Love Is In The Air

Some reading suggestions for Valentine's Day are:

The Adventures of Frog and Toad, by Arnold Lobel, published by Barnes and Nobel Books, New York. These two crazy characters have all sorts of adventures and stick by each other through thick and thin. The stories are very funny and very heartwarming as they show the meaning of true friendship. Children love them.

How Do I Love Thee? by Leslie Kimmelman, pictures by Lisa McCue, published by Scholastic, New York. A lovely story about a parent alligator with their baby. It is also a counting and a rhyming book. A great bedtime story.



Follow up Art Projects:

Valentine Friends
This easy project can be a decoration or a card to exchange.
You will need two sheets of construction paper in skin colors, scrap pieces of white or patterned paper and one brad.
1. Help the children trace their hand once on each piece of paper. Cut the hands out. See first picture.
2. Cut small pieces of paper to be the "cuffs" and tape them to the wrists of the hands. They can color their own designs if they have white paper.
3. Overlap the hands, interlocking the thumbs so that the hands appear to be holding each other. Secure with a brad under where the thumbs cross. Now the hands can "shake." They can write their name on one and their friends or relative on the other.













Valentine Woven Heart
You will need 2 sheets of 9x12 piece of construction paper -two different colors ( I chose pink and red) cut in half (4 1/2 by 6), and one small piece of string or ribbon.
1-Fold each piece in half and draw a U shape reaching from the fold to the edge. Draw two lines spaced equally from the fold and cut without going all the way to the other side. See first picture.
2- Keeping the pieces folded, weave the top red over, then under, then over the pink.
See second picture.
3- Take the second strip of red and weave it under, then over, then under the pink. See third picture.
4- The last strip will be the same as the first. You can secure the ends with tape or you can slide the piece between the layers as you go if you want a very secure heart.
5- Finish by adding a hanging loop of ribbon or yarn at the top. See fourth picture.