I love creating a few holiday themed trays whenever a new holiday comes around. They’re a great way to let little ones start to experience different holidays and they can incorporate various skills. Valentine’s Day is probably the holiday that I usually celebrate the least, but everything becomes more fun with a baby and a toddler! And with all of the illness we’ve had going around on our house this season, we are definitely in need of extra fun on a daily basis! Here are a few ideas for Valentine’s themed, Montessori-inspired trays for toddlers and infants:
Valentine’s Pattern Matching
For this, I made cards that show a pattern of clothespins clipped onto the heart, with the matching number printed on them. Asher likes building and creating things to match a picture lately, so I thought he would enjoy this pattern matching work.
Pearler Bead Set
I have the dollar store to thank for this adorable, mini fuse bead kit. I taped the heart pattern that came with the kit onto the tray for modeling, but Asher isn’t at a stage to match the pattern yet. The real challenge of this work is the fine motor skill that it takes to get the beads onto the board.
Valentine’s Matching Cards
At 2 years and 8 months, Asher loves to use Montessori-inspired matching cards in a few different ways. They’re great for “memory” games, scavenger hunts, and language work. His favorite thing to do is hide one of the sets around the house and then go on a scavenger hunt to find them and match them with their pairs. I created this set using this laminator that I love and have gotten so much use out of at home. To get a free download of these Valentine’s matching cards, head on over to the free resource library to get access to my Google Drive folder. There are so many free, Montessori-inspired resources there for different developmental stages, interests, and themes.
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Valentine’s Crayons
Asher had so much fun with the Christmas crayons he made for family and friends, I decided to set up the same tray for Valentine’s day. He likes the fine motor challenge of peeling and breaking the crayons. He places the paper scraps in the empty bin on the right side of the tray and dumps the scraps in the trash when he’s done working. When all of the crayons are ready he will put them into heart-shaped silicone molds and bake them to give out as a Valentine’s gift.
Valentine’s Cards
Card making trays are so simple and fun for toddlers. I like that they can incorporate many fine motor skills and are a fun way to learn some practical skills too. For this tray, I added small strips of stickers, stamps, and heart doilies with a glue stick. I still peel the border of the stickers off so it’s not too challenging for Asher to do independently. He’s at a stage now that he likes to try to make patterns with his stickers and line them up. This work also includes the practical skill of mailing the cards when he’s done with them.
Making Decorations with Transfer Stickers
Whoever chooses items for the Target dollar spot knows me all too well. They knew I would not be able to pass up these cute rub-on transfers for a tray activity when I saw them. I cut the images into individual stickers and included craft sticks and wooden hearts. This has been a great new challenge for Asher! We’re using the hearts as decorations for his room so this work feels purposeful to him as well.
Valentine’s Sensory Jars for Infants
I’m having fun with including activities for Aiden in our holiday themed work. These sensory jars were made from glass jars and a few seasonal objects: plastic hearts, Valentine’s pom-poms, candy hearts, and fake rose petals. These present great sensory opportunities with sight and sound when he shakes them, and he also enjoys rolling them around the house and chasing after them.
Valentine’s Discovery Basket
One thing I love about discovery (treasure) baskets for babies is that they can be easily put together with objects that are on-hand. For this discovery basket, I included a piece of Valentine’s ribbon, a fake rose, a wooden heart (smooth edges), and a jar of Valentine’s sprinkles. Aiden is still in a stage of mouthing items to explore them and is teething on and off, so I only included items that I felt comfortable with him putting in his mouth with supervision.
My boys are enjoying these Montessori-inspired shelf activities as Valentine’s Day approaches. What are some activities you do with your toddlers or infants for Valentine’s Day?
Darcey says
I love the Valentines crayons and sensory jar ideas. Thank you for sharing.
KMenko says
Thanks! The crayon activity is definitely a favorite here. Such good fine motor work. Thanks for reading! 🙂
Sara says
So many awesome resources! Thank for sharing, I will be pinning to refer back to later.
Desiree says
I really want to try the crayons! I saw another post with that craft the other day! Thank you for sharing!
Suha Vijay says
Thanks Beading is one thing which I wanted to introduce to my kid for so long and your post reminded me about it. So will definitely try it out.
Suha Vijay says
Thanks Beading is one thing which I wanted to introduce to my kid for so long and your post reminded me about it. So will definitely try it out.
Kimberlie says
I love all of these valentine tray options because they encourage problem solving and creativity. They are also very aesthetically pleasing.