STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math) activities have so many benefits for children and their critical thinking skills. We have put a fun spin on these subjects by incorporating a Valentine's theme into all the activities. Click on the title of any of the ideas below to be linked to further details on Instagram.
Heart Gummy Building
Give your child a bag of heart gummy snacks and a bunch of toothpicks and let them create and build! Of course, toothpicks are sharp so please provide adult supervision during this activity. Let you children build whatever they want or challenge them to create a house, the tallest structure they can, a 3 level structure, etc. The options are endless with this activity!
Tape Balance, Valentine's Style
Take painter's tape and tape 2 strips going from one surface to another of equal height. If you want to be really festive you can use red or pink tape! Make sure the tape is sticky side down. Give your child some conversation hearts and see how many they can balance on the tape.
Sticker Math
Write the numbers 1-10 on a paper and give your child little heart stickers. Tell them to put the same number of stickers as the number says. For example, put 3 stickers on the 3, 5 stickers on the 5, etc.
Heart Math Art
On a piece of cardboard or thick paper, draw a big heart. Section the heart using painter's tape into multiple sections. On cut strips of sticky notes, write simple math problems and place them in the sections. Add a color coded key based on your answers and bring out those colors of paint, markers, or crayons. Once you are done adding the colors, carefully pull off the painters tape to reveal your beautiful artwork.
Fill the Hearts by engaging_littles
This fun math activity was shared by @engaging_littles on Instagram. Take a piece of paper and draw different size hearts all over. Have your child guess how many plastic cubes they can fit into the heart, then count how many cubes actually fit and have them write the number next to it. Continue doing this for each heart.
Balance the Hearts
Cups and popsicle sticks are some of the best household items to play with. The building opportunities are endless and cleanup is so easy! For a fun Valentine's Day twist, add some conversation hearts! You can let your kids free play with the supplies, you can challenge them to balance as many hearts as they can, give them a specific design to try and build, etc. This is such a fun, hands on activity!
Skittles Science
Place a heart cookie cutter on the plate/dish. Line the inside of the cookie cutter with one row of Skittles. Pour warm water over them and watch as the colors move to the middle of the heart! You could take this a step further and have your child make a hypothesis before you start and/or record their observations on a piece of paper during or after the experiment.
Heart Numbers
Tape the numbers 1-5 (or whatever numbers you choose) on the wall with painter's tape. Underneath each number, tape strips of painter's tape (sticky side up) going down, making sure to have enough room for the hearts. Use two small strips of painter's tape to secure the sticky side up by taping the two strips down across the top and bottom. Give your child some foam hearts. (A great option is linked here). They will stick right on the painter's tape and they will be able to be used again in future activities. Have your child put the same number of hearts on the painter's tape as there are on the number written above the tape.
We hope you love these engaging, technology-free activities as much as we do! Happy Valentine's Day!
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