Spinning Top Sensory Valentine

This year, instead of sending the typical Valentine’s to school with my daughter we’ve been having fun coming up with fun Sensory Valentines. Today, we’re sharing our Spinning Top Sensory Valentines!

Spinning Sensory Valentine pin

* This post may contain affiliate links for your convenience. Click here for my full disclosure.

Fidgets are always a good idea in my house for helping burn a bit of energy, keeping little hands busy, and focusing children on something calming when life gets overwhelming. It’s a good idea to have several different types of fidgets, both to provide different forms of sensory stimulation and to prevent the kids from getting bored of the same fidget and having it lose it’s effectiveness!

We like to keep our fidgets easily accessible in a few different places – backpacks, a basket in the kitchen (the “hub” of our house), and our peace corners.

(For more information on how fidgets can help, check out these Sensory Hacks to Focus a Fidgety Child.)

spinning sensory valentines fb

How To Make A Spinning Top Sensory Valentine

First, gather your materials:

You can assemble and present these Spinning Top Valentine’s in a couple of different ways. If the handle of the top is long enough, you can wrap the paper Valentine around it, or you can place the top in a bag and tape the bag to your paper Valentine.

We decided to do something a bit different. We used a child-safe hole punch to make heart-shaped holes in the ends of our strips, pushed the handle of the top through and wrapped a rubber band around the handle to secure it – making it so that the rubber band created an “edge” or “lip” that prevents the top from sliding back through the hole.

Spinning Sensory Valentine

This was a great fine motor activity for my daughter – pinching the tops, flicking her fingers to make them swirl, and then pressing down on the hole punch and winding the rubber band around the handle of the tops. I definitely think half of the fun in handing out sensory valentines is putting them together!

Click here to download your Spinning Top Printable Valentines.

Valentine, (2)

Click to download

It’s also a great idea to spend some time teaching your child how to use a spinning top, if they don’t know already, so they can show off to their friends and don’t get frustrated trying to work it out on their own. (There’s nothing worse than a fidget that frustrates rather than stimulates.)

Spinning Sensory Valentines fb (1)

What is your go-to fidget or calming toy for your child during anxious moments?

Introducing Sensory Fix

TANGLE_Therapy download-6   hand fidget

Therapy Hand Fidget  | Wacky Tracks  | Tangle Hand Fidget

Find more adventures in Sensory Valentine’s Play:

Melted Heart Science Experiment Simple Heart Pendants for Valentines Day

 

Jennifer is a Canadian psychologist and single mom staying home full-time to homeschool her daughter. She shares hands-on learning ideas, parenting inspiration, and recipes daily on her blog, Study at Home Mama.

 

FREE DOWNLOAD

Discover how to get siblings to get along even when all they do is annoy each other with the Sibling “Get Along” Poster Pack!

3 thoughts on “Spinning Top Sensory Valentine”

  1. Pingback: 40 Non-Food Valentines for Favors and Gifts - Views From a Step Stool

  2. Pingback: 20 Printable Valentine's Day Cards for Kids - Views From a Step Stool

  3. Pingback: 25 Totally Awesome Candy-Free Valentines

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CONNECT WITH ME

Scroll to Top