Valentine’s Day Counting & Tracing Puzzles for Preschoolers
Affiliate Disclosure: “This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase using those links.”
These FREE Valentine’s Day Counting and Tracing Puzzles will allow you to provide your preschoolers with a combined Math and Pre-writing activity, perfect for February.
This Valentine’s Day Math and Tracing Puzzles set includes six sheets with two puzzles each, using the numbers 0 to 10. The last card is blank so you can add as many numbers as possible. You can download it at the end of the post.
Importance of Developing Counting and Pre-writing Skills
Your preschoolers must develop counting and tracing skills to create a solid foundation for their academic success in the future, especially in math and literacy, and improve their fine motor and cognitive development.
Counting Skills
Developing counting skills is essential to set up the foundation that will allow your preschoolers to:
- Understand the meaning of numbers, the order in which they go, and the quantities they represent.
- Develop an understanding of how numbers work and the ability to compare quantities.
- Learn numbers, names, and sequences (language), and enhance their cognitive development by understating the relationship between numbers and objects and one-to-one correspondence.
- Develop their problem-solving abilities, allowing the children to apply this knowledge to everyday problems such as counting money, understanding sizes, or figuring out how many blocks they need to add to build a tall tower.
Tracing Skills
One of the crucial skills that preschoolers need to develop cognitive development, literacy, and fine motor skills is the ability to trace because it will allow your preschoolers to:
- Get familiar with the way letters and numbers are shaped.
- Recognize and write their names and other words.
- Develop pre-writing skills by improving their hand-eye coordination, pencil grasp, and movement control to write letters and numbers.
- Improve their spatial awareness, concentration, and focus.
- Recognize patterns and shapes.
- Develop literacy skills by understanding and recognizing letters and numbers.
- Get encouraged to learn and explore.
Also, when you provide your students with fun activities that help them develop all these skills, you boost their confidence, making them proud of their accomplishments. If you also add different tracing materials and themes, it also develops their creativity.
Valentine’s Day Counting and Tracing Puzzles
These Valentine’s Day Counting and Tracing Puzzles are designed taking into consideration the different levels that your children might be in by making them available for you to divide them into two or three parts:
- One part includes the object in the amount of the accompanying number.
- One part has the written numeral according to the number of objects in a dotted font that preschoolers can trace.
- One part has the written number word in solid and dotted forms.
If your children start recognizing numerals and numbers in their written form, you can divide them into three parts. For children who do not recognize the written word but just the numeral, you have to keep that part intact and not cut it.
These puzzles can be used in many ways, such as:
- Small group activity.
- Math center option.
- Writing center option.
- Take-home activity.
- Quiet area option.
How to Get the Puzzles Ready
To get these low-prep puzzles ready, you will need a handful of materials, such as:
Print each page using white cardstock. Cut out the cards on the dotted lines and laminate them to make them last longer. I suggest making several copies, cutting the puzzles into two or three parts, according to your children’s needs, and having the children work on these puzzles as an individual activity or with a partner.
At the end of the month, you can put your puzzles in a small Ziploc bag and store them in a pencil box or binder for the following year so you can have them ready for many Valentine’s months in the future.
Before you place the mats in the different centers, it is recommended that you introduce them to your preschoolers first. Circle time might be the perfect time to do this. There is no point in placing these puzzles in centers if they don’t know how to use them first.
An excellent way to do this is by:
- Introducing the puzzles to the children and discussing each part and the different characteristics of each section.
- Talking about small and large numbers, such as number 3, which has fewer pictures than number 8 because it is smaller.
- Explaining that they have to point and count out loud the pictures on each part, find the number that goes with it to put the parts together, find the written word for that number to put all the parts together, and trace the numbers and number words.
I recommend observing your children when they are working on these puzzles to monitor their progress and take notes about what numbers and number words they recognize and how well they count. This will allow you to build on that and help the ones who don’t remember all of them.
Extension Activities
I suggest adding different Valentine’s Day-related activities to your centers to increase the possibilities and keep your preschoolers motivated and engaged. If you don’t want to use many simultaneously, use one or two different ones daily.
Some ways to do this are:
- Add manipulatives such as heart mini erasers, red hearts acrylic gems, buttons, pom-poms, or other small items, and have the children match each number with the same amount of objects.
- Have the children trace the numbers and number words using dry-erase markers.
- Have them copy the same with pencils, crayons, or markers.
- Match each number with magnetic, foam, or wooden numbers.
- Provide copies of the pages, have your preschoolers cut out the cards, and glue them back together on a piece of construction or regular paper.
- Draw the pictures.
- Mix them with other Valentine’s Day activities such as Valentine’s Animal Letter Match, Valentine’s Bears Counting Mats, Valentine’s Beginning Sound Clip Cards, Valentine’s Day Bingo, Valentine’s Day Find the Letter activities, Valentine’s Day Memory Game, Valentine’s Day Math Puzzles, Valentine’s Day Word Wall Cards, Valentine’s Day Tracing activities, Valentine’s Day Beginning Sounds, and Heart Letter Match activities. They all come with FREE printables for you to grab.
Benefits of These Puzzles
These puzzles will allow preschoolers to practice:
- Counting abilities (counting the objects).
- Number recognition (identifying the number that matches the number of objects).
- Fine motor development (putting the pieces of the puzzles together).
- Hand-eye coordination and control (placing the correct pieces in the right place).
- Concentration skills (focusing on the different tasks).
- Language development (naming the numeral and identifying the written name).
Valentine’s Day-related Story Books
As usual, I suggest that you never forget books. They are magical instruments for your children’s inspiration, imagination, and learning. Most importantly, reading books is a fun activity every child loves.
Here are some examples to get you started. You can find these books at your local library, used bookstore, and on Amazon. If you want to purchase some, my affiliate links embedded in the titles will take you to the right page in seconds.
- How to Catch a Loveosaurus by Alice Walstead Blending exciting traps and STEAM concepts with hilarity and chaos to encourage reading, learning, and imagination, tell the story about how the kids are on the chase again, this time to trap a dinosaur that escaped from the museum and wants to spread love and kindness.
- Dr. Seuss Lovey Things uses the signature Dr. Seuss rhyme, featuring how Thing One and Thing Two are about sharing, caring, smiling, hugging, and blowing kisses.
- The Littlest Valentine by Brandi Dougherty tells the story of Emma, the littlest in the Valentine family. Still, she knows that she has what it takes to help the family business prepare for the holiday.
- Little Blue’s Truck Valentines by Alice Schertle tells how Little Blue Truck delivers Valentine’s Day cards to all his farm animal friends.
- There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Rose by Lucille Colandro uses rhyming text and hilarious illustrations to tell how The Old Lady is swallowing a rose, some lace, some glitter, and more…to make a special gift for her Valentine!
- Pete the Cat: Valentine’s Day is Cool by James Dean is about when Pete the Cat realizes how much fun Valentine’s Day can be, and he decides to make Valentine cards for his family and friends.
- Happy Valentine’s Day, Mouse! by Laura Numeroff uses his signature character, Mouse, as he makes valentines for all his friends, representing what he loves most about each of his friends.
Pin It For Later
If you’re in a rush and don’t have time to read the post and download the printable but want to save it later, pin it to your Math, Writing, or Valentine’s Day board on Pinterest.
Don’t forget to get your FREE printable. Just click on the link below for an immediate download.
I hope you and your preschoolers enjoy these puzzles and they help you make your lesson planning a little easier.
Be happy, safe, and creative. I wish you well.
Love,
P.S. Please let me know how these puzzles work for you. I am very interested in your advice, to improve the ideas and printables I offer.
