Home Hot Topics Articles Directors' Choice Awards About Us / Contact Us Activities & Curriculum Activities for Outcome-Based Learning Arts & Crafts Music for Learning Recommended Reading Sharing Boards: What Do YOU Think? NEWSlink Current National News Conference Calendar Topics In Early Childhood Education Art and Creativity in Early Childhood Education Job Sharing Board State Licensing Requirements Stay Connected! We'll send you regular emails filled with articles and ideas for your classroom. Subscribe Now   ACTIVITY A Big Heart By Shelley Butler An Activity for Preschoolers Preschoolers are able to name body parts and understand their functions, but the heart is more complex, as we use it to talk about love and emotions. This activity allows a preschooler to learn more about what it means to have a big heart, to think about all the people whom they hold dear, and use creativity to express these ideas at the same time. Curriculum Area Social Emotional, Fine Motor Skills and Art Before You Start Ask children to bring in photos of their parents, siblings, grandparents, friends, neighbors, pets, or anyone that they love. Cut out a large heart for each toddler. Make a sample heart by creating a collage on the heart of things that you love which includes photos and lace or fabric. Let's Begin 1. Talk about the people that are important in our lives. Explain that we typically think of our heart as the place where we keep the love for these people. 2. Explain some of the many idioms that include the heart: • When someone says, "You are close to my heart," it means, "I love you." • When someone says, "You have stolen my heart," it means that you have fallen in love with or come to have great affection for another. • When someone says, “With all of my heart,” or “from the bottom of my heart," it means that they have deep feelings of love or gratitude. 3. Ask children to create a heart collage of people who are close to their hearts. First, children should cut out people or pets from the photos they brought, then glue them on to the heart, and finally decorate the heart by gluing bits of lace or fabric on it. Furthermore Proudly display or encourage children to bring them home as a special gift from the heart.   Large paper suitable for cutting and drawing Scissors Glue Pieces of ribbon, lace, or fabric Articles and activities listed on this website may be printed for single use. No article or activity may be duplicated or distributed in any form, in whole or in part, without permission from the publisher, Excelligence Learning Corporation. Contact Permissions Department.

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