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February and Valentine’s Day

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February and Valentine’s Day

Best Buddies blog

Best Buddies blog

The Month of Love

Valentine’s Day is a holiday that celebrates love and affection between people. Here are some fun Valentine’s Day facts for the whole family!

Valentine’s Day is celebrated on February 14th each year.

The holiday originated in ancient Rome, where it was known as Lupercalia and celebrated on February 15th.

Valentine’s Day is named after Saint Valentine, a Christian martyr who was executed for performing marriages for couples during a time when it was illegal.

The first Valentine’s Day greeting card was created in the 1400s and was given to a loved one by the Duke of Orleans.

In the United States, it is estimated that over 1 billion Valentine’s Day cards are sent each year.

Chocolate is a popular gift for Valentine’s Day, with approximately 58 million pounds of chocolate being sold in the week leading up to the holiday.

The heart is a symbol of Valentine’s Day, representing love and affection.

In some countries, such as Japan and South Korea, Valentine’s Day is celebrated differently than in the United States. Women give gifts to men, rather than the other way around.

More Things I Bet You Didn’t Know!

The oldest Valentine’s Day card still in existence was written in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London.

In the Middle Ages, people believed that the first bird a woman saw on Valentine’s Day would predict her future spouse.

The heart shape is often associated with Valentine’s Day because it was believed to be the organ that felt love in ancient times.

According to the National Retail Federation, Valentine’s Day is the second biggest holiday for giving greeting cards, after Christmas.

Billions of rands are spend on Valentine’s Day each year, with the average person spending around R250.

In Finland and Estonia, Valentine’s Day is known as “Friendship Day” and is a day to celebrate all types of relationships, not just romantic ones.

The most popular Valentine’s Day gifts are flowers, chocolates, and jewelry.

The love locks tradition, where couples attach a padlock to a bridge or other public place to symbolize their love, started in Italy and has spread to other countries as well.

Valentine’s Day is not just for romantic love – it can also be celebrated between friends and family members.

The colours traditionally associated with Valentine’s Day are red, pink, and white.

Ideas and Activities for Valentine’s Day:

Valentine’s Day is a special holiday celebrated on February 14th each year, where people express love and affection to those around them. It is a great opportunity for kindergarteners to learn about love, kindness, and friendship. Here are some ideas and activities for Valentine’s Day for your Buddy:

Valentine’s Day Cards:

 Encourage the children to create handmade Valentine’s Day cards for their classmates and friends. Provide them with art supplies like crayons, markers, stickers, glitter, and scrap paper, coloured papers and anything they can use to make their cards pretty.

Valentine’s Day Crafts:

Valentine’s Day crafts can be simple and fun for children. They can make heart-shaped paper chains, paint heart-shaped rocks, or create paper plate animals with heart-shaped features.

Snack Time:

For snack time, have heart-shaped cookies or fruit like strawberries or watermelon cut into heart shapes. You could also make pink or red cooldrink or fruit punch.

Dress Up and Play Games:

Encourage the children to dress up in pink, red, or white clothing. They could wear heart headbands or necklaces as well. Play simple games like pin the heart on the monster or Valentine’s Day bingo. Better yet, have a whole heart themed party where your Buddy can invite their friends and everyone brings a pink, white or red treat and dress up and play Valentine’s Day related games after doing a fun, easy, cheap craft.

Encouraging your Buddy to write nice notes to their teacher, helping each other out, and sharing their toys is a great opportunity to teach kids about love and kindness, and inspiring creativity.  Start off with Valentine’s Day as a way to spread compassion and then try to nudge them into being a kind and caring friend for the whole month of love and eventually…every day!

Now it is Recipe Time:

Surprise Cupcakes

Any regular-size cupcake or jumbo cupcake recipe will work for this Valentine surprise idea. You could change up the cake to your favorite cake whether it is red velvet cupcakes, dark chocolate cupcakes, strawberry cupcakes. They will all make great Valentine’s day cupcakes! The best sweet treats for February 14.

Ingredients

  • 1 box chocolate cake mix
  • 1 cup water
  • 1/2 cup oil
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 bag of conversation hearts
  • Pink frosting of your choice

Instructions

Step 1

Preheat the oven according to the box instructions (ours was 350 F).

Step 2

Proceed to make the cake according to the box instructions (ours used 1 cup water, 1/2 cup oil, and 3 large eggs).

Step 3

Fill cupcake liners half-way with batter and bake according to box instructions. Cool completely.

Step 4

Using a serrated knife, carefully cut a well out of the top of each cupcake. Fill with conversation hearts and gently place the top back on the cupcake.

Step 5

Frost as desired (we used ready-made pink frosting and a star tip).

Step 6

Top with a conversation heart. Serve. The secret is all the heart candies in the middle of your cupcakes. Your Buddy will love asking  you to read each one out loud that they got inside their special message cake!

 

Thank you for your support. I hope you like reading my blogs as much as I love writing them! Join me again next month for more kindergarten titbits:)

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Lizl is our friendly Administration Assistant and helps in the Penguins Class. Without this wonderful Best Buddies team-member , daily tasks would become a challenge.

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Cubs Class

Ages: 3 months - 1 year

In the Cub Class your baby will be stimulated according to his /
her age and according to your preferred schedule. There will be
ample time for sleeping, socializing and exploring this new and
wonderful world your baby is still adapting to.

Our environment is secure, kept clean and sanitized throughout
and will provide your little one with the utmost comfort.

Activities offered

• Tummy time play
• Sensory bottles and sensory bags
• Textured hula-hoops
• Ball pit
• Educational Toys
• Story time
• Music ring

Fees

Non-Refundable registration fee of R400
Deposit equal to one month of R2000
Monthly fee of R2000

Parents to Supply

  • Nappies.
  • Formula & bottles if applicable.
  • 1x complete set of clean clothes

Bunnies Class

Ages: 2 -3 years

In the Bunnies Class we provide an emotionally supportive
environment to optimize your child’s full potential. We strongly
focus on each child’s physical, socio-emotional, cognitive and
motor development needs while strengthening their
independence and communication skills.

Activities offered

 Class lesson and art activity according to weekly theme
• Free play (Indoor & outdoor)
• Educational Toys
• Story time
• Music ring
• Extramural activities offered: Manners for Minors / Playball / Karate / Dancing

Fees

Non-Refundable registration fee of R400
Deposit equal to one month of R3500 / R2500
Monthly Fee of R3500 full day / R2500 half day.

Parents to Supply

A bottle with water/ juice/milk according to your child’s preference
Comfort toy if applicable.
1x complete set of clean clothes