Valentine's Treasure Dig

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This Valentine’s Treasure Dig is great for sensory play! The kids will love using their fine motor skills to find all the treasures that are hidden!

My little guy N loves simple sensory activities! Rice is a particular favorite. He actually did his first activity with rice when he wasn’t even 6 months old yet! {Check out the post, it’s super cute 🙂 }

This time, in preparation for Valentine’s Day, I set up a simple Valentine’s Treasure Dig in a box full of rice for him!

It’s a simple activity that just takes a few moments to set up. But the end result? Hours of fun playing that will have them being creative and excited!

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Valentine’s Treasure Dig

Keep in mind that this fun activity is great for early learners but it can also be used during other times of the year, too. All that it really comes down to is that you just change out the materials that you’re putting into the sensory bin.

I do this for pretty much all holidays and it’s always a huge hit with the kids!

Materials for Valentine’s Treasure Dig:

Just gather up the list of simple materials needed for this sensory activity for kids. It’s just as simple as that!

Rice.
Jumbo tweezers.
Small Valentine’s themed items. We used foam heart stickers, Valentine’s erasers, gold coins, a paper straw, a hearts necklace, pipe cleaners, and more. Anything you have on hand and that you’re comfortable with giving to a toddler under supervision works great!
Shoebox sized storage bin. {I like to keep the sensory bin smaller for young toddlers, and these shoe boxes are perfect for us.}
Shower liner (optional).

It was very easy to set up this activity. It didn’t take N long to come over and take a look, either 😉

To peak his interest, I’d placed some of the items on top of the rice and lightly covered the rest of them.

He really liked the tweezers! It was the first time I offered them to him, and he spent a lot of time exploring them. It wasn’t easy for him to actually pick up the items, but he kept trying.

The heart necklace was another favorite! You can even have the kids find fun items that they want to put into the sensory box as well! This will have them being helpers in their own learning activities which is always a lot of fun!

N took his time picking all of the items out of the rice and inspecting all of them. Most of them weren’t familiar to him yet.

I’d actually given N two sensory bins for this activity to encourage him not to dump the rice on the shower liner he was playing on. It didn’t really work out that way, but N did enjoy transferring items and rice from one box to the other and back 🙂

If you’re looking for more sensory activities using rice, check out 10 Simple Sensory Bins with Rice!

15 Valentine’s Day Toddler Activities includes many other awesome ideas for seasonal sensory play, crafts, and more!

Recommended Valentine’s Day Books

Make certain to check out these great Valentine’s Day books for kids. Working on their reading skills during this time is a great way to tie in another fun learning activity, too.

V is for Valentine The Valentine Express I Love You, Snugglesaurus! (Made with Love)The Perfect Hug