Real Conversation Hearts!

This is an awesome idea that would be great for just about any setting.  I could use it for a Valentine's Day party, FHE activity, preschool lesson, daily Feb activity, etc.....
From http://thisideaattic.blogspot.com

So, this Valentines I came up with "Real Conversation Hearts." None of this Hug Me, Be Mine mumbo jumbo...I mean how does that start a conversation?

Heart: Hug me.
Person: Okay.

Nice conversation.

Heart: Be Mine.
Person: Okay or No (in which a bad conversation will start)

So I cut out paper hearts and put real conversation starters on the back. Here are a few:

If you could meet anyone in the world who would it be and why?
If you could only eat one kind of food for the rest of your life, what kind of food would it be and why?
If dogs could talk, in which ways would the world be different?
If you could choose one talent that you could have and you'd be the best in world, what would it be and why?
Try to convince the family to go on your dream vacation this summer.
Describe the person on your left in 27 words.

You get the idea. I came up with a lot of story prompts in my post for a cheap quiet book (click here to remember). I used them for my conversation hearts since conversing is different than writing.

And since texting is the preferred method of communication among our youth, I think they are missing out on the art of conversation. Hopefully this can help.

Also, to add a little Va-Voom to my kids lunch, during Valentine's season, I use a cookie cutter to cut their sandwiches into hearts.

It makes it a little more exciting for them. Maybe I'll get one of those food markers and write Hug Me and Be Mine on their sandwiches.....hmmmm.

Valentine's Day FHE

Great Valentine's Day Family Home Evening activity!
(From http://thisideaattic.blogspot.com)

I'm betting on my family today...

With Valentine's, comes Love.

With Love, comes my Family.

So tonight's Family activity will be focusing on loving each other with these two:


For the game, we'll sit in a circle and everybody takes turn rolling the dice. 

One dice has things to do. Ours say: Blow a Kiss, Hug, Compliment, Handshake (I made up a fun handshake sequence we'll use), Chest Bump (a family favorite that gets everyone laughing), and Wish (which it helps to be specific when you tell them to say something you "wish" for that person so that your son doesn't say, "I WISH that she'd brush her teeth so her breath doesn't smell" - yes he said that while playing with this last night).

The other dice has pictures of each of us. That is the person who will receive the action you roll.

When we've played this game in the past, we've let the turns go around the circle several times until we've hit an obvious "time to stop now" moment. But the kids have always loved doing this. 

When we've done this before, we just used a regular dice and I've typed up who is what action is what number (i.e. one = hug, two = compliment and one = mom, two = dad, etc.).

For tonight, I'd thought I'd make our own dice. So I gathered these items:

(Can you see my Spice Cookie trying to get into the picture?)

* Wood Blocks
* Pictures for each person in the family
* Pencil
* Scissors
* Sayings/Actions
* Mod Podge
* brush

Because my blocks were so small (they're just a little bigger than 1 inch), I just placed my block over the picture and traced the square around each person and action. Then I cut with scissors. 



I then brushed my mod podge on the block, placed my picture on, then brushed more mod podge on. I didn't want to have to deal with corners matching up, so I cute my squares to be just a little bit smaller than the block. So you can see the edge of the blocks.

As soon as they were dry, my kids started playing. They love this. And it does help us to focus more on each other instead of a typical game where we're trying to beat each other...because I may or may not be competitive with my kids when we play games. 
Click HERE!