Valentine’s Day, a celebration of love and devotion, isn’t just a holiday for grownups. It’s an exciting occasion that captivates the hearts of children too. As February approaches, parents, caregivers and educators seek out engaging and fun Valentine activities for kids.
From making cards to hiding hearts, there are many options to make this love-themed holiday memorable for children in your life. No matter which Valentine activities you choose to do, this article will give you some ideas to help make this Valentine’s Day memorable and entertaining.
Family activities
Valentine activities for kids are a great way to get the whole family involved in the excitement of the day. It’s not just a holiday for adults anymore. Try some of these activities with your children to get them into the fun.
Valentine breakfast
Start the day off with a Valentine-themed breakfast. Serve heart-shaped pancakes dyed pink, strawberry milk and fruit cut into heart shapes. Use heart-shaped cookie cutters to create the Valentine shapes and red dye to get the festive pink coloring.
Heart hunt
Hide hearts around the house after the kids go to bed the night before. Tape them in random places around the house for the kids to find. You can write clues like a scavenger hunt or just let them explore and search. Write loving messages on some for a festive and heartfelt touch.
“Every year, I bake a heart-shaped cake. It’s easy to cut the cake into a heart shape. I buy a ton of different candies and let the kids decorate to their heart’s content. It’s the junkiest-looking cake and fills them with such happiness. It’s a tradition my mom started with me and I’m happy to do it now with my own kids.”
— Jennifer Hughes, Mommy Evolution
Candy heart math
Use candy hearts to do some math together. Sort candy hearts by color, count the hearts or use them for addition and subtraction equations. They can also be used to make shapes. Challenge your kids to make a square, a circle or a triangle out of candy hearts.
Candy heart science
Candy hearts can also be used for science experiments. Test whether or not candy hearts will sink or float in water, soda water and vinegar. Kids can also make predictions about whether or not the hearts will dissolve in each liquid.
Make heart-shaped crayons
Melt old broken crayons into heart-shaped silicone candy molds. Bake in the oven at 250 F for 15 to 20 minutes. Get creative by mixing different colors for unique and colorful crayons.
Valentine’s Day storytime
Snuggle up together and read books with themes of love and friendship. You can ask your local librarian for a list of Valentine-themed stories or read books from your collection that focus on family, love and kindness.
Heart attack
Have your children make several paper hearts out of red and pink paper. Each child can choose a friend to surprise with a heart attack. Walk or drive to a friend’s house and cover their door with paper hearts without them knowing. Ring the doorbell and run and hide.
Sticky note heart on their door
Write things you love about your child on each sticky note and place the notes on your child’s door in the shape of a heart. When they wake up in the morning, they will find your messages of love.
“We do the 14 days of love tradition! Each morning we wake the kids up with a new paper heart on their bedroom door that says something we love about them. They love it, and look forward to it year after year!”
— Siobhan Alvarez-Borland, Mimosas and Motherhood
Dress up and go out to dinner
Make it a family holiday by dressing up and going out to your favorite restaurant together. If you would rather stay in, have food delivered or pick it up and bring it home. Make it special by lighting candles or placing flowers in a vase on the table.
Make a heart-shaped pizza
If you would rather make your own dinner, try making a heart-shaped
Party activities
Host a Valentine’s Day party for your children and their friends. Let your kids help make and hang decorations for the party. Keep them busy with these Valentine activities for kids.
Cardmaking
Set up a cardmaking station with paper, stickers, glitter, glue and markers. Allow kids to be creative and make cards for each other or other friends and family members.
Cookie decorating
Make or buy heart-shaped sugar cookies ahead of time and provide children with red, pink and white frosting. They can also add sprinkles and candies to make them even more colorful.
Love bug craft
Have children make their own love bug — a heart-shaped bug. Provide googly eyes, pipe cleaners and colorful pom-poms to design their colorful love-bug. They can keep it or give it to a friend or family member.
Friendship bracelets
Provide beads and pipe cleaners to create friendship bracelets. Pony beads work well as they are large and simple to string onto pipe cleaners. Provide a variety of colors as well as letters or numbers so children can include words or names in their designs. Encourage them to make a bracelet to give to a special friend.
Dance party
Create a playlist of upbeat and love-themed songs for a dance party. Kids can show off their dance moves and enjoy the fun. The music can also play in the background while they enjoy other Valentine activities for kids.
Candy heart towers
Give partygoers 1 minute to see how many candy hearts they can stack in a freestanding tower without it falling over. See who can make the tallest tower.
Estimation jar
Count candy hearts as you put them into a jar. Have kids write their guesses of how many hearts are in the jar on small slips of paper. Whoever is closest to the correct number without going over, wins the jar of candy.
Final thoughts
Valentine’s Day provides a wonderful opportunity for children to engage in creative and heartwarming activities that foster a sense of love, friendship and joy. From creating heartfelt cards to making a festive breakfast together, these Valentine activities for kids not only celebrate love and friendship but also help create lasting memories for you and your children.
Heidi is a Certified Elementary School Teacher in the Inland Northwest and has been teaching for 17 years. She is also a vintage recipe blogger at Real Life of Lulu, where she focuses on recipes that are at least 50 years old, many from her grandparents’ kitchens. When she isn’t teaching or baking, she loves spending time with her husband and three kids.