Valentines, a celebration in different parts of the world. San Valentín una celebracion del AMOR y la AMISTAD alrededor del mundo.
Valentine’s Day celebrations developed in early modern England and have spread throughout the world.
Valentine’s Day is celebrated in many countries on February 14. People exchange gifts, Valentine Cards and throw parties to celebrate LOVE and FRIENDSHIPS.
Our Valentine’s theme at schools, was friends and friendships/amigos y la amistad.
There were a variety of activities planned and the children enjoyed and had fun while learning important messages about friendships.
Below are some activities ideal for very young learners that you may carry out in English or Spanish:
During Circle Time introduce the theme with the help of posters. Tell children that in addition to their family members they have friends. Friends in school, friends in the neighborhood and maybe friends in other parts of the world.
Discuss the meaning of being a friend and the qualities they may have. Talk about the special things that make a good friend. • Friends care. • Friends share. • Friends look after each other. • Friends are nice. • Friends help. • Friends respect differences.
In order to emphasize these characteristics throughout the week or month I like the idea of preparing a bulletin board with a big heart, medium hearts and little hearts around. On the big heart write Friends are… On the medium hearts write each of the characteristics mentioned above. Leave the little hearts blank and explain to children that they can write the name of a friend when he/she is seen showing one of these characteristics. Then connect the medium hearts with the little hearts with colored yarn. Make sure you keep your eyes open and make every effort to include each child on the board. They must see that what they do is important and noticed and that they are trying to be good friends.
I suggest reading to the children lots of books about friends and friendships, such as the following from our collection. These are available in English or Spanish through our website www.languages4kidz.com or through Amazon.
BEARY MAKES NEW FRIENDS
OSI HACE NUEVOS AMIGOS
This is a story about friendship and the characteristics that make someone a friend. Join Osi an adorable bear as he makes new friends on his way home. Children explore concepts such as, respect, empathy, appreciation, sharing and caring while they learn new words.
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WE ARE GOOD FRIENDS
SOMOS BUENOS AMIGOS
This picture book celebrates the similarities and differences between two good friends and points out how these make each of them unique and special. The book also points out that even though we may be different in many ways we can be very good friends. We are good friends is a lovely book about respect, friendship and love.
ADVENTURES WITH MY FRIEND
AVENTURAS CON MI AMIGO
Fox and rabbit spend a day together going through different adventures. The book encourages children to explore basic action words. Easily written with simple sentences, it introduces young children to commonly used vocabulary.
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YOU SHINE!
¡BRILLARÁS!
This literature book has a simple story about a dinosaur named Little B. The characters, the words and the delightful illustrations help make this story engaging and easy for young children to follow. In this story the author wants to communicate to children the uniqueness of each person and the fact that there is always something that makes each of us special and be able to shine!
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You can also dedicate some time to carrying out some arts and crafts projects. You may want to search the internet for great ideas. I personally like Red Ted Art which has a bunch of easy and fun activities for toddlers and preschoolers. You may also want to check out our Pinterest board for more ideas.
I encourage you to sing to your children. Songs are children’s favorites and they are excellent tools for repetition when learning an additional language.
Following are two songs “Skinnamarinky” and the same song in Spanish “A la Bim-Bam-Bum” to tell kids “I love you” “Te quiero”. These are songs my kids and family have enjoyed, and I hope you will too!
