Math Activities for Valentine's Day

Teaching Math with a Heart Theme

Feb 9, 2009 Andrea Coventry

Entice the children back to the math area with these "heart-y" activities.

In the middle of winter, children start getting bored and restless. Spice up the math area while simultaneously celebrating Valentine’s Day with these activities.

Numeral Cards

Replace numeral cards in the math centers or Montessori work areas with numerals either printed on a heart background or heart-shaped cards. For example, label the number rods, bead bars, or counters with the heart cards. Set up a supplemental teens or tens tray using heart-themed cards.

Make your own sandpaper numerals. Write large numerals on large hearts, printed or cut out of cardstock or poster board. Have the children trace the numerals with white glue, then cover them with sand or cornmeal. When dry, the children can trace them.

Make a hundred board. Cut out one hundred hearts to put into order. Use different colors for each row of tens.

Counting Hearts

Hearts come in a variety of styles. Find them as erasers, beads, stickers, plastic ice cubes. Whatever your desire, choose a set of fifty-five and have the children practice one-to-one correspondence counting 0 - 10.

Turn an art project into a counting project. Create a paper with the numerals 0-10 printed along one side. Have the children use a stamp to print the according quantities. For control, include a preprinted grid and have the children aim to put one stamp into each box. Or use stickers instead of stamps.

For the child who loves to cut, provide heart-shaped or heart-decorated envelopes with a numeral preprinted on them. Have the child cut a given number of strips into each envelope. For the child with more dexterity, have her cut out a given number of hearts for each envelope.

Patterning

Practice patterning using different colored hearts or other Valentine’s Day pictures. The simplest patterns cam be two alternating colors (red-blue-red-blue) or two different pictures (heart-cupid-heart-cupid). Increase the difficulty with longer patterns and slight variations with more details between the pictures.

Graphing

Put out a bowl of candy hearts. Have the children tally the colors they find in a bar graph. Or use another kind of Valentine’s Day candy. At group, ask the children what their favorite Valentine’s Day treat is, and graph the results. If children pass out individual Valentines, graph how many are of a specific style or character.

Math Operations

Use candy hearts to perform the basic arithmetic operations of addition, multiplication, division, and subtraction. Supply equations printed on heart-shaped flashcards. Write story problems about people sharing their candy hearts or other Valentines Day-related items. Create mats to guide them, if necessary.

Performing math activities with a heart theme around Valentine’s Day will help spice up your math area and channel the children’s excitement into something productive.

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