I work for headstart and we have a new set of rules that we must follow. now we cant have anything that has sugar or fat in it and i tried looking on line for something and haven't had much luck. i am looking for an easy cheap and universal activity to make for valentines day any suggestions??
I ended up going to the dollar store and each child got a stuffed animal and some bubbles. Then as a snack I served popcorn shaped hearts(almost like rice cakes) with juicy juice. For arts n crafts we made heart necklaces and decorated brown paper bags for all of the classroom to exchange thier valentine. thanks for all the great ideas.
Try watermelon. It's fun, it's pink, kids like it, and it's good for you. You'd have to get a big melon and slice it ahead of time. Then each child could try to make their slice heart-shaped, using plasic cookie cutters or even a plastic knife. You can sing watermelon songs http://www.preschooleducation.com/swatermelon.shtml and do something with any seeds you find (count them, glue them on some artwork, etc.) Good luck!
A.,
You can make jelly jigglers with sugar-free jello and cut them out in the shape of a heart. Or you could have cheese and crackers and cut out the cheese in the shape on a heart.(might have some fat though).
Good luck,
M
Try having the kids make heart fruit pizza on pita bread with no fat yogurt or no fat cream cheese. Cut the Pita with a heart cookie cutter, spread on yogurt or cream cheese and place sliced fruit on top. Strawberries would be great at this time of year.
Good luck.
Lots of times when you cut strawberries in half they are hearts so that might be a good idea.
...maybe do a bread baking activity where the kids can make heart shapes out of bread dough.
Maybe if cereal bars are ok, you could use cookie cutters to cut heart shapes out of the cereal bars??
That's tricky, but I guess a little encouraging that the kiddos won't be amped from all the sugar.
Good luck.
cookie cutter to make heart shaped sandwiches for lunch?
You could fill decorated cups with dried friut like apples and cranberries then use fun wrap and string, etc to decorate.
There are also recipes for muffins sweetened with apple sauce.
How many kids are in your class??? Have you ever dealt with clay? Since you cannot have sugar or fat, you could create clay hearts. The clay is very inexpensive and you can find it at Michaels or even Walmart. It could be a craft that you would do in pieces. The first day you would give each kid a ball of clay (you would need to kind of measure it out prior) and let them flatten it. Then take a heart shaped cookie cutter - I bet they have some at the Dollar Tree or in the dollar section at Target. OR they can shape like a heart themselves without the cutter. Anyway - once they have cut out their or molded their heart then it will have to dry and harden - overnight would be fine. Then they could decorate their heart with paint, or glue and glitter, or anything inexpensive you can get your hands on. Walmart has a GREAT creative section by the fabrics!
Anyway - depending on the number of kids, this could be a very inexpensive project that could take up a few days and doesn't include candy.
Have fun!
Sam
