Ideas for leftover candy hearts

I know how popular candy heart activities are in the days leading up to Valentine’s day, but I’m a huge fan of using them after the holiday is over.  For one thing, you can get them on clearance, and for another I always take full advantage of an opportunity to reflect and transition out of a holiday – otherwise it can be a bit of a let down for little ones who have spent so much time looking forward to the big event.

If you’ve already used your candy hearts for all of those fun printable activities that are out there, here are some different ideas that would be easy to create on your own:

• Use them for patterning
• Write the words that are on them
• Create mosaics with candy hearts, glue, and paper (and explore the science experiment that begins when the glue gets the candy hearts wet)
• Graph them
• Do a taste test and determine your favorite flavors
• Use them for counters in math games
• Make silly stories by stringing them together and filling in words
• Weigh and measure them
• Form letters, shapes, and names with them
• Experiment with freezing or dissolving them