Rainbow Paint Sticks

So I saw an idea similar to this on Pinterest and just had to make my own twist on it.  To make the stick, I hot glued wooden clothespins to a long shim. I glued them approximately every 2". I added some blue duct tape to give an easy to hold/clean handle.  I also wrote the color words along each clothespins. 

Here is the final product:

I was pretty excited to try them in my classroom. They were quite messy to load, but the kids had so much fun with them and everyone loved the way their very unique picture turned out. Overall, the kids didn't get too messy. I highly recommend trying it soon!

Minute to Win It Valentine's Games

These are all variations of standard Minute to Win it games.  For the catapult, I made four of THESE (click for the link) and they held up pretty well for just being popsicle sticks and hot glue.  You can download cute instructions HERE.

Minute-to-Win-It
Conversation Heart Candy Games

Straw Hearts
Materials:
 1 straw per student
 conversation hearts
 paper plates
Using a clean straw, player sucks a conversation heart onto the end and transfers it from one plate to another.
How many can you move in a minute?
Heart Relay
Materials:
 4 plastic cups
 conversation hearts
 2 spoons
Place two full cups of conversation hearts on the floor, and place two empty cups a few feet away. Divide the class into 2 teams. Each team is given one minute to move the hearts from the full cup to the empty cup using a spoon.
Stack Attack
Materials:
 conversation hearts
 paper plates
How many hearts can you stack on top of each other in one minute? If they fall–start again until time is up.
Sticky Hearts
Materials:
 1 popsicle stick per student
(regular or jumbo)
 conversation hearts
Players carry a conversation heart on the end of a popsicle stick in their mouth. (OR carry stick in hand). Can the entire class travel from one side of the room to the other without dropping hearts?
Separation Anxiety
Materials:
 conversation hearts
 colored paper hearts
With one hand held behind his/her back, players separate a plate of conversation hearts by color. (i.e. place pink hearts on pink paper, yellow hearts on yellow paper) Can you separate them all within one minute?
Heart Catapult
Materials:
 conversation hearts
 catapult
 paper heart
Students take turns launching a conversation heart at a paper heart target (place on the floor). Can you get your heart to land right on the target?
Pick-Up Hearts
Materials:
 conversation hearts
 chopsticks, 1 set per player
 paper plates, 2 per team
Give each team two paper plates – one full of hearts, the other empty. Using chopsticks, players move as many candies as they can from one plate to the other in one minute.
Raining Hearts
Materials:
 conversation hearts
 Valentine box tied to scarf
Choose four players to begin. Tie Valentine boxes around waist. Place equal amount of conversation hearts inside each box. Give the players’ one minute to shake, jump, wiggle the hearts out onto the floor without using hands.



Graphic from http://www.mycutegraphics.com/