We made coffee filter hearts recently for an early learning craft project. They are really easy to make and turn out very colorful and look beautiful hung in windows.

You will need to have coffee filters ... paint daubers or markers ... and a spray bottle filled with water. We just used a small individual size bottle.

Children can free cut the hearts but I have also included a heart pattern that can be used as a cutting guide. The pattern can be printed on cardstock paper ... I printed it on color cardstock to make it easier to see. I folder the heart in half and also the coffee filter and then put the coffee filter inside the heart and cut around the heart pattern.

You will need to put something under the coffee filter before painting is started as the paint will soak through the filter. Children dab paint daubers  on the filter and then spray water over the paint. The paint will spread and blend. Let hearts dry before hanging. You can grab the patterns here and see a video of this project below.

I made a Heart Letter Cover for letter recognition and fine motor development. The patterns can be printed on cardstock or regular paper depending how you will be using them.

In this activity children pick a heart and then cover up the same letter on the mat. You can use playdough ... buttons ... or the cover-ups I have included with the mats.

In addition to the letter cover mats I have also include letter dab ... letter color ... and letter tracing sheets. We used round sponge brushes dipped in paint for the letter dab but you can also use bingo daubers. Crayons and colored pencils work great for the letter color and we also used colored pencils for the letter tracing sheets.

You can watch a video of this activity by clicking the image below. This activity is currently located in member's section which is also where I have added heart punch and clip.

I made a set of hearts that can be used for fine motor work.  I printed them on cardstock paper ... cut them out and laminated them. You will also need to have pony beads ... pipe cleaners ... and a hole puncher.

I punched a hole in each heart and attached a white pipe cleaner that I had cut down to four inches.  I also set a bowl of pony beads out that were the same colors at the hearts.

The children laced the matching color beads on to the pipe cleaners attached to the hearts.  If you did not want to use pipe cleaners you can just have the children place the pony beads on top of the hearts.

​fine motor hearts pattern

You can see a video of this activity by clicking below:
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Our room is filled with all kinds of hearts!!  The latest addition is our coffee filter hearts.  We helped those who needed it cut heart shapes out of coffee filters and then they colored them with markers.  We used just the regular crayola markers.

After the coffee filters were colored the children lightly sprayed water on the hearts which caused the colors to spread.  I lined the table with wax paper before the children sprayed the hearts with water and put the wet hearts on paper towels to dry.

I made penguin heart number cards for number recognition and review as well as fine motor development. I printed the patterns on cardstock paper ... cut them out and then laminated them.

There are a variety of ways the number cards can be used. We love to use them for match and clip activities. The children find the two penguin cards with the same numbers and then clip them together with a large plastic paper clip or a clothes pin.

Another activity we use the cards for is sequencing. We glue craft sticks on to the back of the cards and the children put the cards in numerical order. This can be made into a matching activity by making two sets of the penguin cards.

For identification i attach the cards to book rings. one set for the ones the children can identify and another for the ones they are still working on.

As of 2022 this activity can be found in the member's section which is also where I have added Penguin Heart Alphabet Cards.

Here is a heart match and clip activity for visual discrimination and fine motor development. I printed two copies the patterns on cardstock paper and cut them out. I then laminated them and put them in a basket with mini clothes pins that I found at michaels craft store.

I've included hearts with various patterns and solid colors for the children to match. In this activity children find the two hearts that are the same and clip them together.  Play continues until all hearts have been matched.

As of 2022 this activity can be found in the member's section which is also where I have added heart roll and cover.