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Today is all about being gratitude and how we should try to be happy for others (and not envious)! It is also about how we can help make others feel loved by showing them gratitude. Scroll below to see all of my activity ideas for today. 🥰
Are you new to Valentine School 2024? No worries! You can learn more about it here and join our Valentine School FB group as well🙂 If you need to print out the Valentine School Calendar, scroll to the bottom of this post and pop your email in so I can send it to you!
Keep reading below for more about Love is Grateful Day!
Day #4. Love is Grateful Day!
Here is some of what we are planning to do on Thursday! 🙂 If you purchased the Valentine School bundle, there are discussion questions included for each day. I recommend reading those beforehand or while you’re waiting on an experiment or doing an art activity!
Activities
IMPORTANT NOTE: These printable activities will be FREE for you to download, but only until Love is Grateful Day is over! So, make sure to download them even if you are going to do Love is Grateful Day later in the week – that way you can still snag them for free. If you could leave a review behind afterwards, that would be amazing too! THANK YOU!! 🥰❤️
#1. Valentine Volcano Science Experiment
All you’ll need for this experiment is this worksheet, baking soda, vinegar, food coloring, vase or bottle, and a container. You could also add dish soap to make the volcano foamier and Valentine confetti (just for fun). Your kids could also use any Valentine stickers to decorate the vase/bottle.
You can use this experiment as a visual representation of how gratitude impacts us. Just like adding the vinegar to the baking soda in the bottle causes an overflowing explosion, when we add a grateful attitude to our lives, our hearts overflow with joy.
#2. Grateful Tree Fingerprint Heart Art
Your students can use this printable to paint a grateful tree! They’ll use their fingerprint to create “heart leaves”. Once the hearts are dry, students can use a black pen to write something or someone they are grateful for on each leaf. They could also just write near each heart, if they don’t want to write over their hearts. This printable comes with a short poem at the bottom or there is a blank option too. 🙂
#3. Make Some Gratitude Goggles
After reading or listening to, “The Gratitude Goggles”, have your kids create their own gratitude goggles using empty paper towel rolls. Paint, use stickers, add glitter, etc…just set out lots of craft supplies and let them get creative and see what they make!
Snack
We are going to make these strawberry volcanoes (to tie in with our science experiment today!). You just need strawberries, melting chocolate wafers, and whip cream. Dip the ends of the strawberries in the chocolate and let them set. Once they are hard, put some whipped cream on top. The runnier, the better! This actually looks more like a volcano the longer you leave it out, because the whipped cream will get a little foamier looking as it melts and drips down the strawberry.
Books
(Note: Everyone has different book standards! I highly suggest skimming through any books before reading them to your kids, just to make sure it aligns with your family values first) 🩷
Today we’ll be reading, “The Gratitude Goggles” by Andrea Mendoza-Vasconex and “The Gratitude Tree” by Sarah Deleon
If you were unable to grab these books from the library or store, here are some read aloud options on YouTube! I wasn’t able to find The Gratitude Tree on YouTube, but I found another read aloud option instead!
Do You Have Extra Time? Here Are Some Ideas/Videos!
Pick and choose any of the videos/activities below to learn more about kindness!
#1. Write a thank you note to someone and mail it! ❤️
#2. Would you like a little Bible lesson for today? This is a great video for that!
#3. This video combines movement with specific questions to get your kids thinking about what they are thankful for!
#4. Continuing the volcano theme today, here is a cute volcano tutorial for your kids to draw over at Art for Kids Hub!
I hope your kids enjoyed learning about gratitude today! 🩷 If you need to print out the Valentine Calendar still, drop your email below and I’ll send it right over!
PS: Check back soon for my blog post about Love is Humble Day!
