color & shape theme for toddlers: valentine matching.

i've never been into decorating for valentine's day, but for some reason {probably thanks to pinterest} i can't stop planning valentine projects!

painting, gluing, and coloring valentines!

a little photo shoot!

{left - i couldn't throw away the hearts from the
photoshoot so i made a giant heart above our desk!
right - a simple burlap banner hanging from our mantel}

but, the real reason for this post: another color learning activity!

• i just did another search for clip art, this time for hearts.
• printed one of the hearts on card stock as a stencil and traced 8 hearts {2 of each color}. 
• i taped one of each color to card stock {i plan to laminate this next time i'm at mardel}
• and then put the rest in a pile.

she did really well, other than one mistake. She gets the concept of one-to-one correspondence, so she could match them without knowing what color was what. To make sure she was learning as she played, i told her what color to pick up next. She knows purple, but this was great practice for white, pink, and red. 

like i said in the circle bath post, i like keeping the color options small to keep it from being overwhelming and i like to play the game several times a day for reinforcement.

i also love taking advantage of the holidays to learn specific colors and shapes!

you can't tell by her face,
but she was excited when she
looked down and realized she had
hearts on her jammies!

what valentine fun are you up to this month?

love and hearts,
amber.