Valentine Creations

 At each child’s place setting, a special surprise was waiting including a wrapped Valentine themed book, an educational magazine, and a decorated page that we filled out throughout the day with “things we love” about each child. A keepsake!

 One thing I found recently while cleaning out the “everything” room was a box of business cards that was ordered online but never used. I was going to throw them in the recycling bin but decided I should hang onto them because they *may* have a brilliant future…and boy, am I glad I kept them! I created two games using the cards.

First, a numeral recognition/counting game by using glittery textured stickers one one card, and then using a marker to write the numeral on a subsequent card. I couldn’t fit more than 8 stickers on a card so that’s where I ended, but you could certainly get 10 or 12 if you were using small stickers.

The second game, and also the more popular one, is a matching game. Since all of the “business” sides of the cards are the same, they offer great memory game potential! I used felt stickers that have different layers and edge shapes which provide an added tactile element to the traditional visual memory games. Isn’t the Valentine theme darling? Best yet, both of these games store in a small Ziploc bag which means easy clean up and great storage because you can see the contents of the bag!

And of course, a Valentine making station. 🙂 Glitter glue, stickers, paper, heart hold punches, crayons, markers, pom poms…you name it, it was there! Not as big of a hit as I thought it was going to be, though. True to form, toddlers prefer playing outside in the mud as to sitting at a table doing something constructive. Who’da thought, right? 😉