Love Your Heart (Valentine's Day)

Learning Goal: Exercise and good nutrition are important for a healthy heart. The heart shape is a symbol of love.

• Reading= The Day It Rained Hearts by Felicia Bond, Millie Waits for the Mail by Alexander Steffensmeier and The Very Ugly Bug by Liz Pichon and The Busy Body Book by Lizzy Rockwell. Letter of the day= H is for heart.
• Art= Draw a picture of yourself then use red ink to stamp fingerprint hearts falling from the sky like rain. Or, provide hearts in a variety of sizes and colors. Make love bugs (ladybugs, butterflies and caterpillars) and animals by pasting heart shapes onto paper. Try adding googly eyes and fanned strips of paper for arms and legs.
  
• Science= Locate your heart and listen to it beating. Show a picture of your body’s circulatory system. (I recommend The Busy Body Book by Lizzy Rockwell.) Use a bike pump and squeezable water toy to demonstrate how a pump moves air and water. Similarly, the heart pumps blood through your body to give you energy. Test things that affect your heart rate (e.g., body size, rest and exercise). Who's heart beat is faster, yours or Mom's? Does your heart rate change after doing jumping jacks? Yes! Exercise makes your heart happy.
• Music= Exercise as you listen to Smetana’s The Bartered Bride. Stretch, do sit-ups, jump rope, climb stairs, run in place and pretend to ride a bike or go for a swim.
• Play= Wait for the mail carrier to arrive and surprise him or her with a frosted cookie or homemade valentine to express your thanks. Find the numbers on your house; match them to the address on the mail you receive. Decorate your mail box, or take a tour of your local post office.

Fun fact: The smaller an animal is, the faster its heart rate. The heart of an adult human will beat approximately 70 times a minute; an infant's heart will beat 130 times a minute.