Valentine’s Day is the perfect day to show people how you feel — especially your kids. If you’ve got little ones, turn this holiday into a very special one by giving them a little extra attention and having fun while at it. It will definitely leave a lasting core memory in them, and it will teach them to show love and friendship to others. If you’re scrambling for a few ideas to involve the kids in celebrating Valentine’s Day, we’ve got a few suggestions that should appeal to any little or big kids as well.
Here are a few kid-centered and family-friendly activities for Valentine’s Day that everyone is sure to love.
- Start with letting the kids and the family make a few decorations to get your home or activity area in the holiday spirit. Teach them how to cut out hearts from construction paper and let them decorate it however they’d like with markers, crayons, glitter, and paper heart-shaped doilies. The sky is the limit with this one. A sweet decoration is to help the kids put their hands together in a heart shape and help them trace around them. Or if they don’t mind getting a little messy, you can dip their hands in paint and help them make heart-shaped handprints. You can also make handprint-shaped flowers and anything that their little hearts can imagine. You’re sure to treasure these forever as your little ones grow older.
- Another cute idea for a craft is to cut out a slightly larger heart. Cut out two 12″ x 2″ strips of white paper and two 6″ x 2″ strips of red paper. Teach them how to fold them up in accordion style. These are going to be the arms and legs of your heart friend. Attach the two longer strips at the bottom for legs, and put the two shorter strips on the sides for arms. Cut smaller hearts to put on the ends of the strips of white paper for hands and feet. Let them put a face on the heart with markers, googly eyes, or whatever they’d like. This makes for a very cute decoration and a precious keepsake.
- Make your own heart garland by cutting out hearts and stringing them together with yarn or twine. This will be cute hanging from your mantle or across your windows.
- Help the kids make homemade valentines for their families, grandparents, teachers, and friends. These handmade sentiments made from the heart will mean so much more. But if your kids aren’t too into the artistic scene, you can find cute and fun cards at almost any store that are always great to give.
- The little ones are going to need something to hold their candy in. Get paper bags, colored party bags with handles, or a cardboard box to use as their Valentine keepers. You might want to help them write their names on their treat bags or boxes, and then let them decorate them however they’d like.
- Have lots of fun with a few games. Find an easy Valentine’s trivia sheet online. Print it out and give out Hershey Kisses for each right answer. Print out some Valentine Search-a-Words, Word scrambles, or Valentine “I Spy” sheets that the kids will enjoy. Play Bingo. Who doesn’t love bingo? Either print out a Valentine’s Day Bingo you find online or just use your own bingo set. Give it more of a Valentine’s feel by using conversation hearts as your bingo markers. Make sure to have a small prize or bag of candy for the winner.
- A very sweet game to play is the Love Game. Get a piece of construction paper or foam board and cut out a square. Cut out different colored hearts to place around the page like a clock. Make a spinner for the middle out of a popsicle stick shaved to a point on one end. Attach it to the center of the board with brass fasteners so that the stick can spin. Cut out larger hearts in the same colors as those on the board. Let each person pick out their color. You can string yarn through the hearts for everyone to wear around their necks or they can just hold the hearts if they like. Let each person take a turn at the spinner. When the spinner lands on a heart, the person spinning tells the person having that colored heart something nice they like about them or pays that person a compliment. Then, it’s the person’s turn that was just complimented to spin, and the process goes around until each person gets a chance to play or keep spinning and playing for as long as they like.
- Have a heart search. Cut out some hearts out of construction paper, and stick them around the house in different places, such as the bathroom mirror, on the floor, on a chair, maybe even the dog — just anywhere. It will be a fun search to see who can find the most hearts.
- Make your own tic-tac-toe boards out of construction paper. Draw off the square on each sheet and cut out hearts and Xs in place of the original X and O markers. You can reuse the tic-tac-toe boards when you use paper cutouts rather than having the kids mark on the cards.
- For your kid or family-centered party, do some activities that the whole family enjoys. Go for a bike ride. Visit the park or zoo. Play board games. Play charades. Read their favorite story to them. Have a video game challenge. Dance-offs are always fun. If you have a karaoke machine, the fun factor goes up a few notches. Just have a fun time doing whatever your kids and family enjoy doing together.
- What’s Valentine’s Day without something sweet to eat? If your kids like to help you bake, you’ll make sweet memories in the kitchen making heart-shaped sugar cookies, cupcakes that they can decorate with icing and sprinkles, brownies, or whatever your favorite treats are. Red Kool-Aid punch is always a popular hit for any Valentine’s affair with the kiddos.
- Make the kids feel extra special this Valentine’s Day. Order a pizza, burgers, or their favorite food. Pop some popcorn, grab a few snacks, and snuggle up on the couch to watch one or two of their favorite movies. Any Disney movie is always great, such as “Cinderella” or “Sleeping Beauty,” as they combine a little romance with the cartoons. Or if your kids are a little older and want to watch something else, let them choose whatever they’d like — as long as it’s a parent and family-approved movie. This will be a special time for you to focus on your kids and family and enjoy spending some time together. Memories of these moments are sure to last a lifetime and may become traditions for the family and their future families.
Celebrating Valentine’s Day with the kids will teach them that it can be a day to celebrate their friends and family by showing them how much they mean to them. It doesn’t have to be a day of mushy, gushy cards and sentiments. Valentine’s Day is a fun day to show others that you care. It will help you to influence empathy and caring for others in the daily lives of your kids.
So if you’ve got littles or bigger kids, you might want to ditch the lovey-doveyness this holiday and make it a time of fun and togetherness. Including a few of these suggestions in your holiday celebration with the kids and family will make for a lasting memory that they’ll treasure forever.
Remember, Valentine’s Day isn’t just for lovers. It’s a great time to show little kids, big kids, and everyone how much you care. That’s a certain formula for a fabulous Valentine’s Day celebration.