I Love You to Pieces {FREE Printable Valentine Cards}

Valentine’s Day is one of our favorite holidays, mostly because our children love making cards for each other.  These “I love you to pieces” valentines were just the thing we needed for a fairly independent activity to go in our preschool writing center.  You can copy them off on plain white paper, or if you want to make them even more festive try pink, purple, or red.

 

 

We had a quick mini-lesson on how to address valentines, and reviewed the words in both languages.  Here is a little printable you can use to drive the point home. 

 

 

 

Then we sat in a circle and passed one of the valentines around, practicing the correct terminology.  We were focusing on Spanish, so I said “Para (child’s name to my right)”, “De (my name)”, and handed it to the person on my right.  They did the same, until everyone in the circle had a chance to practice.

 

Next it was time to introduce the center.  If you are in a classroom setting, you can make something more grandiose, but I just stored our materials on a tray.  That way I could keep it up high (keeping scissors out of the toddlers reach), and bring it down to the table whenever it was a good time to create.  (For those of you in Colombia, these awesome trays are available at Makro year round.) 

 

 Note: These “fancy scissors” are my favorite for learning to cut, as the different patterns add an element of fun.  They also make it more difficult to cut things like clothes and skin, which make them great for beginners.

 

First I had to explain the saying “I love you to pieces,” and how it was a fun way to say that you love someone very much.  Then with everyone sitting around the table, I demonstrated how to make a valentine.

 

It is important to address the valentine first to ensure everyone has claimed their work, AND because once markers get glue on them they are basically useless.  hehe  You definitely want to include a class list, or some kind of help for little people to be able to write names independently.  We had just finished our unit on names and introductions, so I had the children use their “What’s Your Name?” book.

 

We have a couple children who are really struggling with scissors.  This “I love you to pieces” activity is a fun way to sneak in some cutting practice and have them produce something they can be proud to give, even if their scissor skills are lacking.

 

The download includes:

– English “I love you to pieces” valentine printable

– Spanish “Un pedazo de mi corazón” valentine printable

– To/From Valentine Addressing visual in English

– Para/De Valentine Addressing visual in Spanish

– Bilingual Valentine Addressing visual (with Gomez & Gomez red/blue colors)