You survived the holidays and hopefully are back in school rested and ready for the second half of the year. The first part of the new calendar year is often a time to teach students about goals and resolutions, but then it is time for more holiday-themed activities. Like Valentine’s Day and St. Patrick’s Day!
Since Valentine’s Day comes first we are going to focus on that. But, don’t forget to check out our St. Patty’s Day activities for next month! Until then, let’s kick off February with a Valentine’s PreK Stem activity.
Preschool STEM for Valentine’s Day
One of the things that preschool teachers and students love most about Valentine’s Day is the celebration. Complete with treats and Valentines it is one of the most fun holiday celebrations of the year.
While we love the fun of celebrating Valentine’s Day in preschool we also know that it is important to continue focusing on learning. Therefore, we combined the excitement of the holiday into not one, but two educational activities!
Keep reading to learn all about our special Valentine’s Day STEM activities for preschoolers.
Valentine’s Day STEM Activities for PreK
One of the key aspects of an effective STEM activity is to have students solve real-life problems. Therefore, all of the STEM activities we create for Prek and elementary students are built around a real-world problem.
Now, we admit that these real-life problems may not be quite as complex or serious as the STEM problems older students encounter. However, they still engage students in the same critical thinking skills. Moreover, they are fun which further engages kids in the learning process.
Before we introduce you to the problems that your students will solve in these Valentine’s activities, let us introduce you to the STEM format.
Format for PreK STEM Activities
- EVENT: All of our STEM activities begin by introducing students to the event. This establishes the situation and introduces students to the problem.
- STEM EXPLORATION: After presenting students with the problem they are introduced to the STEM Exploration. This is where students are told what they must create to help solve the problem.
- EXPLORE VOCABULARY: Before students begin planning how to solve the problem they take time to explore vocabulary. The vocabulary provided is related to the situation and helps students develop an understanding of new words in context.
- PLAN: After exploring vocabulary, students are ready to plan. This is the first step in the Engineering Process. During this process students think about a focus question that helps guide them in planning a solution.
- CREATE: Once students have planned a solution it is time to create. This is where students take a hands-on approach to building the solution.
- TEST: After students have created a solution they need to test it. This is one of the most fun parts because all of the students get to show what they have created.
- REFLECT: An important part of the STEM process is looking at what worked and what did not work. Therefore, after students test their solution they will take time to reflect on if the solution was successful or if there were adjustments that need to be made.
All of our PreK STEM activities follow the same format above. This is done to support you and your students.
By using the same format, your preschool students will become familiar with the procedures and expectations of exploring STEM. Therefore, helping students to focus on each individual STEM problem because they are already familiar with the expectations and procedures of what they will be doing.
In addition, using the same format supports you as a teacher. While it will take some extra time the first time your students explore a STEM activity, the more frequently you use them the less instructional time you will need.
Therefore, you and your preschool kids can focus on the fun of exploring and creating. teach your students about STEM you have taught your students how to explore a STEM activity. Now, let us show you the fun topics you can choose to explore for Valentine’s Day!
Valentine’s Day Mail Activity for Prek
In this Valentine’s STEM activity, preschoolers are presented with a problem related to delivering their valentines:
What’s the Problem? (Event)
The roads are too icy for the mail carrier to deliver your Valentine’s letter to your friend. Now your letter needs to be delivered another way!
How Will Students Solve the Problem? (STEM Exploration)
Create a Valentine that you can fly through the air so it lands in the air mailbox.
How Will Students Prepare to Solve the Problem? (Explore)
Students will take time to explore vocabulary words related to the problem and solution. Words like “fly.”
In addition, students will take time to learn more about flight and paper airplanes. These steps will help students develop background knowledge to help them plan, create, and test their planes.
How Will Students Show They Solved the Problem? (Plan, Create, Test, Reflect)
Students will begin planning by brainstorming answers to the question, “How can we fly a letter through the air?”
After brainstorming, students will get to create a paper airplane. Once they have made their paper airplanes, the whole class gets to test their planes by flying them around the room.
The final part is to reflect on how well the paper airplanes flew and if they would help get Valentine’s to their friends.
Valentine’s Candy Heart STEM for PreK
In addition to the Valentine’s STEM activity above, we have created a second STEM for this holiday. Therefore, providing you with two ready-to-teach activities for February.
The second Valentine’s activity is our Candy Heart Tower STEM activity for PreK. In this activity, students have to create a plan to solve the following problem:
This Valentine’s Day Cupid would like to shoot his arrows from the top of a tall tower, but the only building materials he has are candy hearts.
To help Cupid solve this problem, students have to build the tallest structure they can with candy hearts. This STEM activity follows all of the same steps as the other Valentine’s Day STEM.
One main difference is that while most of our STEM activities use materials already found in the classroom, you will need to buy candy hearts for this one. However, your students will love the opportunity to build and create with these new “tools.”
How to Choose a Valentine’s STEM for Preschoolers
If you want to embrace the season, then we suggest using both Valentine’s STEM activities rather than choosing. A great way to do this is to choose one to use the first week of February. Then, use the second one for the week of Valentine’s Day.
Moreover, if you want to use a STEM activity every week we have two other great ones for February!
If you choose to use all four February STEM activities we have bundled them together. If you choose to use all four STEM activities for the month then we suggest the following plan:
- Week 1: Groundhog Day
- Week 2: Valentine’s Day Activity of Choice
- Week 3: Second Valentine’s Day STEM
- Week 4: Lincoln’s Hat STEM
Beyond STEM activities, you can create a full Valentine’s Day themed unit with our other February themed activities:
Whether you choose to use one Valentine’s Day lesson plan with your preschoolers or all of them, remember they are all planned and ready-to-teach. Therefore, you can enjoy the fun and festivities of the month without any extra work.
