Valentine’s Day holds a special place in my heart. My most memorable Valentine’s Day was spent walking the cobble stone streets of Florence, Italy. It was during our second year of marriage and I was studying Interior Design in the ancient city. We found the most wonderful chocolate shop in Piazza della Signoria where we indulged in fine dark chocolate. After, we stopped by a flower stand in Piazza della Repubblica and hand-picked the most gorgeous bouquet for our tiny studio apartment.
Our Valentine’s Day looks a little different these days. We typically spend it with the kids and we make crafty, heart shape decorations. We celebrate our family love and how lucky we are to have each other. Love is a marvelous gift and I never take it for granted. This Valentine’s Day, I prepared a little surprise for the two little boys in my life. All of these trays were made with Dollar Tree purchases mixed with items I already had. I think I spent $7.00 total for all of the materials.
^Sorting Hearts by Color [hearts and plastic sorting tray from Dollar Tree, wooden tray is the lid to an Ikea box, purple bowl is from the boys' play kitchen.]
^Tonging Red Plastic Hearts [toy muffin and loaf pan from boys' play kitchen, hearts from Dollar Tree, sugar cube tong from Crate and Barrel and tray is a lid of a gift box.]
^Pin Punching Hearts [I traced a heart-shaped cookie cutter on sheets of Dollar Tree foam pages, the "pin" is a cupcake pick from a cupcake decorating set at Dollar Tree. It seems like a safer alternative to a sharp pin. Also, I get to use the leftover picks in a Valentine's Day themed bento box lunch. The tray is a lid to a wood Ikea box.]
^Hanging Hearts on a Tree [I purchased this last year from Joann's. We also use this tree during the year. When one of us does something nice for someone else, they get to hang a heart on the tree and we watch it get filled with "love". The tray is a gift box.]
^Lacing a Heart [I cut a heart out of the DT foam page and punched holes with a hole puncher. The tin bowl is from the boys' play kitchen and I used red and white twine with scotch tape wrapped around the ends to prevent unraveling. The tray is a cardboard lid.]
^Creating Self Designed Patterns Using Stamps [The stamps and ink pad came in a set at Dollar Tree, I cut strips of paper and wrote types of patterns on them (ie: AB, AAB, ABB, ABC), the bowl is from the boys' play kitchen.]
^Pouring Plastic Hearts [This is a wonderful work for small children. The hearts are the same Dollar Tree ones used in the tonging tray and I re-used a Tupperware bowl and tin pitcher from the boys' play kitchen. The tray is another lid to a wood Ikea box.]
^Threading Heart Beads on a Shoelace [The beads are from the craft section at Dollar Tree, the shoelace is from the Melissa and Doug Shoe Tying Toy, the bowl is from Target's dollar section and the tray is a cardboard box lid.]
^Tying a Bow [This work is recycled from our 12 Days of Christmas Montessori Trays. I changed out the ribbon to a pink one.]
^”Send a Valentine” Mail Center [I'm re-using our writing utensil caddy from Target's dollar section. I also found the adorable little mailbox tin in Target's dollar section last week. I hand-cut hearts out of cardstock for us to decorate for each other and leave them in the mailbox.]
So, what do you think about the Valentine Themed trays. The boys haven’t seen them yet so I’ll keep you posted on which ones are the most successful. Do you have plans for Valentine’s Day trays? What are you dreaming up? I’d love to hear all about it.
Lovely! I am new to Montessori and am implementing trays into our day, how long should specific themed trays be out on the shelves without changing them? Like the ones above, would you leave them out for a week or longer?
Bethany, in my expirience, it takes about 3-4 weeks to really let the kids work before they seem ready for change. I personally tried to switc every week, but it was too much. The kids didnt really get a chance to really work on the trays. Plus it was just too hard to get it all done for me! Have fun! :)
Hey Bethany. Welcome to Montessori. I hope you love it as much as I do. I’m surprising the boys with the trays on Thursday (when we get back from vacation). They’ll work on them until 2/15 so that’s 3 weeks. I think a month is good for themed trays. Plus, you don’t need to do themed trays all of the time. Get a standard set of trays that you have out all of the time and add some fun themed ones every once in awhile. Make it easy on yourself and you’ll enjoy Montessori more. Good luck! And ask as many questions as you need to. The online Montessori community is fantastic.
Lori these are simply awesome! You are super mom! It is really getting me into the spirit of things! Happy Schooling!
I love your ideas! I hadn’t thought of the pin punching, although I’ve heard it used over and over and I also really like the valentines with the mailbox – I almost bought one myself at Target and couldn’t think of a good reason to use it, so I put it back – now I’m going to have to go back and get it! :)
Hey Amy, I’m sorry it took me so long to respond. We’ve been sick, sick, sick over here. Thanks for your sweet compliment. Did you end up going back to buy the mailbox?