My book entitled THE BEANIE
INVASION has a section called "Lets Have A Beanie Party".
This section has been extremely popular. Many collectors sent
e-mail messages thanking me for ideas. School teachers love the
games, crafts and cooking ideas.
I taught Pre-School for almost 15 years, in this course of
time I saved a lot of reference material and even managed to come
up with a few good ideas of my own. I would like to share some
of my favorites with you, hopefully you will enjoy them with your
family.
Before I share my ideas with you, I would like to take this
time and explain why we celebrate Valentines Day.
St. Valentine was a priest from Rome in about the year 270
A.D. During this time frame the Roman Emperor was imprisoning
Christians for not believing in the Roman gods. St. Valentine
was arrested. It is not clear why he was arrested; many speculate
it was because he was performing marriages. Others claimed he
helped Christians escape from prison.
While in prison, St. Valentine continued to marry prisoners.
The Romans found out about Valentines activities and had him beheaded.
(John l5:13) "No one has greater love than this, to lay
down one's life for one's friends.
St. Valentine proved his love when he died for his friends.
This is a special kind of love we should remember during Valentines
Day.
VALENTINE SNACKS
Use your imagination and name your snacks. I use the gel for
writing on cakes. Why not name your snacks Valentino!!
Heart sandwiches
Make your child their favorite sandwich. Use a large heart
cookie cutter and cut out a heart shaped sandwich. Imagine their
surprise when they open their lunch box at school.
Heart Pancakes
Mix your normal recipe for pancakes. Use a Large heart shaped
cookie cutter and cut out heart pancakes. I always add strawberry
jelly with whipped cream on top. If you would like, place a heart
conversation piece of candy on top for decoration.
Heart Ice Cream Cookies
Make a batch of sugar cookies from your favorite recipe. Take
two cookies and scoop ice cream between them. Lightly brush them
with chocolate and cover lightly with sprinkles. Cover and freeze
for 30 minutes.
Hearts on a stick
Use small cookie cutters and cut different types of fruit
into heart shapes. Slide the fruit on a skewer and serve immediately.
For a extra added touch, offer dippings such as coconut, melted
chocolate, and jelly or jams.
Yogurt hearts on a stick
Use heart muffin pans and fill with your child's favorite
yogurt. Place pop- sickle stick in the middle of the filling.
Freeze for two (2) hours and serve.
Beverage for Sweethearts
Vanilla Cherry Ice Cream and Ginger Ale. Hmmmm, I can just
taste it.
Hand Shaped Heart Snacks
You will need the following ingredients.
1 Box of confectioner sugar
3 oz. of pudding - I like vanilla or pistachio
1/3 cup of light cream
½ stick of softened margarine
Mix confectioner sugar and pudding. Add cream and margarine. Mix
well. shape into hearts. Gently roll them into powered sugar,
jams, nuts, wheat germ, or what ever your heart desires.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Hearts
I use a popular name brand peanut butter. Flour your hands
lightly. Work with peanut butter to produce a heart shape. Roll
heart into melted chocolate. Hmmm - enjoy
VALENTINE GAMES - FOR THE YOUNG AND THE YOUNG AT HEART.
Heart guessing game
This is a fun game that can be played all day long. Place
conversation candy hearts into a small jar. As people visit and
kids stop by, ask for them to guess how many hearts are in the
jar. Who ever guesses the closest , gets the jar full of candy.
Heart drawing game
Give each child a piece of paper and a pencil. Ask the children
to draw as many hearts as they can without touching other hearts.
The one who draws the most hearts WINS!!
VALENTINE WORD SCRAMBLE
The following words have been scrambled. Find the word and
unscramble it. HAVE FUN!!!
LOVE, HEART, VALENTINE, VALENTINO, KISSES, FEBRUARY,
CARDS, CUPID, CHOCOLATES, ROSES
You will need the following items for this project.
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup of salt
1 Tbsp. Olive oil
1 cup of water
Mix salt, water and oil. Add flour. Mix together well. Roll
or pat dough until flat. Use heart cookie cutters to produce desired
shape. To prevent dough from cracking and drying out, wet finger
tips while working. Bake heart shapes at 325 degrees for one hour.
Let cool for approx. 20 minutes. Paint with markers or poster
paints. You can spray a clear varnish over your finished product.
Give a Valentino Heart to a Friend.
You will need a snap shoot picture of Valentino, construction
paper, doily, glue and scissors.
Make a heart out of construction paper. Place a doily in the
middle of the heart and then glue a picture of Valentino in the
middle. Watch your friends eyes POP.
Valentine Coupons
I always enjoy giving these to my children. You will need
small pieces of paper and a staple gun. Write out coupons and
staple them together like a book.
Coupon examples
This coupon is good for a BIG hug, This coupon is good for
a kiss, this coupon is good for a big smile, This coupon is good
for a cookie. Use your imagination and make your coupons according
to what your children like.
MS. JANIES FEBRUARY ALPHABET
Go through the alphabet starting with the letter A - ask your
children to say a word that starts with that letter and fits into
the month of February.
Example - This would be my February Alphabet.
A is for Admires
B is for Baked heart cookies
C is for Candy
D is for Diamonds
E is for Exchanging valentines
F is for Fabulous February
G is for Gifts for Valentines Day
H is for Hearts
I is for I Love You!
J is for Jolly
K is for Kisses
L is for Love
M is for Marriage - February is the most popular month to get married.
N is for Necklace with Heart pendent
O is for Objective
P is for Projects and patterns
Q is for Queen of Hearts
R is for Roses
S is for Sweethearts
T is for Traditional
U is for United
V is for Valentines Day
W is for Wonderfully in love
X is for XXX Kisses
Y is for Yours
Z is for Zest - I have a zest for life and BEANIES.
I hope you have enjoyed this Valentines segment.
This article was written on February 1, l998
By: Janie E. Daniels
