Looking for ways to use up leftover valentine candy hearts? Here's a cute Valentine craft and snack that teaches math using Valentine's Day Necco Sweetheart conversation hearts. They're an edible flashcards to help children practice counting and other mathematics skills.Counting Hearts Cookies
You'll need 55 candy hearts per child and a roll of sugar cookie dough (enough for 10 cookies per child). Let children slice their dough logs into circles. This provides fine motor practice and eye-hand coordination. Talk about shapes as they cut; discuss geometry, circles, cylinders. Have children think of other round and tube-shaped objects. Make a list. Children can write it down in math journals or illustrate later.
Next have children divide candies per circle. Place 1-10 candy hearts per cookie, so each cookie has a different number of hearts. Count as you go. You might have to spread the 10-heart cookie thinner to get them all on.
When baked, use cookies as flashcards. Play counting and adding games. Say "show me three hearts." Or how many is "two hearts plus five hearts?" Let kids eat number cookies on the hour. Eat the 1 cookie at 1 pm, 2 at 2 pm. You can use these Valentine counting heart cookies in any number of ways.
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