ALT-1 Fun Valentines Day Ideas for Kids
Valentine's Day is a great way to spend time with children by playing games and making crafts for friends and family. With simple supplies found around the house, they can create awesome gifts for very cheap. Kids can also play fun games, put on short plays, and help decorate the house or classroom for this love-inspired day.
Valentine's cards are a must for this day. Set out construction paper, safety scissor, crayons, and glue sticks and let their imaginations go wild. Lead them in creating cute heart shaped cards with the simple rhyme "Roses are red, Violets are blue, Sugar is sweet and so are you." Let the child color and decorate the card.
Help your child make card boxes for collecting Valentine's cards from classmates, friends and family. Any type of small box will work, such as a tissue box or a shoe box. If using a shoe box, cut out a rectangle slot in the lid so the children can drop the Valentines in the box. If you use a tissue box, the hole is already there, so no cutting is required. Wrap the box in aluminum foil, Valentine's gift wrap, or red and pink construction paper. Print out cupid clip art or allow the child to make his or her own decorations.
Desserts are the best part of any holiday, so be sure to include your kids when baking cookies and cupcakes. Let your kids help decorate them. Sugar cookies work best for decorating purposes. Decorator's icing can be bought inexpensively in easy to use cans. Small fingers are able to work with these cans easier than professional icing bags.
Another cheap and easy art project is potato heart art. Slice a large potato in half. Using a knife (adults only) draw a heart in the potato. Carve around the heart, leaving the three dimensional shape alone. Use this as a stamp for cards, the card box, or to decorate a large sheet of construction paper.
Preschoolers and kindergartners always love the heart shaped mouse project. These are fun to make from construction paper and kids love them! With the paper folded in half, cut out half a heart. Glue the folded sides together. Decorate the mouse with eyes and use yarn for a short tail. Cut out a smaller heart and glue on as ears.
Teach older children about the association of cupid with Valentine's Day and let them dress up and play Cupid. Grab an old sheet and some rope or ribbon and fashion a toga for them. Have them act out a scene as Cupid and pretend to shoot love arrows at people. If you have more than one child, you can have the other children be the couple shot with the love arrows. You can also teach a drama lesson, by asking your child how they would act if they were shot with a love arrow. A great example of this type of acting is by Ron Weasley's character in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince when Ron eats the chocolates poisoned by a love spell.
Kids love to help decorating for holidays. Whether at home or in the classroom, let your children contribute to the decorating and they will appreciate the decorum. At home, let your kids tape up construction paper hearts. Hang red streamers from doorways like streamer curtains and let the kids run through them.
A surprise balloon popping game is noisy, but fun for all. You can put a special note in the balloons and let your kids pop them and read the secret messages. You could even include a special one that lets the finder win a prize.
In the classroom, decorate the bulletin board and door with hearts and images of cupid. A nice visual effect is old heart shaped chocolate boxes nailed to the bulletin board. This three dimensional bulletin board will have the kids excited about the holiday and will decorate the classroom beautifully.
Hunt for the hearts is similar to Easter egg hunting, but you use construction paper hearts instead of eggs. Take turns hiding the hearts and finding them. Toddlers and young elementary kids love this hide and seek type of game. Let them use their boxes to collect up the hearts or pull out the old Easter baskets to re-use.
The possibilities for Valentine's Day fun for children are endless. Allow them to use their imaginations and create their own works of art or crafts. Spending time with the child is itself the best gift one can receive.
