Valentine's Day is right around the corner and this lovely holiday is perfect for learning! One of my favorite things about Valentine's Day is conversation hearts! They are inexpensive, super cute and pretty tasty if you get the right brand. They can be used in the classroom or the home classroom in many different learning areas including math, science, language, and fine motor. The children in my classroom love to graph, so I always make sure to have the conversation heart graph in my math center. A favorite activity anytime is making things fizz. So, I use conversation hearts, baking soda, and vinegar to make a fun, fizzy science tray. Both of these activities are simple, cheap to make, and offer children fun and educational experiences.
Conversation Heart Graphs: You can make a graph or you could print one off of several websites. Once you have your graph color in the bottom rectangle to match all the colors of the conversation hearts you have. Place the hearts in a bowl and encourage your little owlet to pick a heart, name its color, and place it in the matching column. If you want to add fine motor practice to this activity hand your child a pair of tweezers to use to pick up the hearts.
Fizzy Hearts: Place conversation hearts on a tray (I always used a cookie sheet) and sprinkle baking soda over the hearts. Put vinegar in a cup and give your little learner a turkey baster. Have your child fill the baster with vinegar and drop it onto the tray. Watch the magic happen, colorful fizz everywhere! It gets even better as the hearts melt! This was always a favorite in my classroom.
Have fun!
