Mend a Broken Heart

• Help your children cut out 26 paper hearts in different colors, four to six inches across.
  
  
• Draw a vertical zig-zag line down the center of each and cut along the line.
  
  
• On one half of a heart, draw an upper-case letter and on the other half,
  its lower-case mate.
  
  
• Repeat for eachletter. Once the alphabet is complete, mix up the heart halves and spread the pieces out on the floor.
  
  
• Help your child “mend” the hearts by matching the upper and lower-case letters.
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  Variations
  Could also be done with colors or numbers on one half and their names on the other, or with sight words on half and pictures on the other. For older children, write a math problem on half and its solution on the other addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, whatever concept is age-appropriate for your child.

Add a Heart
This is a pre-math activity that gets children ready for addition and subtraction using counting.

• Cut out several small hearts, each an inch across,and put in a pile.
  
  
• Ask your child to count out three (or any small number).
  
  
• Next ask her to add two (or any small number) more.
  
  
• Now ask how many she has. After she counts the total, reinforce the math by saying, “So three plus two equals five.”

Stories from the Heart
Candy hearts with their sweet messages have been a valentine staple longer than you may realize, first produced in 1860.

• Give your child a box and ask them to create a story in corporating as many of the candy phrases as possible.
  
  
• If they are old enough, ask them to write the story on construction paper and glue the hearts on the page as they go along.
  
  
• Younger children can dictate and glue on the hearts while you do the writing.
  
  Variation
  Make Valentine’s Day cards using the candy hearts as part of the message.