Valentine’s Day might be my favorite day to celebrate in the classroom. I love all the sweet little cards students write for each other. And chocolate. Chocolate is always good!
Are you getting ready to plan a Valentine’s Day party for your students? How about a STEM party or a Minute-to-Win-It party? Or, maybe you’d like to try something really different with a kindness party? I gathered some fun and engaging ideas for you to celebrate the friendships in your classroom.
STEM Party
My students love the challenges that I give them with STEM projects. They will love that I change up our room for a STEM day with Valentine’s Day themed decorations and supplies.
Your students can engineer structures out of toothpicks and heart-shaped jelly candy or heart shaped marshmallows. Or, how about a heart-launcher catapult? Students can also make Valentine’s Day slime with added sequins, glitter, or confetti.
You can learn more about these ideas from Little Bins Little Hands by clicking HERE.
Minute-to-Win-it Party
Students love playing games and you can keep your students highly engaged with some Valentine’s Day themed Minute-to-Win-it games.
How about playing Heart Stack? Students must stack candy hearts on a popsicle as high as they can in one minute. Take the same supply of candy hearts (because let’s face it, they have fallen on the floor a few times already), and play Bottle Drop. Using empty narrow-top bottles, students must try to drop as many of the candy hearts as they can into the bottle from a standing position with the bottle on the ground in 1 minute.
You can find directions and more game ideas from Together as Family by clicking HERE.
Students can also play candy heart relay races and heart transfer games with straws or popsicle sticks. Click HERE to see directions to these games and other fun ideas by Happiness is Homemade.
Spread Kindness Party
This may not be your typical party, but it will help your students feel that they made a difference and you are teaching them life skills of being kind to others. The idea first came to me when I read some ideas in the Not So Wimpy Fifth Grade Teachers Facebook group. They were looking for service projects to complete as a possible alternative to a typical party.
You could get the day started by reading the book The Jelly Donut Difference. It is an adorable story about kindness and generosity.
Ideas shared in our teacher Facebook groups included making valentines for veterans or a nursing home. Another suggestion was to make fleece blankets for children in need. I also loved the suggestion about making heart-shaped animals to send to your local children’s hospital to decorate doors.
You could also spread kindness by having your students write thank you messages on hearts and tape to staff members’ doors around your school (nurse’s office, principal’s office, secretary’s desk, music teacher, custodians, etc.)
Another idea is to participate in the Kindness Rocks Project by having your students paint rocks with sweet messages. They can take these home and have their families help them decide where to leave it, or you can set up an area in your school for your own motivational rock garden. Click HERE to see some ideas about decorating your kindness rocks.
You can end your day by sharing some treats (maybe donuts?!) and Valentine cards for each other. Have a class conversation about how they can continue acts of kindness throughout the year.
Paper Bag Book
At the end of any Valentine’s Day party, I like to have students make these fun paper bag books. They are super simple to make by folding a few paper lunch bags and stapling the spine. Students enjoy writing about all of the things they love!
This craft is a good one for calming them down after the fun party games!
I hope you and your students fill your day with love, kindness, and laughter!
Have a Not So Wimpy day!
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