bullet  Money Stamps—the students will identify the amount given in each of the boxes.  The students will then use the money stamps to show that amount.
bullet Candy Heart Measurement—the students will predict how many candy hearts they believe to be equal in weight to the objects on their paper.  They will then place each object, one at a time, into the scale and add hearts until the buckets are balanced.  The students will then estimate how many hearts long they believe the objects to be.  They will then measure the objects using the candy hearts.  They will record their results onto their recording sheet.
bullet Piggy Banks—the students will identify the amount on each of the piggies.  The students will then place the corresponding number of coins onto the pig.
bullet Money Patterns—for numbers 1 and 2 the students will identify the pattern, and copy it in the space below.  For 3, the students will build their own pattern using the coins.  For 4, the students will use the stamps to stamp their pattern onto their paper.
bullet Candy Counting—Empty a box of chocolates, but keep the paper candy liners and the heart shaped box. Place a red dot sticker programmed with a number on each candy liner. Have the students count out that many candy hearts into each candy liner. When they've completed the activity allow them to eat their candy!
bullet Adding Up Chocolates—Empty three boxes of chocolates.  Have the students take turns drawing cards from the pile, and acting out the addition problems using the candy.  When they are finished they may choose a piece of chocolate from the bowl.
bullet Pocket Change—the students will identify the coins found on each pocket, and calculate the amount.  They will then record their answer onto their recording sheet next to the corresponding number.
bullet Let’s Compare!: Groundhog Measurement—the students will use the yarn (which has been cut to show the size of a groundhog) to determine if it is “longer” or “shorter” than the items listed.  They will then cut, and glue, the appropriate word on the line.
bullet Shadow Shapes—to gain practice with shapes as well as fine motor skills the kids made shapes from light colored chips (I used butterscotch), and then made its shadow (the shape a second time) from chocolate chips.  The students really enjoyed this activity because they got to eat their shadows when they were done.

bullet Conversation Heart Addition—the students will use candy hearts to solve the addition problems on their sheet.
bullet Feed the Pigs—the students will sort pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters by their value into four separate piles.  The students will then complete the follow-up paper.
bullet Time Cards—the students will work together to identify the time shown on their cards.  They will set each clock to show the time.  They will do this until they have shown the time for all of the cards.  They will then complete a follow-up paper.
bullet Candy Heart Number Formation—To prepare for this center, create candy heart cards with various sets of hearts on them.  Laminate them for durability.  Place them at a center, along with a supply of real candy hearts, and a Valentine’s Day Tray.  When a child visits the center, he/she will draw a card from the pile, count the number of hearts found on their card, and form that number using the hearts.  If they form at least 3 numbers correctly they may eat their candy.

 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

bullet The Clean Penny—the students will predict which solution they think will clean the penny the   best.  The students will then prepare the solutions, and test them to see which one gets the penny the cleanest.  They will record their findings, and draw a picture to show their experiment.

bullet Comparing Coins—the students will compare the weights of a penny, nickel, dime, and quarter.  They will record their findings on their recording sheet.
bullet Heart Pumping—the students will use a turkey baster to demonstrate how a heart pumps blood through the veins.
bullet Brush your Molars—To prepare, gather a supply of small mirrors, toothbrushes, and the bottoms from plastic soda or water bottles (the ones that have indentations on them).  When a child visits the center, encourage him/her to examine her teeth, including the teeth in the back called molars.  Talk about how these teeth help us to chew.  Then put the mirrors away and have each child take a toothbrush, and a bottle bottom (turned upside down to resemble a molar).  Have the students practice brushing their molars by brushing these giant teeth.  Put a small amount of peanut butter onto each tooth.  Have the students dip their toothbrushes into clean water, squirt on a little toothpaste, and then brush their tooth clean. 

bullet Mr. Big Mouth—Place Mr. Bigmouth, a brown paper bag, and a supply of plastic foods at the center.  Discuss the difference between foods that are good for our teeth, and foods that are bad for our teeth.  When a child visits the center, he/she will “feed” Mr. Bigmouth only the foods that are healthy for teeth.  They will place the remainder of the foods into the trash (brown lunch sack).

bullet Vinegar Paper Hearts—the students will cut out their paper hearts.  They will then paint tissue paper onto their heart with vinegar.  They will place it on the drying rack to dry.

bullet Candy Heart Science—the students will predict which type of water will dissolve the candy heart the fastest: hot, icy, or room temperature.  They will record their findings on their recording sheet.
bullet Candy Heart Predict and Sort—the students will predict how many of each color they believe they will find in the bag.  The students will then empty the contents of their candy heart bag, and sort the candy into piles by color.  The students will then count the number of each color that they have, and record it on their sheet.  Finally, they will graph the number of each color that they have.
bullet All Kinds of Chocolate—Conduct a taste test of various kinds of chocolate.  Duplicate a recording sheet for each child.  Then provide each student with a bit of unsweetened baker’s chocolate, a semisweet chocolate chip, and a milk chocolate Hershey’s kiss.  Have each child taste one type of chocolate at a time, and then draw a happy or sad face in the corresponding space to indicate whether

bullet Stethoscope Observation—the students will use the stethoscope to listen to their heartbeat.
bullet “My Healthy Heart” Paper—the students will write about what they can eat/how they can exercise to keep their heart healthy.  They will then illustrate a picture of the food, and of themselves doing whatever exercise they said they would do to keep their heart healthy.
 

 

 

 

 

bullet Love Bugs—the students will place a spoonful of paint onto their paper.  They will the fold their paper in half, and press.  When they open the paper up, they will have the body for their bug.  They will then add: glitter, eyes, wings, antennas, and other decorations to their Love Bug.

bullet Flip Your Wig, George!—the students will use the example to create George Washington on one side, and Abe Lincoln on the other.  Use black powdered tempera paint to create the gray/black cotton balls.  Click here for the pattern.

bullet Bubble Wrap Hearts—the students will dip the hearts into the paint, and then press them onto their paper to create a collage of hearts, and colors.
 
bullet Heart Man—the students will color the head, hands, and feet of the “heart man”.  They will then accordion-fold the arms and legs, and attach them to the rest of his body.
 
bullet Coffee Filter Hearts—the students will use watercolors to paint a coffee filter.  They will then trace a heart-shape onto the coffee filter, and cut it out.
 
bullet Valentine Rubbings—Prior to the students visiting the center, the students will select a “conversation heart” from the basket.  They will then rub over the top of it to see the saying on heart.  They will then cut it out.

 

 

 

 

bullet Sentence Cube Writing—the students will use the word cubes to build sentences.  They will build a sentence, and then record it onto their sheet.  They will then illustrate a picture to go with their sentence.  They will complete this four times.
bullet Heart Messages—the students will choose a conversation heart from the bowl.  They will then write its message onto a larger construction paper heart.  The students will then place the heart onto a sheet of construction paper, and use a pushpin the poke holes along the lines of their saying.  They will then read their saying to the class, and the teacher will hang it on the window.

bullet Loving Literacy—the students will choose a word family that they would like to practice: at, an, it, or ig.  The students will then write the ending rime onto a pre-cut piece of construction paper.  They will glue that piece onto the part of the heart that says “glue here”.  The students will then write all of the initial consonants for that word family onto the smaller pieces of construction paper.  They will then stack the letters on top of one another and staple them where it says, “Staple here”.  The students will then cut out the heart, and practice reading their words.

bullet Young Washing/Lincoln Papers—the students will color in the pictures that go with the stories of Washington and Lincoln.  They will then complete the prompt at the bottom of each page.
bullet Making Valentine’s—the students will various materials to create valentine cards.
bullet Writing Paper—there will be themed writing paper at the center for the students to use.
bullet A Toothy Tale—the students write about a time they lost a tooth.  Or make up a story about loosing a tooth.
bullet Writing Prompt: “If a ____sees it’s shadow . . .”—the students will complete the prompt and illustrate a picture to go along with their writing.
 
bullet “If I were president, I would . . .”—the students will write about what they might do if they were president.  They will then illustrate a picture of themselves as president do whatever it was they said they would do.
 
 

 

 

 

 

bullet Cherry Pies—the students will sort the cherries into their corresponding pie by their word family.

bullet Word Family Trees—the students will identify the word found on each of the hearts, and match it with its picture on its word family tree.
 
bullet Will You Be Mine?—the students will try to make matches in their word families.   If they make a word they must be able to read it.  If they can read it, they write it onto their paper.  For each word they make, they get 2 conversation hearts (they need to bring their paper to the teacher, and read it to her to receive their candy).
 
bullet Match Me—the students will open the heart shaped box, and match the chocolates that rhyme. 
 
bullet Valentine Word Families—the students will sort the chocolates into the correct box depending on what the picture is.

bullet Beginning Sound Tooth Match—Cut out teeth from white construction paper.  Label each tooth with a different letter:  B, C, D, M, P, S, T and V.  Then place them at the center along with a supply of plastic food.  Have the students sort the food according the initial sound in the food.

bullet Groundhog Burrows—the students will identify the picture on the groundhog’s belly.  The students will then match the groundhog to its word families’ burrow: -at, -an, -it, -ig.  You can also do it with initial letter sounds as seen below.

bullet Where’s Cupid?—Prepare a supply of heart cutouts.  Label them with the letters of the alphabet.  Attach the tops of the hearts to a piece of poster board in two or three rows.  Have a child hide cupid behind one of the hearts while the other students hide their eyes.  Next, choose a child to name a heart.  Lift the heart named.  Is cupid there?  If so, reward the students with a Hershey’s kiss.  If not, give another child a turn until cup is found.  Once he is found, hide him again.  Continue until each child in the group has gotten a treat.

bullet Find the Hearts—Gather a supply of candy conversations hearts, erasers, or foam conversation hearts (my students are using the large Smarties conversation hearts). Prepare a recording sheet.  Place the recording sheet and the hearts at a center.  To complete the activity, a student searches the candy hearts for the letters found on the recording sheet.  This could also be used with words--you could have the students search for words listed on their paper.

 

 

 
     
       

 

bullet Choose item (wand, flyswatter, etc.) and walk around the room touching and reading words.
 
The students will make a list of all the words they find that begin with L, I, K, Qu, and D.  They will write them in the column that is under the appropriate letter.
 
Heart Hunt—the students will identify the pictures found on each of the hearts, and write the words for those pictures on the lines onto their recording sheet.

Go on a word hunt.  The students will find the words that are listed on the February word hunt, and they will highlight them once they have been found.

 

 

 
       

 

These are the story cloths that I have at the Imagination Station this month:
bullet  Clifford’s Loose Tooth---small Clifford stuffed animal for Clifford, brown scrap cloth for the ground, tissue for a tissue, pom-poms for Emily Elizabeth, T-Bone, and , small pink bean bag for pillow, plastic coins, plastic dog bones dog treats, and small plastic tooth case.

The students used these items to retell the events from the story.  They really enjoyed telling it to me, and to the other children during our center time.

bullet Guess How Much I Love You?
 
bullet Broken Hearts—Make a supply of red construction paper hears.  Puzzle cut each heart to make two halves.  Then label one half of each heart with a capital letter, and the remaining half with the matching lowercase letter.  Laminate the hearts for durability.  Then place the hearts at a center with pretend doctor items, such as a stethoscope and a lab coat.  Then have her mend the hearts by matching the uppercase and lowercase letters.
I also have a "Post Office" set up in the imagination station for the month of February.  The students can create and send Valentine's to one another.  They can put stamps onto the envelopes and put them into the mailbox (don't forget to put the flag up!).  The students can then deliver the mail to the addressee by putting into their cubby.

 

 

 
 
         
     

 

bullet Shake, Shake, Shake—The students will take turns shaking the egg carton.  If they make a match (the two words rhyme) then they get another turn.  If they do not make a match the next person gets a turn.  They will tally the number of matches made.  The person with the most matches is the winner.
bullet Heart Concentration—The students will turn the cards face down on the floor.  They will take turns flipping cards over in an attempt to make a match.  If they make a match, they get to keep it and they get to have another turn.  If they do not make a match, then the next player gets to have a turn.  The student with the most matches at the end of the game is the winner.
bullet Kindergarten Cupids —The students will place the hearts onto the magnetic board.  They will shoot arrows at the hearts.  Depending on the ending they hit, they will come up with a word for that rime.  They will record it onto their paper.  Once they have 3 words for each rime recorded onto their sheet, they will be the winner!

bullet Exercise Your Heart—The students will sit in a circle.  Place the cards in a stack facedown in the middle of the circle.  Let the children take turns removing the top card from the stack and performing the corresponding task printed on the chart.  When all of the cards have been removed the stack, shuffle the cards and begin the game again.

bullet Race to the Bank—The students will choose a piggy to be their marker.  They will then take turns spinning the spinner.  They will identify the amount on the piggy, and move forward to the space that has the coin with that value.  If there is not a coin with that value ahead then their turn is over.  If they can identify the name of the coin then they make take that coin from the baggie.  The first child to make it to the piggy with all of their coins is the winner.
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bullet These are activities that I use in my young fives class (pre-k).
bullet These are activities that I use in my regular kindergarten classes