This valentine craft for kids is an ode to my preschoolers’ love for beads! And, not to mention, it’s one of the most simple options on our list of valentine activities for preschoolers. The kiddos’ beaded name hearts integrated literacy, math, and fine motor skills.
Related: Heart Crafts for Preschoolers
The inspiration for this activity came from our candy cane ornament craft. The concept is quite simple, but covers a variety of early learning skills. I know your students will have so much fun making these name hearts!
beaded name heart valentine craft
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Materials
Assorted pipe cleaners
Alphabet beads – we used circular beads, as well as cube-like beads
Pony beads – we chose white, purple, blue, pink, and red
How the kids created
The kiddos were very interested once the beads and pipe cleaners were laid out on one of our center tables! There is just something cathartic and fun about stringing beads onto pipe cleaners. Plus, the children love wearing their creations and decorating with them.
Related: Valentine Cutting and Tracing Strips
I encouraged the kiddos to find the letters in their names and make patterns on their beaded hearts. Some did just that, carefully patterning and adding letter beads to create their names. Others used the beads to make their names on one side of the heart, while colorful beads went on the other side.
Not all of the students were interested in making name beads, and that’s ok! We were still able to talk about letters, colors, and patterns – all while having some fine motor fun.
Once the children added their chosen beads to a pipe cleaner, I formed a ‘v’ with it. Then I curved in either side of the pipe cleaner and twisted the ends together. If needed, I evened it out to make the heart shape.
The learning
Here are some of the early learning concepts we touched on with this easy-peasy valentine craft:
- Counting
- Letter identification
- Spelling names
- Patterning
- Fine motor practice
Do you have a favorite valentine craft you enjoy making with the kiddos? Are yours as into beading as my preschoolers are?
Preschool Lesson Plans for Valentine’s Day
Save time and get right to the playful learning with our printable lesson plan sets. Each set includes book suggestions, printable plans, over 30 learning activities (both whole group and centers) related to the theme, and corresponding printables.
Grab the Hearts Preschool Lesson Plans and the Valentine’s Day Preschool Lesson Plans
You can also find us on Teachers Pay Teachers
Pop on over to my Valentine’s Day Pinterest board for more ideas!
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