Valentine’s Day is quickly approaching and even though this holiday may have been created for couples in love, our own kids enjoy celebrating it just as much as we do. Here is a list of some of our favorite Valentine’s Day activities for kids of all ages:
1. Cookie Cutter Stamping: This is one of our favorite art projects that can be used for pretty much any holiday or occasion. Grab some heart cookie cutters, fill a shallow dish with a little bit of paint and let your kids stamp away. Older kids can create cards with their finished projects and toddlers will just have fun exploring a new way to paint.
2. Candy Hearts Sorting: We always end up with quite a few boxes of conversation candy hearts around Valentine’s Day. My kids are a little young to enjoy them, but they make for great sorting activities. Have your toddlers practice sorting them into color categories. Preschool and young elementary can create different patterns with the colors. Upper elementary kids can even use some of the phrases on the hearts to inspire the topic of a silly story.
3. Make your own Valentines: Homemade valentines are really so much cuter than the store bought kind. Set up an “invitation to create” center for your kids and let their creativity flow. Make sure you include different color paper, stickers, crayons or markers and anything else you have around the house.
4. Bake a delicious treat for a friend or neighbor: Bake up some heart shaped cookies or decorate a few cupcakes and deliver them to someone who needs a little extra love. Don’t forget to taste a few first, just in case 😉
5. Give someone a heart attack: This is one of my favorite things to do for V-Day! Cut up a bunch of hearts and surprise someone with taping them all over a bedroom, office or even a car. You can write nice things on them, have your kids color a few pictures or you can just keep it as a straight heart explosion.
6. Contact Paper Watercolor Painting: Watercolor painting is always a fun activity, but contact paper adds a different dimension to it. You can get contact paper at a local store or on Amazon. Just cut out a few heart shaped pieces and stick it to your paper. Paint your entire sheet of paper and when it dries peel off the hearts to display a really cute design!
7. Bracelet Making: Bracelet making is awesome fine motor practice, which usually translates into a pretty quiet activity (thank you concentration!). Toddlers and preschoolers can thread some beads onto pipe cleaners and older kids can use string or yarn to make more intricate bracelets for their friends.
8. Homemade Play-Doh: Homemade play-doh is so much better than store bought and it is actually really easy to make! Check out our Pinterest board for a few easy recipes. You can add in glitter or confetti, food coloring and even some essential oils to spice it up a little. Put out some cookie cutters and other kitchen utensils and let your kids create.
9. Scavenger Hunt: Who doesn’t love a good scavenger hunt? I mean we can’t be the only ones who hide Easter eggs year round. Toddlers and preschoolers will love searching for and collecting paper hearts. For older kids, you can write clues to help them find each hidden item. Add in different twists to make it your own!
10. Estimation Jar: Estimating is a great math skill for kids to practice. Fill up a jar with some festive candy and have everyone in the family guess how many pieces there are. Make sure everyone helps count the treats at the end to determine who was the closest!
Be sure to check out our Pinterest page for more Valentine’s Day ideas!
