers