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"Where else would a handsome and very young man put his arm around me and ask, "Do you know I love you?"(From the poem "Yes, I Teach Preschool") LESSON PLAN ACTIVITY OPTIONS (FEBRUARY)

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SHAPE: Heart

From Stormie:

Art Learning Center Activity: "Heart Creations":

This has always been one of my favorites because of the creativity I see coming from the class. Put out pink, red, gray, and white hearts in various sizes (from very small to large) and instruct the children to make anything they wish using the hearts. Show them something you've made but only as a sample. Discuss the various colors and sizes. When the projects are finished, hang them on your bulletin board. Ask each child to tell you about his/her creation and place those exact words beneath their work. I've seen everything from "heart snakes" to "heart space shuttles" to "heart flowers."

Notes:

Be conservative with construction paper when trying to provide variety for creative art projects. After all, white hearts can be cut from white typing paper or thin white cardboard. Ask parents, neighbors, and even the secretary in the front office to be your pack rat, saving any kind of paper or collage media they might otherwise throw out. I always tell them, "If it's not harmful and it can be pasted onto something else, I want it." You'll end up with lots of great stuff!

Keep a "scrap box" in the art center. In it, put all your leftover scraps. For example, when you cut a heart shape out of paper, the paper you cut it from is a stencil, of sorts. Why throw that away when the children will love using it in some way? Allow them access to the scrap box all year long for their "free choice" collages. After a time of collecting, you'll accumulate various categories of scrap boxes (one of cardboard, one of fabric, one of paper, etc). In separate containers, put out a few items from each category, making the art center more inviting, rather than just dumping everything in one box.

Hannah or Harry Heart: Give each child one large construction paper heart. Also provide collage materials for creating facial features, arms, legs, hats, etc for a take-home "Hannah or Harry Heart."

Easy Stencils: Collect various heart-shaped candy boxes, clean them, and place them in the Fine Motor area of your classroom for February as your "stencils & pencils" activity.

3-D Hearts: Collect enough heart-shaped candy boxes so that each child can have his/her own to collage in any fashion they wish. These would look great on a bulletin board too.

Size Discrimination: Large or Small?: Without looking, have children take turns reaching into a box that has both a large and small heart shaped pillow in it. They are to "feel" the hearts as much as they wish to compare them and thereby determine which is the small and which is the larger heart. To lessen the difficulty, you can demonstrate the activity yourself by letting them see the hearts then allowing them to observe your hands in the box as you compare the hearts through "touch." This is also a great game to keep in the Quiet Corner or some other part of the classroom for children to do during Free Choice Play.

Variation: Without looking, let children compare two textures of heart shaped cutouts by "feeling" them. For example, you could glue cellophane to one cardboard heart and sandpaper to another for rough versus smooth. Another option would be to compare soft and hard.

*From Nancy Cropper:
Find the Puzzle Piece: Cut 7 hearts from red and pink card stock. Cut each into a different two-piece puzzle. Place one half of each heart on one side of the table and the other halves on the other side, but in a different order. The children pick a heart half from the left side and fit it together with the appropriate one on the right side to make a complete heart.
Stormie's Extension: To increase the difficulty, cut all the hearts in one color.

*From Glenda Thrower, teacher in Maryland:
Sing this song while holding a heart shape and moving your fingers around its edges.

Heart Song
(Tune: Are You Sleeping?)
Here is a heart, here is a heart
How can you tell, how can you tell?
It has 2 humps, it has 2 humps
This is a heart, this is a heart.
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