Patterning with hugs and kisses

Celebrate Valentine’s day with this fun patterning activity!

We recently highlighted the letter Kk and since Valentine’s day is coming soon, we thought it would be fun to sneak in the letter K and Valentine’s day with a few hugs and KISSES…

Patterning with hugs and kisses by Teach Preschool

Introducing a Story

To start off our day filled with hugs and kisses, we read the hilarious book “Dinosaur Kisses” by David Ezra Stein…

Hugs and kisses Tic Tac Toe by Teach Preschool

“Dinosaur Kisses” is about a little dinosaur who sets out on a journey to learn how to properly kiss someone.  Only he gets it all wrong. He chomps, stomps, butts heads, and even eats someone when he tries to give a kiss. In the end, he makes a friend that is just like him and decides his version of kissing is more fun…

Hugs and kisses Tic Tac Toe by Teach Preschool

Expanding on the Story

We used this book as a segue into our discussion on hugs and kisses or “X’s” and “O’s” with our pre-k children.  Deborah found this great set of hugs and kisses table scatter at Target or Wal-Mart a few years ago.  But this activity could easily be done with cereal, beads, or pasta of some sort.  Surprisingly, most of our children already knew that X’s and O’s commonly stand for hugs and kisses. But for those who didn’t, we did explain that O’s stand for hugs and X’s stand for kisses.  We brought out our X’s and O’s, along with our small felt boards to explore some patterns.  Each child got their own felt board and a small pile of X’s and O’s.  First the children sorted the X’s and O’x into two piles…

Hugs and Kisses Tic Tac Toe by Teach Preschool

Counting with X’s and O’s

Then each child counted up the number of X’s and O’s that they had in each pile.  We compared which of their piles had more or less.  And we talked about which child had the most or the least…

Patterning with Hugs and Kisses by Teach Preschool

Patterning with X’s and O’s

The children then went to work on creating a pattern with their X’s and O’s…

Patterning with Hugs and Kisses by Teach Preschool

Sharing our Patterns

When working as a class on something like patterns, we always take time to go around the room so that we can listen to everyone’s patterns…

Patterning with Hugs and Kisses by Teach Preschool

We always start out with a simple AB pattern, or in this case, XO pattern and work our way up to something more challenging.  This was such a fun way to talk about hugs and kisses!  And in the end, we all agreed that these hugs and kisses were MUCH better than dinosaur kisses…

Patterning with Hugs and Kisses

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Deborah J Stewart

Deborah J Stewart

Every time I think I know everything I need to know about teaching young children, God says, "Hold on a minute!" and gives me a new challenge.

Let me tell ya...

With each new challenge that you overcome, you will find yourself better equipped and more passionate about teaching young children.

God didn't call wimps to lead, teach, or care for His children. Nope, he has high expectations, so get ready. You will have to give your very best but after teaching for over 30 years, I can tell you that it is a wonderful and rewarding journey.

Whenever your calling feels hard, just remember, 'He who began a good work in you (and in the children you serve) will be faithful to complete it.'

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