Inviting the young kids in your classroom and making time for one of these fun Valentines Day ideas for students will certainly make this holiday more enjoyable.
Whether you’re a homeschool educator yourself or an elementary school teacher looking for some creative ideas for the classroom, there’s something in here for everyone to enjoy.
2024’s Best Valentine’s Day Ideas for All Students
These Valentine’s Day activities for students are suitable for all ages, from preschoolers to high school students. So get ready to have some fun and spread some love this Valentine’s Day!
Heart-Shaped Paper Chains
One fun and easy Valentine’s Day craft for students is making heart-shaped paper chains. All you need is some construction paper, scissors, and glue. Cut the construction paper into strips and then fold them in half to create a heart shape. Glue the ends together to create a chain of paper hearts that can be hung up as decoration.
Love Bug Cupcakes
For a tasty Valentine’s Day treat, have your students make love bug cupcakes. Bake or buy cupcakes and then let the students decorate them with frosting, sprinkles, and candy to look like cute little bugs. Not only will they have fun making them, but they’ll also enjoy eating their creations.
Heart-Shaped Pizza
Who says pizza can’t be romantic? Have your students make heart-shaped pizzas by using a cookie cutter to shape the dough before adding toppings. They can even spell out words like “love” or make shapes with the little bit of pepperoni slices they’ll get.
Valentine Sensory Bin
For younger students, create a Valentine’s Day themed sensory bin. Fill a large plastic container with rice, beans, or noodles and add heart-shaped items like erasers, beads, and toys. Let the students explore and play with the bin, encouraging them to talk about their senses and what Valentine’s Day means to them. Any Valentine’s Day sensory activities are sure to be a hit with the little ones.
Handprint Heart Tree
This is a cute and sentimental craft for students of all ages. Have them trace their handprints onto construction paper, cut them out, and then arrange them into the shape of a tree with overlapping branches. Add a heart at the base of each handprint to represent leaves on the tree. This can be a great gift for parents or loved ones.
Valentine’s Day Book Exchange
Encourage a love of reading and promote kindness with a Valentine’s Day book exchange. Have each student bring in a gently used book or purchase one from the dollar store. Then have them wrap the book and add a note with why they chose that particular story. On Valentine’s Day, have students exchange their books and take turns reading them to each other.
Valentine STEM Challenge
Celebrate Valentine’s Day with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) by giving students a challenge to create the tallest tower using only conversation hearts and toothpicks. This activity encourages critical thinking, problem-solving, and teamwork while incorporating the holiday theme.
If you have older students, you can also challenge them to create a functional Valentine’s Day card using paper circuits and LED lights. Completing Valentine stem challenges is a great way to infuse some education into this special day and encourage students to think outside the box.
ABCs of Valentine’s Day
Help your kindergarten students practice their alphabet with the ABCs of Valentine’s Day activity. Have them write or draw something that reminds them of Valentine’s Day for each letter of the alphabet. For example, A could stand for “affection,” B for “be mine,” and so on. This activity not only reinforces letter recognition but also gets students thinking about what Valentine’s Day means to them.
Play-doh Valentine Shapes
Help your students develop their fine motor skills while celebrating Valentine’s Day with this fun Play-doh activity. Have them roll out the dough and use cookie cutters to create different heart shapes. They can even mix colors to make unique patterns and designs. This activity is perfect for younger students but can be adapted for older ones by challenging them to create more complex designs.
Stained Glass Hearts
This easy craft is a fun way for the whole class to create a beautiful art piece. Have students cut out heart shapes from black construction paper and then use tissue paper to fill in the spaces. When the light shines through, it creates a beautiful stained glass effect. This activity not only allows students to be creative but also teaches them about colors and light.
Valentine’s Day Mad Libs
Mad Libs are always a hit with young children and can easily be adapted for Valentine’s Day by using love-themed words like “kiss,” “hug,” and “cupid.” Have your students make their own silly sentence by filling in the blanks with different parts of speech. This activity is not only entertaining but also helps students practice their grammar and vocabulary.
Counting Conversation Hearts
For a math activity, give each student a box of conversation hearts and have them count how many of each color there are. Then have them add up all the colors to find the total number of hearts in the box.
Heart-Shaped Tangrams
Tangrams are an easy way to teach geometry and to see the world through different shapes. For Valentine’s Day, cut out tangram pieces and invite your own classroom to make different patterns. You can glue the pieces onto paper in the shape of a heart or have students create their own unique designs.
Tissue Paper Heart Wreath
Using tissue paper, cut out small squares in various shades of pink and red. Then have students crumple each square and glue it onto a heart-shaped piece of cardboard to create a beautiful wreath. Hang them on the classroom door or give this simple craft as gifts to parents.
Love Letter Writing
Encourage your students to spread love on Valentine’s Day by writing letters to friends, family members, or even classmates. This activity not only promotes writing skills, but also teaches the importance of expressing gratitude and kindness. Remind them capital letters belong at the beginning of each sentence and to use punctuation correctly.
Cupid’s Arrow Toss
Create a fun game for your students by making a target out of a large heart cutout and having them toss paper airplanes (made from straws and paper) to try and hit the bullseye. You’ll love the simple materials needed for this game and your students will love the friendly competition.
Valentine’s Day Bookmarks
Have your students make cute bookmarks using construction paper, markers, and stickers. These can be great gifts for loved ones or used to mark their place in a favorite book.
Love Potion Science Experiments
Teach your students about chemical reactions with this fun love potion science experiment. Mix baking soda and vinegar in a jar with red food coloring to create a foaming “potion” that looks like it’s bubbling over with love.
Heart-Shaped Animal Crafts
For younger students, have them create animals out of heart shapes cut from construction paper. They can make everything from heart-shaped birds to heart-shaped lions!
Valentine’s Day Scavenger Hunt
Hide hearts around the classroom or schoolyard and have your students go on a scavenger hunt to find them all. This is one activity students will love and it gets them up and moving, so they practice their math skills.
DIY Heart-Shaped Crayons
Gather up old broken crayons and melt them down into heart-shaped molds for a fun Valentine’s Day craft that also recycles old materials.
Love Letter Charades
Write different love-themed phrases on index cards (ex: “Cupid shooting an arrow” or “handing out Valentine’s Day cards”) and have students act them out while their classmates guess what they are. This activity is the perfect opportunity to get students up and moving after a long day of class time.
Candy Hearts Graphing
Use conversation hearts as manipulatives for teaching graphing skills. Have students sort the hearts by color and then create bar graphs or pictographs to represent the data. If you have elementary students you can use heart-shaped marshmallows instead of hard candy.
Heart-Shaped Origami
Teach your students the art of origami by having them fold paper into heart shapes. They can then use their creations to decorate the classroom or give as gifts.
Valentine’s Day Word Search
Create a word search with love-themed words for your students to solve. This is a great way to reinforce spelling and vocabulary skills while also celebrating the holiday.
Friendship Bracelets
Have your students make friendship bracelets using red, pink, and white beads or embroidery floss. They can exchange them with their best friends as a symbol of their friendship.
Heart-Shaped Binoculars
Help your students make binoculars out of cardboard tubes and heart-shaped frames for a fun Valentine’s Day activity that will have them seeing love all around them.
Love Song Karaoke
Have a karaoke party in class where students sing love songs together or perform solo renditions of their favorite tunes. This is a great way to get students out of their comfort zones and have some fun.
Heartfelt Thank You Cards
Encourage your students to write thank you cards to someone special in their life. This can be a friend, family member, or even a teacher. The act of expressing gratitude is a great way to spread love and kindness on Valentine’s Day. Some ideas for the cards could include drawing hearts or using heart-shaped stickers to decorate them.
Valentine’s Day Preschool Activities Bundle
Our Valentine’s Day Preschool Activities Bundle includes everything your toddler/preschooler needs to get excited about Valentine’s Day and their learning.
In this bundle you will receive 100 pages packed with learning activities including:
✔️ Letter Recognition
✔️ Letter Tracing
✔️ Color Recognition
✔️ Color Matching
✔️ Tracing and Cutting Practice
✔️Maze
✔️ Connect the Dots
✔️ Phonics
✔️ Shapes
✔️ Counting Clip Cards
✔️ Number Tracing
✔️ Writing Practice
AND SO MUCH MORE! This bundle is specifically made for toddlers and preschoolers (ages 2-5).
Pick up your copy, so you don’t have to plan another Valentine’s Day activity this month.
As you finalize your lesson plans and go through this list of hands-on activities to find the perfect way to celebrate Valentine’s Day in your classroom, remember that the true meaning of this holiday is all about love and friendship.
So don’t be afraid to use more than one of these ideas throughout the entire month of February. After all, learning should be celebrated every day, not just on Valentine’s Day. Happy celebrating!
Micah Klug is a wife, homeschooling mother to five children, and author. She teaches time-tested solutions to help parents remember what matters most in life, including strengthening their home, faith, and family relationships. To learn how a child who grew up in an authoritarian home is now creating an environment of peace and joy in her own home visit this page. If you want to contact Micah, send her an email here or email [email protected].
