Now that the holidays are behind us, we can start looking ahead to the next opportunity for some fun learning! Valentine’s Day is always a time to “share the love!”
For more ideas, see this earlier post.
Some fun valentine’s day activities
- Make Heart Marshmallow Toothpick Structures
This is a fun activity that kids love. And one of the best things about it is that you only need 2 materials to do it!
All you’ll need are heart-shaped marshmallows (found in Target or Walmart) and some toothpicks. If you’re doing this with little “littles” the round toothpicks might be a bit too sharp. Try using the flat ones … and colored toothpicks would be fun as well!
This activity encourages problem-solving and creativity. The students may need to come up with alternate ways of building what they’re envisioning.
You can let the kids just create on their own, or you can direct them a bit by suggesting different things to build.
And, of course, eating a marshmallow or two is a given!
- Colorful Paper Hearts Mobile
These mobiles are fun to make. Making them will give kids some good practice in small-motor skills.
Start by cutting out white paper hearts. You’ll need tissue paper torn or cut into squares or small pieces. For Valentine’s Day, red or pink paper would be great to use!
As students place their tissue paper on the white hearts, they’ll need to wet them down really well with a wet paint brush … just use water. This will cause the colors to bleed onto the paper. Let them dry for a few hours, and then peel away the tissue paper. The bright colors will look great! And as a bonus, the colors usually look good from the back side, too!
For more detailed instructions, click on the image above.
Fun Math with Candy Hearts
Those little candy hearts are so much fun! What better way to teach a math lesson?
All you’ll need are 3 small heart-shaped paper cutouts, candy hearts (number needed determined by number of students) and some addition or subtraction problems from flashcards or other sources.
Students will place the number of hearts called for in the problem on two of the paper hearts. For example, if the problem was 4 + 5 = ? they would place 4 candy hearts on one heart, and 5 on the other. Then on the third heart they will place the number of candy hearts that equals the answer.
You can do this for both addition and subtraction problems.
Math and Literacy Activities
You can also extend the Valentine’s Day theme into your centers. You can use math games, sorting activities, and worksheets that are based on some aspect of Valentine’s Day.
If you’re looking for some ready-to-go ideas, you might like my Valentine’s Day Activities for Math and Literacy resource.
This varied and differentiated pack of Valentine’s Day activities is full of interesting and challenging literacy and math to keep your students engaged and thinking! The pack offers 14 activities in total, including games, centers and worksheets.
You might also like these related products:
Do you have a favorite Valentine’s Day activity? Share it in the comments below.
