This time of year, themed activities are starting to be all about Valentine’s Day! My favorite workbox activity for my preschoolers this time of year have been my Valentine’s Day Counting Cards to use with manipulative: puff balls, candy pieces, and so forth!
These are pretty simple: simply print the cards, laminate for durability, and practice counting the items on each page. Although playing with puff balls and matching them to the items on the cards seems obvious to us, for a toddler or preschooler, it’s an important early math concept!
The images on the cards are heart and Valentines themed: a box of chocolates, various heart, balloons, Valentines, and so forth. This is a simple but great activity for practicing one-to-one correspondence. The concept that each number that we count represents an item or thing is an important one. It is clear from the images that some cards have more than the others.
Get access to the Valentine’s Day Counting Cards you sign up to become a Line upon Line Learning VIP.
My daughter loved playing with puff balls. It's even more fun when we play with candy pieces!
We don't have to limit it to that. Here are some things we can use for 1-to-1 correspondence with these cards:
Pretty much anything can become a manipulative for a young child!
You can get this and many other free products when you sign up to be a Line upon Line Learning VIP. You'll get access to the exclusive Line upon Line Learing VIP Resource Library.
I've written about some other Valentine's Day activities for this age before. Here are other heart activities we could this season:
Fall is a wonderful time for hands-on learning with young children! As the leaves change color and fall from the trees, you have plenty of opportunities to explore nature, create simple crafts, and enjoy autumn together. If you’re looking for fall activities for your preschoolers or young homeschoolers, here are three ideas to try: DIY leaf
Read MoreI love finding ways to turn items destined for the trash into learning tools and games in our homeschool. One day, we rescued an empty tissue box and turned it into a silly ABC monster! This easy tissue box monster craft became one of our favorite alphabet recognition activities. Our monster loves eating letters, and
Read MoreWe created our own mail center in our schoolroom and play room because my kids love getting the mail. They love to send letters to friends, teachers, and grandparents. I also created monster postcard templates to help them practice everything from early writing skills to addressing postcards and learning the parts of a letter. Of
Read MoreAh! Fall! The weather is not scheduled up in the 80s and 90s, and we can anticipate the crunch of falling leaves. Fall always reminds me of apple picking. I’m not sure we’re going this year, but it has been a frequent tradition for our family. To keep my little kids busy when I’m busy with
Read MoreIn the book In the Snow by Huy Voun Lee, Xiao Ming and his mother walk in newly fallen snow and his mother shows him Chinese characters by writing them in the snow. They discuss how the characters look like the items they are describing. Despite our lack of snow in Chicagoland this season,we made our
Read MoreCooking pancakes provides plenty of learning opportunities for young kids! One of the favorite things my kids love to cook is pancakes, of course! I believe it was one of the first things I actively encouraged my kids to take part of in the kitchen, simply because it’s fun to help stir, it’s exciting to
Read More