Valentine’s Day is always a special occasion in the classroom. A time to express feelings of friendship, kindness, and love to classmates and family members (and to teachers, too!), there is nothing better than a Valentine’s Day party to celebrate.
We’ve rounded up 20 Valentine’s Day activities your students will love—and we think you will, too!
Valentine’s Day Arts & Crafts
1. Faux “stained glass” hearts
via teachstarter.com
February is usually when those winter blues start to set in, but with love in the air and homemade “stained glass” hearts on your classroom window, that sunlight won’t look so bad.
2. Valentine ornaments
via craftulate.com
Have your students cut heart-shaped ornaments and decorate them with craft supplies or a simple printed poem. If they finish quickly, allow them to make several.
3. Heart wreath
Have kids cut hearts of different shapes, sizes, and colors. Then, help them glue the hearts to a paper plate with the middle cut out, or arrange the hearts so they can be glued together.
4. Heart-shaped paper chain
via ptotoday.com
A heart chain is a great class activity that has the added bonus of being a class decoration after. Bring even more love to this activity by having each student make five hearts, writing on each of those heart strips something they love about school, their classroom, or their classmates! Hook everyone’s hearts together to make a truly lovely piece of garland.
5. Cereal hearts
via casualclaire.com
Have cereal on hand from the 100th day of school still? Grab that and some pipe cleaners and let your students get creative, making their own cereal hearts. These are so easy and so much fun! The best part: these double as outdoor bird feeders when you are done enjoying them as indoor décor.
6. Chocolate playdough
via leftbraincraftbrain.com
When you think of Valentine’s Day, does chocolate come to mind? Bring that delicious smell to your classroom by making chocolate playdough with your class! It’s easy, requires only a few supplies, and is sure to make your classroom smell delicious.
7. Homemade bouquet
via classroomfreebies.com
Create 3D hearts the same way you would for a paperchain, but instead of attaching them to each other, attach them to a straw or popsicle stick. Students can decorate the popsicle sticks and add leaves to these stems. Finally, place them in a decorated cup and allow students to take them home to give to their grownups!
Another variation is using handprints (trace, cutout, and decorate) as the flowers instead of paperchain hearts.
8. Sweet memento
Make a framed “class picture” for parents or other relatives by using small individual photos of students along with a simple frame they can cut from card stock and decorate with paint or stickers.
9. Homemade heart magnets
via idlewife.blogspot.com
Everyone loves magnets, but homemade magnets are even better. Using Crayola’s air-dry clay, students can shape it into hearts, let it dry, paint it, and attach a magnet for the perfect, sentimental Valentine’s Day gift!
10. Rocks of love
Invite students to decorate rocks with messages of kindness and love. You can collect and place them in a designated garden (or line the walkway of an outdoor learning space with the decorated rocks), exchange with each other, or bring home as a gift for a family member.
11. Adopt an organization
via wellmichelleblog.blogspot.com
Depending on the grade, ask the class to pick an organization to make valentines for. For example, younger students could make Valentine’s Day cards for nursing home residents, and older students could create cards to send to a local children’s hospital.
12. Simple card-making
via auntannie.com
Making Valentine’s Day cards is a classic activity, but one that never loses interest. Encourage kids to think of someone in their lives who’s had a difficult time, and help them come up with encouraging and loving messages.
13. Warm and fuzzy
via kendallrayburn.com
Ask parents or a fabric store for donations of fleece, and work with kids to make simple, small no-sew blankets for an animal shelter.
Social-Emotional Learning Activities
Since it’s a holiday all about love, acceptance, and friendship, Valentine’s Day is great for getting some SEL activities in there, too!
- Sprinkle some kindness into your Valentine’s Day celebrations by creating and writing Valentines to send to a local senior center, veterans center, or animal shelter.
- Watch a movie that portrays acts of kindness and different forms of love, such as friendship and family, and discuss what makes each character a good friend.
- Start a compliment chain! Each student writes a compliment for another on a strip of construction paper. Link each piece together to create a decorative chain to hang in your classroom. Don’t be afraid to do this in assigned pairs to ensure that each student gets a compliment.
- Alternatively, students can write a compliment to themselves to promote high self-esteem!
- Hold an awards ceremony where every student wins an award. Refrain from superlatives like “best” or “greatest”, and stick with unique qualities each student possesses, such as The Speedy Reader Award, The Big Dreamer Award, and The Happy Helper Award.
- Practice writing and form with simple acrostic poems with words like “VALENTINE” and “LOVE”. Encourage themes like friendship, kindness, and even positive affirmations for inspiration.
- Host a book exchange! Similar to a Secret Santa, have everyone pull a random name to gift a book to another student. Encourage them to pick something from their own bookshelf– the idea is to pick something they think their peer will love too.
See an activity you’d like to try? Make sure you have all the supplies you need by posting a wish list and sharing it with parents. They can donate items quickly and easily!
