I’m sure you knew it was coming…we’ve put away our snowflake play dough, and it’s time for a little valentine play dough fun. If you’ve followed this blog long, you probably also know that my little ones love bugs (at least from a distance). I thought it’d be fun to combine their love of bugs and all things hearts into a little love bug play dough invitation to play.
FIND EVEN MORE VALENTINE’S DAY ACTIVITIES IN OUR PRINTABLE LESSON PLANS
ABOUT VALENTINE’S DAY AND HEARTS.
Materials
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To make our play dough we used the no cook play dough recipe from The Homemade Play Dough Recipe Book. We divided the batch into three equal(ish) parts and used red, violet, and rose icing colors to add a little Valentine feel.
To create the invitation to play I made a couple of love bugs and set the play dough out with:
- table scatter and heart gems bought from the Dollar Tree for our valentine sensory bin
- colored googly eyes from the Dollar Tree
- pink straws trimmed to small pieces
- tinsel stems and chenille stems in red, purple, pink, and silver
- small heart cutters
The girls were immediately intrigued by all the colors and sparkle. Tinker was the first to get to work creating. I love how she used the heart cutters to make imprints in a winding caterpillar type bug. She spent quite a while positioning all the pieces “just so.”
And in true toddler fashion she tested out the materials in other ways, too. She was particularly amused that the bits of straw made great whistles. ๐
Are you making any valentine play dough?
Continue the Valentine’s Day Fun and Learning
PRINTABLE VALENTINE’S DAY THEME LESSON PLANS
Save time and get right to the playful learning with our printable lesson plan sets. Each set includes over 30 playful learning activities related to the theme, and we’ve provided different versions for home preschool families and classroom teachers so all activities are geared directly toward your needs.
VALENTINE’S DAY THEME
GET YOUR VALENTINE’S DAY THEME LESSON PLANS
Also available on Teachers Pay Teachers.
HEART THEME
GET YOUR HEART THEME LESSON PLANS
Also available on Teachers Pay Teachers.
Alyson
I just found your website and I’m so excited to use some of your ideas with my kids! I love how you lay out the materials – where did you get the trays you put the supplies in?
Shaunna Evans
Thank you so much, Alyson! I hope your kids have tons of fun. I find our trays at Walmart in the seasonal section. Some craft stores and Dollar Tree also have trays that could work.
Jamie White
I love, love, love this idea! I just shared it on my FB page and will use it in my classroom next week. Thanks for sharing!
Play to Learn Preschool
Shaunna Evans
I’m so glad you like the idea, Jamie. Thanks for sharing it, too.
Kirstylee
Your invitation to play is so beautiful! I also love your example bugs. I often try to leave things open ended so my boys can come up with their own ideas to play, but they definitely play longer when I give an example creation. I’ll have to try a set up like this when I make new playdough!
Tiffiny
Those play-doh love bugs are so stinkin’ cute!!! Love this!
Jess @ Along Came Cherry
Ah my little girl would love this! x
Melissa D
This is a beautiful invitation to play! Will be recreating it here at home. <3
Kristen
I love your website, and of course this idea. But I want to really know, is where you keep all of teh supplies for your kid projects and how you organize! lol
Happy Saturday!
Shaunna Evans
Ooh, that’s a great question, Kristen! We have a large set of storage shelves that store most of our supplies, and we have a small section of everyday materials that we keep readily available near our school area for quick grabs.
karen
wow, what a great idea…so going to have to try this with my guy. Happy Saturday Sharefest.