CLEO'S VALENTINE SURPRISE (Episode 207b)

Cleo, with some help from K.C., goes overboard preparing a special gift for Clifford and T-bone. But when she doesn't get a big gift in return, she learns to recognize the joy in giving.

Clifford's Big Idea: Help Others

Objective:
By providing opportunities for self-expression through language and art, children can discover the many ways that they can share themselves with the special people around them that they love so dearly! The following activities nurture:

• social and emotional skills
• reading and language
• physical and motor skills

Storybook Suggestion

Clifford's First Valentine's Day by Norman Bridwell

In this heartwarming story, Emily Elizabeth remembers Clifford's first Valentine's Day. It's a fun walk down memory lane for Clifford fans, and the perfect story to help children begin connecting with their own feelings of being loved!

Heart Art!

Individual/Group - By engaging children in this fun dough art activity, they can experience the joy of giving someone special a piece of their own "heart art!"

Share with children that Valentine's Day is a special holiday, and that we enjoy giving "gifts of the heart" to those that we love!

• Materials - For a simple dough recipe: 2 cups flour, 1 cup salt, 1 cup water, red food coloring, wax paper, rolling pin, spatula, and a fine-tip permanent marker
  
  
• Directions - Combine the dough ingredients. Knead the dough until smooth. Demonstrate how to roll the dough into a ball the size of a small apple. With a rolling pin, roll out into a ½-inch-thick circle. With fingers, shape the edges of the dough into a heart shape. Use a spatula to place the heart on a non-stick cookie sheet. Cook at 200 degrees for approximately 2-3 hours. When the dough is cooled, use a marker to write a "lovely" message on the heart. Be sure to include the child's signature and the date!

Try this!
Before cooking, cut the dough heart into two jagged halves, one for the child and one for the child's special person! This will give each valentine a piece of "heart art" to keep and remember each other by. The dough can also be painted after baking.