Kids seem to learn so much more when they are having fun. Conversation Hearts are everywhere this time of year. Why not use them for teaching? Kids will enjoy knowing there is a sweet treat at the end of the lesson. Here are 5 fun ways to teach with Conversation Hearts.
Colors – A very basic lesson on colors can be taught using Conversation Hearts. They come in all the fun colors of the season: yellow, purple, pink, orange, green and white.
Counting – Toddlers and preschoolers will have fun learning to count with the sweet, colorful little hearts. Pull out a piece of paper and a pencil to use the Conversation hearts to teach basic addition and subtraction skills.
Reading – Each heart contains a sweet Valentine’s Day message that can be used to learn reading. “Be Mine” “Sweet Pea” and “Love You” are just a few of the phrases children can learn.
Use hearts to teach consenants and vowels. Choose two different color hearts, one to represent consenants and the other to represent vowels. For example, pink represents consenants and yellow for the vowels. Write out a simple word such as “dog”, then have your child lay out the hearts for each letter. In this case the pattern would would be pink, yellow, pink. This a great activity for more visual learners.
Conversation Hearts Mad Libs – Help your child write out a short story, leaving several blank spaces for words, much like you would see in Mad Libs. The sillier the better for this project. Once your story is written have your child choose random hearts and place them in the blank spaces, phrase side up. Then read the story, only this time fill in the blanks with the words on each heart. It never really makes any sense, but that’s what’s so fun about it! You can also find printable Valentine Mad Libs at Classroom Jr.
Conversation Heart Bingo Game – I found a fun site with free printable Bingo cards, specifically designed for use with Conversation Hearts. Check it out! It’s really fun! You can also use this Free Bingo Card Generator to create your own Bingo cards.
Science Projects – Inspirational Laboratories has some cool science experiments using… you guessed it – Conversation Hearts! The Dancing Hearts experiment uses ingredients you already have in your cupboard, and the Dissolving Hearts science experiment comes with a printable data sheet.
Learning can be fun! I hope you and your child enjoy these activities.
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What a bunch of fun ideas! I will have to remember these for next year’s Valentine’s Day. Thanks so much for sharing!
This is a great idea. Luckily I still have a couple of bags in the pantry closet and I will ‘play’ with my granddaughter when she comes over next time. Very clever ideas.
Great idea. There’s even conversation hearts you can write your own message on. I thought about using those to help teach Spanish.
Great idea I only would have thought of counting them or teaching them the colors with these hearts. The kids can have to fun afterward by eating the lesson so to speak LOL
I love this ideas – I am sorry I do not have any conversation hearts right now but I think I will do the colors and counting with M&Ms.
I see all the wonderful possibilities in teaching colors, counting , reading and enjoying bingo. I would, however, add the opportunity to promote and teach sharing.
I’ve never ever liked actually eating conversation hearts, but I love them because they are so darn cute. Good idea here.