Valentine's Day Activities For My 3 Year Old

I drew some hearts in two different colors on a large sheet of paper. Then I taped the paper on the outside of a glass door. Alexander used two markers to trace what I had drawn!

Here's a bit of fine motor color matching. I bought some chocolates in a box (I didn't eat them all by myself in one day, I swear) then taped down pink and red shapes to match the chocolate sections. I put some pink and red fuzz balls in a separate heart-shaped box alongside some tongs for transferring.

I used paper and tape to cover the numbers on 10 playing cards. I happened to already have holes punched in these cards. Alexander's job was to use a string to connect the cards in order from one heart to 10 hearts.

I picked up some heart cardstock cards at Target. I drew some hearts on each card and put 3 answers at the top of each card. I provided a few clothes pins to choose the right answer. He loves counting past 20 right now, so these were perfect timing.

I simply drew lines and letters on paper and provided some stickers. Alexander had to place the stickers on the lines! He loves loves loves stickers. It was also a quick way to teach him the word "love!"

These window clings are a little silly, and I'm not sure exactly who they are meant for (some of them say "text me!" for example). But hey, Alexander can't read most words yet, and he loves window clings! They work for this year, but next year, they may not work as well!

Giant lego heart! I showed him how to do it then took apart the legos and let him try!

I am not much of a seamstress. I sewed the buttonholes on my machine, and I hand sewed the button onto a strip of fabric. I used felt glue to hold two felt hearts together. The opposite end of the strip is open so that the hearts can simple be slid off. The objective is to button the hearts onto the strip and then slide them off the other side, then repeat!

Alexander has finally mastered using scissors with one hand! So I simply drew some hearts on strips of paper and provided him some scissors to cut out the hearts.

I taped the letters L-O-V-E to a sheet of paper. I have some letter stamps (I don't have a lot of stamps, so I just used what I found!) and a red stamp pad. He'll stamp over the L-O-V-E and when the ink dries, we'll remove the L-O-V-E, and there *should* be a pretty little outline of the world "love."

Pink and red rice, plus some hidden letters. He'll just find the letters and match them! I may also put the word LOVE onto a sheet of paper, for matching.

Valentine's sight word matching! I put some words on envelopes then the same words on popsicle sticks. He had to match the words and put the sticks in the envelopes! Idea from growingbookbybook.com.

This is a classic Montessori activity. You affix a sheet of paper with a shape drawn on it, onto some cork. The child uses a push pin to poke tiny holes along the drawn shape. If done correctly, the shape should be easy to remove from the rest of the paper.

I provided some red paint and two heart-shaped cookie cutters, plus some plain paper. Alexander just had to dip the cookie cutters in the paint and press them onto the plain paper!

Basic connect the dots in the shape of a heart. Extension? Alexander will use a hole puncher to create holes between the tiny heart stickers then lace some red yarn through the holes.

Magformer Valentine's-themed shapes! It's hard to come up with the different shapes, to be honest! The best I could come up with were a strawberry, Cupid's arrow, heart, and a flower. (I apologize for the photo! We used these shapes several times before I decided to compile these ideas, so the paper is torn, dirty, wrinkled... Ack!)

Random Valentine's Day crafty stuff! This is just a random bin of art supplies. I'll provide scissors, paper, and glue whenever Alexander is so inclined to use these materials. I'll give him free reign to do whatever he wants with these materials!

Hidden message! I got this idea from katherinemaries.com! If our printer were working, I'd type and print some super tiny symbols on paper then have Alexander hunt for all the hearts!