15 Sweet & Spicy Valentine's Day Activities for Kids (With Free Printable!) • Mindfulmazing.com (2024)

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Inside: 10 sweet and spicy Valentine’s Day activities for kids. These make the perfect classroom Valentine Day activities and also fun home Valentine’s Crafts.

Valentine’s Day is a day of romance and love, a nice time to remind your special someone just how special they truly are.

And if you don’t have that special someone, well, then Valentine’s Day is a good excuse to eat as much chocolate as you want!

But:

What can kids, those sweet little souls untroubled by the throes of romance, do to celebrate this Hallmark holiday? (Beside’s overdose on sugar pops!)

Enter: Sweet Valentine’s Day activities and crafts for kids.

There are a ton of amazing Valentine’s Day activities you can do with your child or students, and below we’ve listed some incredibly creative ideas that are sure to be a hit with the kids.

And here’s the best part:

These Valentine Day ideas will also contribute to your kid’s cognitive and social development in the process.

Win-win.

Are you ready to start getting all pink and red and lovey-dovey?

Awesome!

I’ve complied 15 of my most favorite Valentine’s Day activities for kids out there.

Let’s get right to it! Love day is fast approaching.

Acts of Kindness Poster

This free inspirational poster will inspire your kids with loads of ideas to spread kindness where ever they go. This will make the PERFECT addition to your home or classroom.

(**Since February is love month – be sure our signature poster – 77 Acts of Kindness for Kids**)

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Because we all want our kids to be happy and healthy — not just for right now, but for the rest of their lives.

1. Heart Match Counting Activity

Thisheart match counting activityis a great way to celebrate Valentine’s day and make math fun for your preschool-age kids.

Kids will develop their numbers sense through hands-on play and provide them a chance to visualize and experience each number in a unique way.

What You Need:

• Pink construction paper
• Scissors
• Markers

Heart Match Counting Instructions:

1. Fold 12 pieces of pink construction paper in half.
2. Along the folded crease, cut out half a heart so that when you open the paper, a full heart is formed.
3. On six of the hearts, write the numerals 1-6, and on the other six hearts, write the accompanying number of domino dots, 1-6.
4. Mix all 12 hearts up and turn them face down. As your child turns the hearts over, have him or her match the numerals to the corresponding domino dots to make six pairs of hearts.

While the numerals 1-6 are suitable for the youngest children, you can make this activity as complex as necessary, depending on your child’s age and ability level.

If your child is beginning to read, you may want to add a third set of hearts with the number spelled out in word form to match the numeral and domino dots.

2. Glitter Rocks (Mindfulmazing’s favorite Valentine Activities For Kids)

While any holiday is the perfect opportunity to work on arts and crafts with children, Valentine’s Day is one of my favorites!

In this creativeglitter rock activity, you can easily allow your child to explore the wonders of glitter without the accompanying mess of paper scraps.

What You Need:

• Small stones with a flat surface
• Cookie baking sheet
• Glue
• Foil or scratch paper
• Red, pink, and white glitter
• Paintbrush

What to Do:

1. Get a collection of small, smooth rocks and scrub them with water to remove any debris. Spread them out on a cookie sheet and place them in a hot oven for a few minutes to dry. Allow them to cool before starting.
2. Squeeze a little white glue into a small dish.
3. Use a fine paintbrush to apply the glue to the rock in your favorite Valentine’s Day shape. Hearts are an obvious choice, but cupid’s arrow, candy canes, or any other image that is themed for the holiday would be suitable (if your child gets bored of making hearts.)
4. Place the rock on a piece of foil or scratch paper and sprinkle the wet glue with glitter.
5. Give the glue some time to dry, and then shake any loose glitter onto your foil or scratch paper, funneling the extra glitter back into the container to be used on the next rock.

There is also no better time to teach kindness, and a fun variation on this craft is to make kindness rocks, my very favorite kid’s craft.

Kindness Rocks

Our Kindness Rocks Printables will actually get your child excited about kindness. Say what?! It’s super fun, creative, and encourages loads of positivity. Simply click the button below to get your kindness printables delivered straight to your inbox.

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3. Valentine’s Day Bingo (A+ Valentines Day Activities for Kids)

This is a fun twist to this classic game. Valentine’s Bingo is great for fun family nights, parties, or classroom games.

What you need:

• Valentine Bingo Cards
• candies, bingo dabber, or heart cut-out (provided)
• white card stock paper
• hp printer
• scissors
• laminator(I love this laminator!) (optional)
• Laminating sheets (optional)
• Velcro Tabs (optional)

What to do:

1. Print out your valentine bingo cards (one for each player or team) and one set of the calling cards. If you want to use the bingo sticker cut-outs, please also print these out. Place the cards into a bowl or hat.
2. Give each child a Valentine Bingo card and either use the heart cut-outs or use a dry erase marker, candy, or bingo dabber.
3. The heart in the middle of the Valentine’s card is a free space. Yahoo!
4. Pull one card at a time from the bowl and either call out the number or describe the image.
5. The kids can cover the corresponding number or image with chosen stickers, candies, or use dry-erase markers. (I love to use Velcro with the heart cut-outs so they don’t slide around the card).
6. To win the game, the kiddo who covers 5 spaces in a row, horizontally, vertically, or diagonally shouts out “BINGO!” and they win.
7. Create fun prizes or treats for winners.

4. Chasing Hearts Challenge

If you think that Valentine’s Day is just a time to teach your kids about arts and crafts, think again!

Children can learn about science by performing thischasing hearts challenge, which uses concepts from popular science videos and reimagines them with a Valentine’s Day twist.

While this can be a fun activity for small children, the scientific aspects of water currents might make it even better for children in second grade or above.

What You Need:

• Red dry erase markers.
• Piece of white scratch paper
• A large, clear casserole dish
• Water
• Straw
• Legos

What to Do:

1. Place the piece of white scratch paper under the casserole dish on a table.
2. Use dry erase markers to draw hearts on the bottom of the casserole dish. For best results with the experiment, try having your kiddo’s draw two or three hearts close together. It is best to use a high-shine or non-stick surface for this activity so that the hearts can easily be wiped clean when finished.
3. Carefully (slowly and steadily) pour room temperature water into the casserole pan directly onto the heart.
4. As water contacts the hearts, they should detach from the casserole pan’s surface and rise to the top of the water. If the hearts are not lifting, continue to steadily pour water onto them until they finally break free.
5. Using the straw, have your child blow the hearts around. They will be thrilled by the way that the hearts swirl and ripple through the water!
6. Rinse and repeat the activity.
7. After you have successfully gotten the hearts to rise and swirl in the water, let’s make the activity a little more challenging. Drop a Lego into the casserole dish and see if your child can blow the hearts into the Lego.
8. Let your kiddo enjoy the science behind blowing with the correct force and getting your hearts to ride the waves.

There are TONS of neat ideas to celebrate kindness in our best-selling Gratitude Kit for Kids.

5. Painted Map of the Heart

It always gets a little messy when bringing out the watercolors with kids.

Still, the mess will be well worth it for thisValentine’s Day heart mappingactivity.

Not only does this activity allow your children to put their creative side on full display, but it will enable you to instill some valuable lessons in kindness, love, and positivity.

What You Need:

• Watercolor paints in tubes
• Scissors
• White watercolor paper
• Paintbrush
• Pen

What to Do:

1. Cut out a heart from a large piece of watercolor paper.
2. Write “Map of My Heart” along the top of the heart for your child.
3. Have your child draw smaller hearts within the large, cut-out heart and write the name of a person or thing they love inside of each. Your child may want to draw lines or cupid’s arrows to connect the hearts once they have listed everything they love. They may also want to draw some decorations around the outside of their heart.
4. Squeeze small dots of the different color paints along one side of the large heart.
5. Give your child a cup of water and a paintbrush. Now let your tiny Vangoh get to work coloring in the map of their heart!

6. Valentine’s Day Slime

Don’t all kids love doing activities that make a mess?

Of course they do, and Valentine’s Day crafts are no exception.

But the mess will be worth it when you see the giant smiles on your kiddo’s faces when making their own Valentine’s Day Slime.

Slime has this magical ability to ignite the imagination of kids. You’ll be amazed at how enthralled your kids become when making red and pink glitter slime of their own.

What You Need:

• One 6-ounce bottle of red or pink Elmer’s glitter glue
• One cup of water
• Red or pink glitter
• ½ tbsp baking soda
• ½ tbsp contact lens solution*
• Small mason jars
• Cardstock
• Red and white twine or ribbon

*Check the label of the contact lens solution you purchase and make sure it contains boric acid and sodium borate.ReNuis a popular name brand that includes these ingredients. Not all brands do, and the recipe will not work if it is missing either of these components.

What to Do:

1. Find a large bowl in which to mix all of the slime ingredients.
2. Pour the entire 6-ounce bottle of Elmer’s glitter glue into the bowl.
3. Add the baking soda and mix thoroughly.
4. Add water, depending on how stretchy you want the slime to be. You can add as little as one tbsp for the recipe to work, while adding the entire cup will make the slime incredibly stretchy.
5. Slowly add in the contact lens solution. Even though one tbsp may not seem like a lot, you need to mix in a little bit at a time to make the recipe work. Give the recipe a few drops of the contact lens solution, mix it well, and then apply the rest in a similar manner.
6. Continue mixing the slime until it forms and begins to harden.
7. Remove the slime from the bowl and have your child knead it over and over. It will take significant kneading to get the slime to form appropriately, so you may need to help out if their hands start to get tired. If the slime feels too sticky, add a little lotion until it gets to the desired consistency.

Once the slime is formed as desired, place it into the small mason jars to develop your creative Valen-slime’s gift.

Use the cardstock and ribbon to label the slime and leave a little message.

7. Secret Message Cards (Best Kindness Valentine’s Day Activities For Kids)

Any time you can turn arts and crafts into a game, it’s sure to be a hit with the entire family.

You can do just that with these Valentine’s Daysecret message cards.

A super exciting way to help your children share thoughts of love, kindness, and friendship with their peers!

What You Need:

• Two sheets ofA4 cardstock
• Felt tip pen
• Wax crayons
• Scissors
• Glue

What to Do:

1. Fold one piece of cardstock in half to make an open-and-shut card.
2. Cut out a large heart from the other cardstock piece to fit onto the front of the first piece.
3. Using the felt tip pen, write the Valentine’s Day message on the heart.
4. Use a wax crayon to cover up the secret message.
5. Continue adding layers of the wax crayon until the message is completely concealed. It works best when using different colors. The message should disappear in as little as three layers.
6. Glue the wax-covered heart onto the front of the folding card. Write a “scratch to reveal” message next to the heart so that the recipient knows that the message is hidden. Your kids may even want to tape a penny inside the card so that the recipient has something to scratch with!

The month of February is all about spreading kindness. Gratitude and kindness go hand in hand. Be sure to check out 15 of the best gratitude activities for kids, and easy to implement instructions on how to teach gratitude to kids.

8. Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

It would not be Valentine’s Day without sweet treats; no Valentine’s Day activity list would be complete without at least one baking activity, and children absolutely love to help out in the kitchen.

These Valentine’s Day-themedcranberry oatmeal cookiesare super simple to make. They will not rot your child’s teeth as quickly as some other favorite holiday treats!

What You Need:

• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 2 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp nutmeg
• ⅛ tsp ground cloves
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 ½ cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp water
• 2 cup old fashioned rolled oats
• 1 large mixing bowl
• 1 wooden spoon
• 1 heart-shaped cookie cutter
• 1 large cookie sheet

(Source:Artful Parent)

What to Do:

1. Pour boiling water over dried cranberries and cover. Allow to sit for 10 minutes and drain.
2. Mix the flour, salt, baking soda, and spices, followed by the butter, sugar, egg, and water. Stir the ingredients with a wooden spoon until smooth.
3. Next, stir in raisins and oats and allow the final mixture to chill for at least one hour.
4. After chilling, roll the mixture onto a floured surface to ¼ inch.
5. Cut out the cookies with a heart-shaped cookie cutter. (If you want, you can take this time to sprinkle the cookies with sugar for a sweet topping.)
6. Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 10-12 minutes.
7. Allow the cookies to cool for 5-10 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

9. DIY Valentine’s Day Crayons

If you are like most families with children, there is no shortage of broken crayon pieces lying around the house. Or you have simply accumulated so many boxes of crayons over the years that there is no way that your children will ever be able to use them all.

If this is the case, what better way to put your neglected crayons to use by repurposing them for this creativeValentine’s Day craft!

What You Need:

• Old crayon pieces
• Heart-shaped silicone cupcake liners
• Cookie sheet

What to Do:

1. Place the heart-shaped cupcake liners on a cookie sheet.
2. Peel the paper off the crayons. Fill the cupcake liners about ⅔ full with crayon bits. If the crayons are too long to fit into the liners, break them into smaller pieces. You can have your child mix different colors into the liners to create a “rainbow” or “swirl” crayon if they want.
3. Place the cookie sheet in the oven at 200 degrees Fahrenheit to allow the crayons to melt. It should take about 15 minutes for the crayons to become wholly melted.
4. Remove the melted crayons from the oven and allow them to cool.
5. Once the crayons have hardened, they should easily pop out of the liner.

These heart-shaped crayons can be given to children to work with or give their friends as Valentine’s gifts!

10. Lego Hearts Valentine’s Day Cards

This simple activity is sure to be a hit as it allows your child to use his or hercreativity with Legosto create customized Valentine’s Day cards for friends.

It may get a little messy, so be sure to keep a close eye on your kiddo throughout the process so that there is not too much smearing and smudging on the card or your kitchen table!

What You Need:

• Lego hearts
• Red paint
• Cardstock paper

What to Do:

1. Create the Lego hearts in the size and shape that you want. It is usually a good idea to make a small, medium, and large heart. Add a handle to the back of your heart (a series of stacked Legos) to create a stamp out of the heart.
2. Fold a piece of cardstock in half to make a card.
3. Spread the red paint out into a tray.
4. Dip your Lego heart stamp into the red paint.
5. Slowly and carefully place your Lego heart stamp onto the front of the cardstock card. Push on the top of the stamp to ensure that the paint is being distributed evenly. Hold the cardstock down with your free hand and carefully remove the stamp.
6. Add as many hearts to the front of the card as you want to give the recipient a dose of love, Lego style!

11. Love Bug Valentine’s Day Fruit Cups

Your kids will love making these little “love bug” fruit cups! They also make a nice alternative to the buckets of chocolate and candy your munchkin might consume on Valentine’s Day.

Head over to Crayons & Cravings for full instructions on the “love bug” fruit cups.

2. Love A lot Care Bear Cupid

Let this Love a Lot Care Bear play cupid this Valentine’s Day!

She is very easy to make with some toilet paper rolls!So adorable.

Head on over to Easy Crafts for Kids for full instructions.

3. Valentine’s Day Sensory Bin

Learn how to make a Valentine’s Day-themed sensory bin to entertain and provide sensory relief. This also facilitates creative thinking and fine-motor development.

Head on over to Easy Activities for Kids for full instructions.

14. Cute Conversation Makers

Kids love love making this easy Conversation Heart Planter! It’s an easy craft that uses simple materials and is super easy to make!

For full instructions head on over to Thrifty Jinky!

15. Homemade Valentine’s Day Gummies

Make tasty homemade heart gummies and learn the science of gelatin. Kids love this DIY Valentine’s Day candy!

Head on over to Team Cartwright for full instructions.

Final thoughts on Valentine’s Day Activities for Kids

I love Valentine’s Day crafts that are equal parts education and equal parts entertainment.

Parents and teachers can use the holiday’s universal themes of love, caring, kindness, and friendship to help form meaningful mathematical, artistic, and linguistic associations that will stay with the child well after the month of February has come and gone.

There are countless Valentine’s Day activities, crafts and games you can do with children.

By looking through the fifteen examples listed above, you are sure to find something for children of all ages to make Valentine’s Day a fun and stimulating holiday that will not be easily forgotten!

Don’t forget February is kindness month. Be sure to snag this free poster of 77 acts of kindness for kids.

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