Valentine's Activities - Math & Misc.

Math
Matching candy hearts to numbers. To do this work, James would lay out all the numbers and then find the corresponding number of candy hearts. I made it so there are only a set number for each color of candy hearts - for example, there is only one green heart, so James would (hopefully) see that it belongs to the number 1. PS: James has no idea these are candies - we're not big on feeding him this kind of stuff, but should he figure it out (and he will - he's a mouther) we'll be ok with it in moderation. :)

Similar idea for this activity, only it's done in a tray and with a smaller sequence of numbers. In this case I used tiny hair bands as the counters.

Matching the hearts suit from a deck of cards. I cut the cards in half and then put one half in one bowl and the other half in another bowl.

Math in a bag - this clever idea comes from My Montessori Journey. Since James showed me the other week that he can add and subtract, I thought this was the perfect thing for him. I plan on doing this every week going forward, changing the arithmetic as soon as he masters it. And I'm only putting out one bag at a time so as not to overwhelm him. Plus, I know my little guy - he'd gladly empty each bag and combine all the counters! :)

Lacing numbers 0-10. Not sure how this one will go over since James isn't much into lacing. We'll give it try anyway. :)

Misc.
I wasn't sure where to allocate these activities, but all are fine motor related.

Attaching pink and red erasers to pencils. One day while shopping at the dollar store I saw these two side by side and I instantly saw potential for an activity!

Sorting buttons by either color or shape. I suppose this could've gone along with my sensory activities... ah well!

Removing and applying heart shaped stickers. I was inspired by Jill at The Shafer Family to use the adhesive background that is left over from a used sheet of stickers. I made my own variation of it by peeling off the backing and putting it on a sheet of paper. The idea is James will peel off the hearts and try to match them to the corresponding shape on the background. I think this will go over really well because while James really likes stickers, he gets annoyed about taking them off. These should be really easy to remove now that the backing is gone. :)

UPDATE:
Number recognition using a "parking lot" and red, pink and purple cars! This idea comes from My Montessori Journey (can you tell how much I love her blog?!). James thought this was pretty darn cool. He's going through a sensitive period with numbers right now, so while he knows these numbers well, I want to continue to indulge his interest them.

For more Valentine fun, check out my other posts:
Valentine's Activities - Montessori
Sensory Fun - Valentine's Style