Toddlers love digging through things. Kitchen cabinets, boxes of blocks or my daughter’s favorite the DVD drawer. I roped in that inherent desire to dig and find for this love themed Valentine’s Day activity for toddlers an easy discovery box. Besides the silk flower petals inside there are paper hearts and family photos of people she knows and loves cut into hearts. As we played I’d ask her to find someone and she would search and search until she did. Great for families like ours that are spread out, or for any that are separated due to work or deployment.
- Gather your materials. You will need a container, some silk flower petals, printed card stock, double stick tape , family photos and a heart paper punch.
- Start by punching out paper hearts. The reason you want so many is that you want the toddler to pick each up and look on both sides to see if there is a picture. If the ones without the pictures over frustrate your child remove them. This builds concentration and memory.
- Cut out your pictures and using double stick tape stick them to some of the paper hearts.
- Add them to a container with the silk flowers.
- Add a toddler. She loved finding pictures of her brother as a baby the most.
- If they get up keep playing yourself, it doesn’t mean the activity is a flop they might just want some goggles… I had a hard time not laughing hysterically when she put the goggles on. She was happy and moved the box to the floor so maybe she was just more comfortable on the floor. I ran with it.
- Label things as you go but don’t interrupt too much, be there to help along not to direct.
My Toddler’s Favorite Valentine’s Day Book
Where Is Baby’s Valentine?: A Lift-the-Flap Book by Karen Katz.
I can’t tell you how many times I have read this book since I brought it out of storage after Christmas. Countless. Every time we sit and lift the flaps together I get a serious craving for chocolate. Karen Katz is a toddler’s dream come true. Her illustrations are big and bright and filled with happy babies. Her text is short but still meaty enough for young preschoolers and the flaps to lift and open are perfect for this age when a static book often is just too static for a dynamic toddler. I can see why my daughter brings it over to me everyday. It’s the perfect book to go along with this activity and you could even slide a few of the hearts with photos under a few flaps while you read.
Georgine says
My 2 year old lOves Karen Katz books so much that I almost can’t stand them. The flaps are huge and she loves the illustration. Plus she is a girly girl and Katz has some wonderful books that include tutus.
chelle says
aaawww!! That is so very cute! Great Idea!
Angela Santomero says
I love this idea! Children at this age eat up the discovery process and creatively exploring with personal & seasonal items make it a home run! The goggles are simply the icing!!
Well done.
Stephanie says
Such a great idea. Thank you! I enjoy your website.
Wendy says
Love this, and adore the goggles! 😉
Linda says
Luv this, you are so creative. Thanks for sharing your idea.
critters and crayons says
This is a cute idea- And a good way to incorporate family recognition!
Chrissy @ The Outlaw Mom Blog says
I really need to get a heart punch! Love this idea 🙂
Jennifer Brunk says
I love this idea! It is so sweet! I teach Spanish to children, and I think it could be easily be adapted to teach family vocabulary to my littlest learners. Thank you so much for a great idea!
Jenny says
Thank you so much for the Discovery bin idea. I made one for my son and he loves it!!