Valentine’s Loose Parts Play

About once a week I like to set up some type of sensory play for the kids to engage in when the oldest comes home from kindergarten.  It’s a great way for them to play side-by-side while the kindergartner decompresses from school.

Last week they had lots of fun matching up the hearts in our Heart Sensory Bin.

This time around I wanted to try something a bit different from the usual bin , and I came up with this Valentine’s Loose Parts activity.   

It’s super simple and a fun Valentine’s Day activity for kids.

When I think of loose parts, I think of  little odds and ends that kids can use with their toys and just get creative.

There is no “right or wrong” way to play with loose parts.  Often these parts bring new life to old toys.

Valentine’s Day Loose Parts Activity

I used a divided container for our Valentine’s Day Loose Parts play.

In one section of the container I put in a handful of red plastic hearts that I picked up at the dollar store.

I filled another section with pom-poms we had in Valentine’s Day colors of red, pink, white, and a few purple.

The middle section I added a variety of beads and a battery operated tea light.

To keep the beads from rolling everywhere, I set the container on an old cookie sheet.

The first step, of course, was to carefully inspect all the treasures!  They both loved looking at the tea light through the plastic hearts…

Eventually the preschooler had some cars come and drive around the loose parts, carrying beads in the mini dump trucks and driving over the hearts.

After inspecting all her treasures, the kindergartner decided to count them all!  I loved how she turned it into a mini math lesson!

The little beads soon became treasures for her princess dolls, and the pom-poms made little pillows for them as they sat around the tea light campfire.  (I love listening to their stories unfold!)

They played for quite a while with their Valentine’s loose parts tray.

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• Valentine’s Day Sweet Shop Pretend Play
• 50+ Heart Crafts and Activities
• Cherry Explosion — Valentine’s Day Fizzy Science