Valentine's Day Unit Study
Dateline: 2/6/06. Updated: 2/11/10
By Ann Zeise
Valentines is an excellent time of year to talk in our homes
about the meaning of love, and the symbols used and why.
Arts & Crafts
Quick 'n' Easy Heart Print Card - More DIY How To Projects
How to Cut Out a Heart Shape
- Fold a piece of red or pink paper in
half.
- Put the folded side going up and down.
- Starting at the fold, draw slightly
more than half a circle going up and away from the fold.
- From the end of that half circle, draw
a diagonal line down to the fold. The further away from where
you started the slimmer the heart will be.
- With the paper still folded, cut along
your line, going through both halves of the paper.
- Unfold the heart!
Printable
Valentine's Day Cards
Type your own message into these folded cards.
Valentine's
Day Animal Crafts
Using heart shapes and small purchased eyes, make these darling
animals.
ClipArt
Kids
Domain Valentines Clip Art
Many are optimized to be small in size with transparent backgrounds,
so you can use them on any color pages. The children at the top
of my page is from this site.
Food Traditions
My Mother's Chocolate Valentine
I bought a box of chocolate hearts,
a present for my mother,
they looked so good I tasted one,
and then I tried another.
Cupid's
Kitchen
There are gifts to make and yummy treats for sleepovers and parties.
Some recipes were sent in by one of our club members. Give them
a try! Then share your own recipe at the bottom of this page.
-Happy Valentine's Day! Love, the AGW Girl Crew.
Red foods...
Bring an assortment of red foods to the group...
cherries
beets
red cabbage
apples |
red
lettuce
red meat
red jello
red bell peppers |
What nutrients do red foods provide? What concerns do some people
have about red food dye in foods? In the list above, which foods
are naturally red and which are not?
The
Sweet Lure of Chocolate
Why does chocolate make us feel so good? Where does chocolate
come from?
Weigh Your Candy Gifts
Measure and weigh a cup of plain, white sugar. A cup of sugar
has 770 calories. If your candy is mostly sugar, estimate how
many calories it all has together.
Games & Puzzles
Valentine's
Day Crossword Puzzle
Print out the template and solve the clues to fill in the crossword.
There is an easier, "picture crossword", option and
a more standard type of crossword available.
Valentine's
Day Games
Even a Pokemon Contest here!
Valentines
Day Logic Puzzle
Cody, Brandon, Ethan, Aaron, Jordan, Robert, and Michael each
gave one Valentine's Day card to a girl in their class. The girls
Jennifer, Amber, Olivia, Kaitlyn, Grace, Alyssa, and Alexandra
each received one Valentine's Day card and want to know who gave
it to them.
The Heart
Heart & Blood
Our heart pumps blood throughout our body, but how and why?
History of Valentines Day
The
History of Valentine's Day
The history of Valentine's Day is obscure, and further clouded
by various fanciful legends.
The
Origins of Valentine's Day
The God Lupercus, was said to watch over the shepherds and their
flocks and keep them from the wolves. Every February the Romans
celebrated a feast called Lupercalia to honor Lupercus so that
no harm would come to the shepherds and their flocks.
Language Arts
Cassanova Loves...
Ann but not Carol, Harriett a lot but not Matilda. He likes to
kiss but not hug. Can you figure out why he loves who or what
he does? Can you think of other things or activities Cassanova
loves or does not love?
DLTK's
Custom Writing Paper
Looking for a way to create themed writing paper? The next
few steps will allow you to choose a theme for the top and bottom
borders of your paper as well as choose a custom image to dress
it up.
The
Best Valentine's Day Ever
A play to perform. Setting: a game room. There is a long
table piled high with boxed games and puzzles. CHRISTY and DIEGO
are playing checkers or chess at a small table set stage left.
By Brenda B. Covert.
Valentines
Day Word Search
Snuggle with a friend and get hugs and kisses here!
Math with a Valentines Theme
Valentine
Symbols Counting Worksheet
For children who are just learning to count and recognize and
write numerals.
Valentine's
Day Themed Math Pages
For kids around 6 - 10 years old.
Valentine Exchange
If your homeschool support group had 21 children, and each gave
a Valentine card to each of the other children, how many cards
would be exchanged in all? (Remember, you don't give a card to
yourself!)
Valentine Geometry
Advanced: If your heart cutout consisted of two half circles
and two triangles, can you discover the area of your paper heart?
Music and Poetry
A
Tisket, A Tasket
Lyrics & melody. Children form circle facing inward and sing
song. IT circles around behind them, and quietly drops a Valentine
behind one child, then takes off fast in either direction. Selected
child grabs Valentine and takes off in the other direction. First
back to the space in the circle is "safe," and the
other child becomes IT.
Valentine's
Day Songs & Poems
For small children.
Science and Valentines' Themes
Make a banana split with the following aphrodisiacs:
- Banana - because of shape.
- Peaches - feminine looking, juicy. Turn on for the Chinese.
- Chocolate sauce - who doesn't know chocolate is a turn on!
- Spinkle with pine nuts - did it for the Romans!
Take a poll before and after whether or not anyone feels like
kissing anyone else. Do they change their minds after the dessert?
Should be good for some giggles.
Start
making Valentine's crystals now
They should be ready by the 14th.
Twist the pipecleaners into the shape of a heart, with a "stem"
left to hook over pencil on top of a STRAIGHT SIDED container.
(I learned this the hard way, you can tell. You can't get the
crystal out of any non-straight container!) Experiment on seeing
what you can add to the solution to make the crystals red. (food
coloring, cherry or beet juice - what else?)
Optics of red.
As the eye sees red - tire your eyes of seeing red.
Stare intently at a red sheet of paper for 30 seconds of longer.
Then switch to staring at a white or black sheet. What do you
notice? On a color wheel, what color is exactly opposite of red?
Compare to the color you saw on the second sheet. Why do you
think this happens?
Shine a light through a prism,
creating a rainbow. Where in the rainbow does red appear? Top?
Bottom? Between which other colors?
What is meant by "infrared?"
Arrange to get a cow, pig or sheep heart from a butcher shop.
Dissect it. Not for the faint of heart. (Someone faints in the middle of the demonstration!)
Has the heart always been the "organ of love?"
In Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare, "True love,"
Orsino says, using a typically Elizabethan analogy, "lies
in one's liver, and a woman's love lies only on the tip of her
tongue."
What is Love? - A Scientific Perspective
Check out Wiki
Love...
Love is any of a number of emotions and experiences related to
a sense of strong affection or profound oneness.
Why is it important to talk about love?
Does everyone mean the same thing when they use the word love?
Is loving your mom the same as loving chocolate or your country?
Learn
how to say "I love you" in several different languages
Why do you think some cultures have one word for "love"
while others have very many? This is the scientific study called
linguistics or etymology, both valid sciences.
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