Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, February 1, 2017
A7
FEBRUARY 2017
Valentine’s Day is celebrated on February 14th
every year. It is a day to display affection.
People send cards, called valentines, to their
friends, family, and loved ones. Verses on
valentines often rhyme and express love and
affection. Sometimes valentines contain
humorous pictures or puns - but almost all ask,
“Be My Valentine.”
Valentine’s Day falls on the feast day of two
different Christian martyrs named Valentine.
The customs of Valentine’s Day has nothing to
do with the lives of the saints. It is believed
that the customs come from an ancient Roman
festival called Lupercalia, which took place
every February 15. The festival honored Juno, the Roman goddess of women and
marriage - and Pan, the god of nature.
Cut out red, white, blue, yellow and green paper hearts of all shapes and sizes, then cut
each heart into four pieces and scatter these all over the room, on the floor, chairs, tables,
behind pictures, etc.
Allow a certain length of time for the hunt, and when all the pieces have been collected,
request each child to put his pieces together and see how
many whole hearts of the same color he has collected.
• White hearts count 1
• Blue hearts count 2
• Yellow hearts count 3
• Green hearts count 4
• Red hearts count 5
The one scoring the greatest number of points is the winner of
hearts and deserves a prize. A booby prize may be awarded
the one who has only broken hearts.
Initial Compliments
Write the name of each of your children (and adults and family members) on a heart shaped
piece of paper. Have each child draw a name. One at a time children go to the person they
have drawn and give them a compliment. For older children, every word of the compliment
begins with the first letter of the child’s name they have drawn.
Kids love to create crafts and Valentine’s Day is no exception. Construction paper is a useful
tool for making Valentine’s Day crafts that kids will enjoy creating and family members will
enjoy receiving.
Start with a pad of construction paper. Make sure that
you have a pad of white sheets, red sheets, and
multicolored paper.
The obvious first project is paper hearts. Kids can use
safety scissors to cut out heart tracings. They can draw
big and small hearts out of red and white sheets of
construction paper. A variety of scissors can be used to
cut out some of the hearts and give them a unique
edged design.
Red, white, and pink are the usual colors of
Valentine’s Day but don’t object if the kids want to
use other colors as well. They are being creative and
creativity should be encouraged. A purple or green
heart will be made with just as much love as a red one.
Kids can use large stencils to make letters that spell out Happy Valentine’s Day. Each letter is
made out of construction paper and can be any color that the kids wish it to be. When they
are done cutting out the letters they can glue them to a string of yarn and make a banner.
Add a little glitter or stickers to make the letters stand out even more. You can display their
handiwork in a doorway or on the living room wall.
What else can kids use construction paper for? They can decorate other items for Valentine’s
Day. Adding a few tiny pieces of red or pink construction paper to a vase or picture frame can
turn it into a special gift with a love theme.
Construction paper along with some love stamps can create feel-good buttons for the entire
family to wear for Valentine’s Day. The kids can stamp to their hearts content and then cut
out shapes around the designs to give to family and classmates. A piece of rolled tape or a
small safety pin can fix the “love button”to any shirt or jacket.
Construction paper doesn’t cost much and it is a wonderful way for kids to have fun at
Valentine’s Day. With simple items found around the house like construction paper, crayons,
markers and scissors, crafts are easy to make at a moment’s notice.
A healthy twist on a favorite kids’ dessert–Greek yogurt
(plain or vanilla), heart-shaped strawberries and dark
chocolate shavings for ice cream, chocolate sauce and a
maraschino cherry. To make the shavings, use a
chocolate bar and a carrot peeler. This would make a
perfect item for a breakfast party or at any time of day.
You can do a make-your-own version: Slice the bananas
for the kids, then provide the toppings in bowls. For
extra toppings, try slivered almonds, granola or natural
pink sprinkles.
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