After all of the hustle and bustle between Thanksgiving and Christmas, January and February tend to drag. I am ready to dive into Valentine’s Day! We are going full throttle with our Valentine’s Day activities. I love the smiles of excitement and wonder when we start a new theme. These sweet FREE Valentine Counting Grid Games for Pre-K and Preschool are a great activity for your Valentine’s Day themed math centers.

This low-prep printable includes three options: 1 to 10 counting grid in 10-frame format, a 1 to 20 grid with four rows of five, as well as a counting grid to 100 for children ready for the challenge.

It’s a super versatile valentine counting activity that can be adapted to suit individual’s needs. It is sized perfectly for candy hearts for a valentine candy count, or use another manipulative to cut out the sweet (because there’s plenty of that in the printable itself)!

Valentine’s Day Counting Activities

Since playing and learning go hand in hand, counting grids are a great way to practice counting, number recognition, one-to-one correspondence, and even addition and subtraction.

Counting valentine grids give kids the freedom to work on important foundational skills without the need to remember complicated math game rules.

Math activities that require hands-on manipulation coupled with oral counting are ideal. It gives children the chance to gain counting fluency and confidence one heart/eraser/object at a time, making it way more effective than a Valentine’s Day worksheet or coloring page.

Materials Needed for the Valentine’s Day
Counting Grid Games

Paper | Laminator |  |  | | Heart Foam Stickers

Valentine’s Day Counting Grids

Prepping the Valentine Theme Counting Games

Ready for easy? Simply print and laminate. So fun! Cut apart the differentiated instruction cube inserts and you’re ready to roll with this fun math activity.

If you don’t have a differentiated instruction cube set, I highly encourage you to get one ASAP! There are so many ways to use them that go well beyond this math lesson!

If not, use a traditional die or a wooden block with numbers written on the sides.

This set comes with 3 different grids. One for each of the following: 10, 20, and 100 as well as a two dice. The first die helps with counting to 3 while the other goes up to 6.

We used conversation hearts and some of the hearts we have in our mini eraser stash, but you can also use beads, heart shaped foam blocks, pennies, or another kind of heart candy. Use whatever you have on hand!

If you don’t want to laminate, dry erase pockets protect activities quickly. No need to waste ink by printing activities multiple times when you don’t have time to laminate.

All you have to do is slide the papers into the dry erase pockets until you are done with the activity. You can even use dry erase markers or dry erase crayons, just like when you laminate it.

Playing the Valentine Counting Grid Games

This simple activity is such a fun Valentine’s Day treat! You can choose from the 10, 20 or 100 space grid games depending on the skill level of your child.

Roll the dice and place that number of hearts on the spaces of the grid. Let your child decide where to place them. There is no right or wrong way to use the grid game.

We’ve had fun using the dice alone and counting the hearts and also using the ten-frame by itself to practice counting all the way to 10.

For young learners you can use the 10-frame grid game with the 1-3 number cube. Then progress to using the 20 or 100 grids with the 1-6 number cube.

Alternative Ideas

One-To-One Correspondence: Teaches the child that each heart is one. Start simple with the 10-grid and the 1-3 cube. When your kids are ready to practice higher numbers, try using an 8, 10, or 12-sided die.

Addition: Create an addition game by rolling more two dice and adding them up before placing objects on the grid. You can also use amazing double-dice (have you tried these yet?!) Practicing addition is especially great on the 100 grid where kids have more opportunities to roll and add.

When your child is ready to add three numbers, use three dice and the 20 or 100 grid to help.

Subtraction: Start with the counting grid full of hearts. With each roll, subtract that number of hearts on the grid. Practice writing the subtraction sentence if you like.

Extend the learning opportunities with some engaging Valentine’s Day books!