Do you struggle to come up with fun and engaging Valentine’s Day activities for your students that won’t create chaos? Valentine’s Day can be fun in the classroom but without a solid plan, it can be chaotic. I like to plan my Valentine’s activities to be fun and engaging and a little bit different than what we do on a regular day make the day enjoyable.
Here are 3 tips to keep Valentine’s Day in your classroom simple and FUN.
Valentine’s Day Writing
Looking back at my memories of Valentine’s Day in school, the Valentine Card exchange is all that I remember. As a teacher, I’ve seen firsthand how much kids love exchanging cards.
I have also worried about the students who may not be able to purchase Valentine cards for the class. To relieve my own anxiety about any child feeling left out, I have students make cards for their classmates in class.
The week before Valentine’s Day, I have students brainstorm Valentine cards and Valentine message ideas. I set up an assortment of colorful squares of paper (half or quarter-sized pieces), markers, crayons, scissors, and glue in my classroom for students to grab and use to make individual cards.
Valentine’s Day Math
I love doing holiday-themed math activities in my classroom! Valentine’s Day is no exception. To celebrate, my students do Valentine-themed math stations. You can take any activity you need your students to practice in stations and just print it on pink paper and give them a small candy treat when they finish the station.
I have some Valentine Fraction Task Cards and Valentine Fraction Digital Games that are my students’ FAVORITE activities. I love that students are practicing skills that they need to work on and that just adding a Valentine theme makes it so much more engaging and fun.
Valentine’s Day STEM Challenge
I love the opportunity to incorporate science and engineering into any topic and STEM Challenges and holidays are a perfect match for a fun and engaging activity for students.
For primary students, I teach them how to fold paper and cut out a heart. I also show them how to fold the heart and cut to make paper heart outlines. We glue the hearts onto a big sheet of paper to make a colorful heart collage.
For upper elementary students, we do a Valentine Zip Line STEM Challenge. The goal is to successfully send a Valentine card to the end of the zip line. I give each team index cards, a small paper cup, string, straws, scissors, and tape. My students go through the engineering design process to build a device to transport a Valentine’s Day card down the zip line. It’s challenging but fun and a great opportunity to collaborate and work on problem-solving skills.
Want some free, fun Valentine’s Day cards for you and your students?
I have a FREE set of cute, solar system-themed Valentine’s Day cards!
(Valentine’s Day Teacher Pro Tip: if possible, save any card or candy exchanging for the very last part of the day.) 😉
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