I made this Valentine Bingo game a few years back for my son's preschool Valentine's Day party. This is a wonderful game for preschoolers to exercise their visual cognitive skills. It focuses on color (or pattern), shape, and size.

Step 1: Materials

I made mine out of craft foam, but it could be made using cardboard/paper or felt, too.

Step 2: Shapes

I cut the game boards out of craft foam, then used a black marker to draw out a grid of 16 squares. Size the squares to match the size of the heart or other shapes you choose. I happened to find a bucket of mixed heart shapes, so I didn't have to cut anything out myself. Yippee!

Step 3: Improvise

I needed 16 different shapes but the bucket only came with 12, so I drew smiley faces on a couple, and flipped over a couple of others. You could also use different Valentine-themed shapes. I positioned the shapes onto the cards and glued them in place, making sure each of the cards was arranged in a unique pattern.

Step 4: Sticks

Then I cut a small square of craft foam and glued it to a craft stick.

Step 5: Matching

I glued one of the shapes onto the front of the square of craft foam.

Step 6: Full Set

I repeated this for each of the shapes, until I had a 16 sticks with 16 different shapes.

Step 7: Play

To call a number, I blindly picked a stick and then showed the shape to the students. I helped them out a bit by asking them to notice the color, size and shape, assisting as necessary.

Step 8: Cover-ups

For cover-ups, we used blue foam hearts. You could also use candies or kisses or pennies or any other items.

Step 9: Party Time!

These were easy to make and worked wonderfully for their party. It was a quiet game that encouraged learning without them even knowing it. And we even offered simple prizes for the winners, which always makes it more fun!

Hope you like it! My preschoolers sure did!

To see more of my original tutorials, visit http://childmadetutorials.blogspot.com.