Valentines Day Heart Purse | STEAM Activities

Inside: Create a heart purse for a Preschool Valentines Day Act of Kindness activity.  Preschool STEAM activities are our favorite past time and we want to share everything with you. 

Our STEAM activity this week was centered around making a Random Act of Kindness purse that is heart shaped, a wonderful preschool activity with a little Valentine’s Day theme too.  Why not accomplish two activities in one, right?

Before I continue you let me just say this has been our all time favorite STEAM Activity that these preschoolers have loved.   As I was teaching them I think I was more excited about the idea of this being a Random Act of Kindness project in honor of Feb 17th coming up…which is the Act of Kindness day.  I saw they were more excited about making heart purses…in the end when we went around our neighborhood dropping these off to our elderly neighbors, they were more excited about that in the end.

Not only did this brighten my day I KNOW it will and has brightened another persons day!

Seriously, this activity has been the biggest hit yet in our little world.  When an activity trumps all other activities you know you’ve hit a home run as a mom/teacher!  Right?  Now that we’ve taken our bow and applauded ourself, lets jump into the project and step by step…which is super easy mama’s! 

Valentines Heart Purse Activity for Preschoolers:

Supplies you Need: 
Construction paper
Yarn or ribbon
FREE Act of Kindness Printable
Glue
Hole Punch
Scissors
Tape
A small token -of sorts to place in purse

Additionally…here is a list of ideas for where you can place your heart purse act of kindness. 

Step by Step: 

1. Fold a piece of construction paper in half
2. Cut your heart leaving the base as the folded edge.  I just free-hand cut mine.  Feel free to trace or draw yourself an outline.
3. Using your hole punch, punch holes approx. 1″ apart starting from one side- through base- to the other side.  Leaving the tops hole free.
4. Measure out your yarn or ribbon – approx. two arm lengths is what I cut.
5. On one end of your yarn place a small piece of clear tape around the tip so it makes it easier for the preschoolers to “sew” or string their heart purse through the holes.
6. Attach the other end (not taped) of your yarn to the top left hole of your heart.  Tie a knot if your preschoolers can’t do that part (most can’t in my experience!).  This stabilizes and keeps it in place.
7. Now let the preschoolers start “sewing”.  Don’t worry if the yarn is going in the wrong way or skipping a hole.  If they skip a hole just encourage them to go back and loop it though.  Remember this is part of learning, doing things wrong, figuring things out.  We’ll talk more about that in the STEAM process below.
8. Go ahead, while the kids are sewing, and cut your FREE Printable for your Act of Kindness cards.
9. Let your preschooler glue one card on the front of their heart purse.  We all know preschoolers LOVE glue!
10. Let the preschooler choose what they’d like to place in their purse.
11. Now have fun delivering!  You are sure to have a smile on your face the rest of the day!

As I mentioned in step # 7 – if your preschooler does a step wrong, it’s ok!  This truly is where they learn a TON…why?  Because when something is done wrong, you then challenge them to figure out how to do it right.  All using their minds to think.  This is a life long skill…if they mess it up and it can’t be fixed…start over – that will be ok!  Again talk about what went wrong and how to fix it…let them try again.  So So SOOOO much is learned through imperfections, which is hard to let go as a teacher or mama!

How is this Preschool Activity STEAM?  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 E, A and M.  Engineering, Art and Math!  Plus don’t forget all of the cognitive skills and fine motor skills – wowzers that’s a lot for those little preschool minds to process and learn off of!

Why is STEAM important in early childhood education?  Well I’m glad you asked…I’ve written more about the idea and process of STEAM and STEM for kids with Everything You Need to Know about the Buzz Word STEAM.  

Now lets break down those steps of our STEAM process for this activity:

1. Investigate: Let them look at the materials they are using.  Let them touch them, feel them, hold them, talk about what each is made of and ask questions about the materials.  Let them explore and see them.
2. Discover:  We talked about the colors we are using…We talked about the different shapes we are making or could make within our project…We even counted how many pieces of paper we had, how many holes we punched etc.  Use every ounce of an activity to teach your preschoolers something.
3. 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.  The main result you’re looking for here is to get them to talk!!!
4. Create: Direct them in getting them started with their fine motor skills of “sewing”…then let them go and create their very own unique heart purses!
5. Reflect: Now is a time to ask them what they learned.  Again with preschoolers this will be super simple and short…but again get them to talk- that’s what you want in the end!

Want to see more Valentine’s Day Preschool STEAM Activities?  Just tap on the link <– or tap the picture below!

What are some STEAM activities you are doing with your preschoolers?  We’d love to hear more…just comment 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.