Heart Hunt Game

These are part of the wooden and acrylic Valentine’s Day Tic Tac Toe game you can find in the Target Dollar Spot this month.

I also imagine these amazing acrylic pieces featured in a sensory bin, or on a light table…

If you don’t have these game pieces, use any heart-shaped items you can find or create to play!

Skills Developed:

• Motor Skills (if picking up pieces by themselves)
• Reasoning/Concept Development including object permanence, the idea that an object continues to exist while out of sight
• Language Skills such as Preposition and Location (“over/under/behind/on/inside” + object naming)
• Social Skills i.e. expressing needs/emotions/requests

My little guy, Canyon, is still sound asleep napping. I have placed these cute acrylic hearts around the house, for us to find together when he awakens.

One game he LOVES to play with either his mom or myself, we invented one rainy Seattle day. We call it, simply:  “where’s the milk?” My or myself shows him the sign for milk, along with a puzzled look on my face, and the big question.  It’s also a great way to point out and name objects around the house. Milk in the sink? Milk on the table? Milk on the blanket? Technically, we are looking for his bottle, but he associates just fine! As soon as I sign the word, he begins to look around for it.

Today I will show him ASL for ‘heart’. Google depicts it verbally better than I:

Start at the top center of the heart. Version three: Instead of using the tips of the index fingers to draw a heart on your chest, use the tips of the middle fingers of modified “five” hands that have the middle fingers bent at the large knuckle.

Lifeprint.com shows images and more in depth understanding of the sign, for example:

The concept of “heart” can be expressed a couple of different ways in ASL.

A good general way is to poke your chest twice with the tip of the middle finger of  a modified “five” hand  that has the middle finger bent at the large knuckle.

If you just poke once using a somewhat larger movement it means “touched” as in “I was touched by his generosity.”

I plan on showing him a couple of the acrylic hearts I’ve set aside on his play mat, and we will examine them and say “heart” a few times. Then I will ask him where they are, and we will walk around the room to find the three I’ve hidden. If it’s anything like the milk game, he will make a cute little grunt and reach for the objects as soon as he sees them, reaching his arms out toward them.

I am excited to update back with how he did! He’s 8 months old and getting to be a great play partner; he is focused when we talk to him or read stories, and he is interested in hands-on and independent play, as well.

UPDATE: He did catch on to the concept of this game, and I plan on adapting it to fit different holiday/themes for preschool. Easy, mess-free and fun!