What kinds of Valentine’s Day activities will you be doing in the classroom this year? I am always looking for new and creative ideas that will interest my students. They have to be super simple to prep and I love mixing in those important academic skills.
I went on a search for fun ideas for Valentine’s Day. The teachers on my Facebook page did not disappoint! I found all kinds of fun activities mentioned by teachers in the group. I also threw in some favorites that I have done with my students.
Valentine’s Day Vocabulary
I love anytime I can make something academic, such as vocabulary, and give it a fun holiday spin!
Take a week long break from your usual vocabulary program and use these fun Valentine’s Day words instead. Students will be recording definitions, writing sentences, and brainstorming synonyms and antonyms. Then you can end the week with a quick assessment.
This is a great way to make word acquisition more fun!
Valentine’s Day Paper Bag Book
If you love simple and cute, you are going to adore this project! Paper bag books are literally one of my very favorite classroom activities.
Each of your students will need three paper lunch bags. You can find them at Walmart or any grocery store. You will put the bags on top of each other, fold them to form a book and staple the spine.
Then your students will write and color all of the pages that they glue in their book. It is so much fun for them to write about the books they love, things they love about school and so much more.
Valentine Cupcakes Project Based Learning
Our Valentine Cupcakes project based learning activity will have your students practicing important math skills while they are engaged in a fun, real-world based activity about baking cupcakes.
This activity includes a number of math skills, including graphing, adding, multiplying, elapsed time and fractions. There are multiple ways to differentiate the activities, so you can choose the perfect challenge for your students in grades 2-5. Detailed teacher instructions explain several ways to use this resource, whether you are learning in person or online. You can get a sneak peek inside Valentine Cupcakes here.
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Valentine’s Day STEM Activities
Your students can engineer structures out of toothpicks and heart-shaped jelly candy or heart shaped marshmallows. Who can make the tallest structure?
Or, how about a heart-launcher catapult? Your students will love this one and it’s easy to prep.
Students can also make Valentine’s Day slime with add sequins, glitter, or confetti.
You can learn more about these ideas from Little Bins Little Hands by clicking HERE.
Valentine’s Day Lego Challenges
All of my kids went through a stage where they LOVED all things Lego. (Honestly, my sixteen year old still loves Legos.) Our floors were covered with those tiny little things. If you are anything like me, you probably have tons of Legos at home. This Lego challenge is perfect!
Your class is divided into small groups and given a short period of time to build the item described on their challenge card. Then you can rotate the groups so that they can build something else.
It’s fun. It’s simple. I love it.
Click HERE to grab some FREE Valentine’s Day Lego challenge cards.
Kiss Writing
I fell in love with this cute writing activity that Karen Meyer, a teacher in my 3rd Grade Teachers Facebook group, shared.
Karen gives each of her students one Hershey Kiss. They get to eat the chocolate, so that’s an immediate win! Then they take the wrapper and fold or manipulate it into any shape that they want.
Next, they write a short story about what they created with their wrapper.
How cute is that?! Your students will love getting creative!
Click HERE to grab the FREE kiss writing paper.
Kindness Activities
Get the day started by reading the book The Jelly Donut Difference. It is an adorable story about kindness and generosity.
How can your class share kindness? 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.
Love You More Than Poems
This is another fun writing activity for Valentine’s Day! Students will write a simple poem that they can gift to a parent or family member.
I have to admit that I am not much of a poet, but this poetry project is easy! Students start by brainstorming a list of things, places, people and activities that they love. Then, they pick the ones that represent them the most and stick them in the poem template.
They can add some color and they are done!
Click HERE to grab the poem printables for free!
Wowzers! There are so many fun activities that you can do in the classroom for Valentine’s Day! These activities are fun and academic, plus they are easy to prep. Enjoy!
Have a Not So Wimpy day,
I know an SJM fan when I see one!!!!! 🙂