Early learners – easy hands-on STEAM Activity for preschoolers. The STEAM Valentine Activities will be a great addition to your February STEM Activities.
Last week we pulled out some fun supplies and began to build and engineer a snowflake, for our weekly STEAM activity. This week we started our Valentine’s themed STEAM activities for preschoolers.
Steam Valentine Activities
When I tell you this was a hit…it was a HUGE hit. I think the girls would have made a card for everyone we have ever known, had I had enough card stock!!!!! Card stock is back on my list to buy!
Supplies you need:
- White Card Stock Paper or blank cards
- Red Paint
- White Paint
- Toothpicks
- Small Marshmallows
- Black Fine Tip Pen/Marker
How to make Valentines Day Cards:
- Cut an 8 1/2×11 white Card Stock paper in half (or use a pre- made blank card)
- Fold your Card in half and draw a large heart with your fine tip pen/marker
- Let the kids place 1 small marshmallow on their toothpick
- Place paint on a paper plate or bowl.
- We used red to start with.
- Let the kids use their paint brush (toothpick/marshmallow) to paint and dab onto the card.
Variations: For younger children you can use a toilet paper roll, squeeze to make a heart shape and let them stamp. Great for working on motor skills with 18 months +. 
How is this a STEAM Preschool Activity? As my husband says to classify it as a STEAM activity it needs to incorporate at least two aspects of the word STEAM. So in our activity we have A- Art and M- Math. Math we talked about different shapes involved in our art. 
Having STEAM in early childhood education is so important in so many ways.
If you would like to read more about the process behind a STEAM activity- please read more here or tap the picture below. My husband has written this for all of us to learn…(he is over the Innovation Center where he teaches high-school in Covington, LA.)
the STEAM process for making Valentine’s Day Cards
- Investigate: Let them look at the materials we are using. Let them touch them, feel them, hold them, talk about what each is made of and ask questions about the materials.
- Discover: We talked about what the paint colors (red/white) and if we mix those two together, what color do we get? We talked about the different shapes we are using within our project…i.e. card is a rectangle, heart on the card, marshmallow creates a circle etc.
- Connect: Keep it simple! Connect colors or shapes to their world. Ask if they can name other items they know of with similar shapes or colors.
- Create: Direct them and let them go to painting. Remember they won’t do it perfect and this is where they truly learn and connect a lot in their minds.
- Reflect: Ask what they learned by painting, if they remember what color red and white mixed together make, what worked and what didn’t.
REMINDER! Their fine motor skills are being exercised with the toothpick/marshmallow as well as the control in their motor skills of dabbing the paint to the card.
Have any questions? Any new ideas to go along with this activity? We’d love to hear from you in the comments…we are no pros and would love your ideas as we journey through these Preschool STEAM activities.
Want to see all of our STEAM Preschool Activities? Just go here or tap the picture below. 
We are a husband and wife team, pairing our strengths together to teach our preschooler in the most fun and engaging way we possibly can. The mister is a high school educator at Northlake Christian school in Covington Louisiana and over the Innovation Center, which is all things STEAM. I am a SAHM that blogs pretty much everything we do in our little paradise, from what we eat, to where we travel to how we teach our little one. We hope you are inspired to incorporate STEAM into learning with your children.
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