Easy Valentine’s Day Activities for your K-1 Classroom!
Y’all- I LOVE Valentine’s Day! I know it’s the holiday that usually gets hated on for being mushy and gushy, but I think of it as a holiday to celebrate love, kindness, and friendship. How can you hate on a holiday that celebrates such good things?! Valentine’s Day has quickly become my favorite holiday to celebrate with my first graders and I make sure to absolutely pack February full with 14 days of heart-themed learning! Read more below to find out some of the easy activities I do each year with my class.
Love Is… Craftivity
This craftivity makes such a sweet bulletin board display, and it’s the ultimate keepsake for families! We complete this writing prompt and craftivity after reading the book “Love” by Eric Carle.
February Kindness Challenge
Challenge your students to 14 random acts of kindness this February! This resource includes a large kindness challenge header for the center of your banner, and 16 hearts (you can choose which ones to use for your banner) with a random act of kindness written on each one (there are editable options also). Add a heart or two each day leading up until Valentine's Day to challenge your class to step up their KINDNESS game!
How to be a Great Valentine
STOP THE SCROLL. This is the SWEETEST ACTIVITY EVER!
We do this on the first day of February to kick off the month of love! We brainstorm ways to be a good Valentine as a class and write our ideas on sticky notes and add them to our anchor chart that can be found HERE.
After brainstorming some ways that we can be a great Valentine to others (ex: listen to each other, help others, be kind, share with others, play at recess, smile at someone, etc.), then I pull out a special cup with each student’s name cut and folded inside. I tell students that we have a super surprising and sweet activity for writing today!
Each student takes a turn and sticks their hand in the cup, pulls out a name, and then that child writes about why that person that they picked is a special Valentine. The best part about this activity is that I don’t have students take their own heart writing home, I have them take home the heart that was written about them! Imagine you are a family member of a child and you get to read a heart full of sweet things about them written by one of their peers! I’d cry!!
It’s a great activity because it makes students think kindly about others, even if they aren’t particularly close friends with that child. I think it’s a good lesson to learn to be kind no matter what at such an early age!
I cut hearts out of construction paper and also cut out heart-shaped handwriting paper for the center. Students glue sequins to the edges of the heart. So precious!!
Some Lovely Read Alouds!
There are so many fun read alouds to do during the month of February. I have almost 40 fun books linked HERE for y’all to grab if you need them!
I like using graphic organizers along with read alouds, and these responses can be found HERE. There are responses geared towards specific books, but there are also responses that can be used with any Valentine’s Day story.
Cupid Capers: a Making Predictions Scavenger Hunt
Learning how to make predictions can be so sweet! I use this "CUPID CAPERS" scavenger hunt on Valentine's Day with my class to practice making predictions in such a fun and engaging way. Cupid has launched his arrow somewhere in our school, and it landed in a bucket of treats for us! Now we have to follow the clues and make predictions to find it!
How does it work?
While you're going about your normal routine, you'll magically find a clue sent straight from Cupid himself! ;) Your class will instantly become invested and will try to work together to make predictions to find out where Cupid left bucket of treats for them all!
What Clues are Included?
The clues that are included lead to the following places: cafeteria, gym, nurse, playground, office, nurse, and library. Clues DO NOT include numbers on the top, so you are able to choose the order of the clues, and how many clues are in your scavenger hunt since there aren’t any words on the clue cards that would indicate their
sequential order. For example, if you only want your scavenger hunt to be 3 clues long, and you want it to lead to the cafeteria, the library, and the front office, then you are able to place the clues in the clue 1, 2, and 3 envelopes.
Candy Heart Math
Sweet Valentine’s candy heart math that you can also EAT?! Count me in! I used the SweeTarts Brand Candy Hearts that come in individual boxes to create this fun math experience for my first graders. This pack practices tally marking, ten frames, addition, and graphing!
Sweet Snack Graphing Math
More math that you can eat! Grab a bag (they come in individual packs as well- woo!) of the Mother’s Frosted Cookies in the “Puppy Love” shapes from Target or Walmart and let your students complete these fun hands-on math tasks!
Practice graphing, tallying, addition, and ten frames!
Kindness Isn’t Cheesy Craftivity
We always do this activity during Random Acts of Kindness Week (it’s always in February but the actual week usually falls on the week of Valentine’s Day). It’s a low-prep but easy and fun way to discuss kindness with your class. I always pair a fun read aloud about kindness with this craft as well, and my kindness read alouds can be found HERE.
Lovely Word Work
Looking for a way to spice up your word work center this February? This LOVELY hands-on word hunt focuses on 8 different phonics skills, and it's super easy to prep!
How to Prep:
Pick your skill. Print out the word cards on colored paper and cut them apart. Fold each word card and place it inside a plastic Valentine's heart box (found at Walmart) or in a tray full of Valentine's pom-poms/glitter hearts/Valentine's bucket filler (found at Michael's). Print the recording sheet for the skill you are working on. Have students open each heart box, (or find a word in the lovely pile) read the word, and sort/write it in the correct column. So much FUN!
Holiday Word Work for Any Word List
Students always love these fun word work pages! I put a new one into our word work bin each week so students to have one choice that is a little more festive than the other word work that we usually do. Students practice writing word family words, phonics pattern words, heart words, sight words, word wall words, or whatever words your class is currently working on!
You can grab this word work HERE.
You can read more about my word work station HERE.
February Print and Play Math Games
These print and play math games are the easiest math center to prep! They’re also great because they review lots of math concepts that students should be working on consistently.
You can grab the math game bundle HERE.
You can read more about my math stations HERE.
Valentine’s Day Color By Code
Color by Codes are perfect for reviewing concepts that have already been taught! I print these out and keep them in a “busy bin” for students to grab from if they are a fast finisher and have nothing else to work on. Each pack includes several math and phonics concepts.
Pizza My Heart Valentine’s Party Pack
Not sure what to do on Valentine's Day?! I've got you covered! This resource is filled with some engaging, low prep activities/centers (directions included for each) that your class can complete all day long on Valentine's Day! Here's what's inside of this "Pizza My Heart" themed pack:
ELA:
-Phonics: beginning/end sound sort
-Reading: graphic organizers for story elements
-Writing: pizza foldable card station
-Writing/Bulletin Board Display: reasons we love being a "pizza" this class
Math:
-Snap Cube Count and Build Mats
-Addition Math Game (need dice)
-Subtraction Math Game (need dice)
-Place Value Math Game (need spinner)
Fun Stuff:
-Pizza Friend Directed Draw
-Pizza My Heart Bingo Game
-Pizza Delivery STEM Building with Toothpicks and Heart Gummies
Fidget Popper Valentine Cards
Pair these 4 fun cards with mini fidget popper keychains to give your little classroom Valentines! Simply print, cut, and hole punch for your pop-it keychain.
Valentine’s Math Craftivity
This festive math craftivity focuses on addition. This craftivity comes with the two cupcake pieces and the base 10 block "heart sprinkles." Use this math craftivity in your math centers, math stations, as a fast finisher activity, independent practice, or assessment!
Candy Heart Place Value
This craftivity is easy to differentiate and it requires little prep! Just print the pieces and go! I love using craftivities on Fun Friday in our math centers. They make the best review activities!
Fun and Festive Freebies!
Find Cupid’s Friends Word Search
Enter your student names, and fill the rest of the grid with random letters to make this fun word search! Students love finding their names and the names of their classmates!
Secret Message Freebie
Can your students decode the secret Valentine’s riddle?! This is always a fun thing to place in your “busy bin” for fast finishers.
Both of these freebies can be found in the Exclusive Freebie section of my website HERE. You’ll need a password to enter, and you can grab it if you sign up to join the Firstie Fam on my website!
Valentine’s Positive Behavior Notes
I love sending home positive behavior notes with deserving students each day! I keep a stack of these on my desk, and when I see a student go “above and beyond” I’ll write their name at the top of the note, sign my name at the bottom, and tape a little Starburst candy to the top for them to bring home to show their families. This is such a quick and easy way to make a positive connection between school and home.
Valentine’s Mail Boxes and Letter Home to Families
I’m 100% on team “Valentine’s Mailbox” instead of bags. Boxes are so much more fun! I can still remember how special I felt in Elementary school when I carried home my box of Valentine treasure. I have families donate plain white boxes (I tell them to cover them in upside down wrapping paper if they can’t find a white box) and I also accept Valentine’s decor donations (glitter, pom poms, stickers, etc.). When it’s time to decorate the boxes, I let my student’s imaginations run wild. It looks like Valentine’s Day exploded, and it makes me the happiest teacher EVER!
I send home directions about these boxes, and a list of names for Valentine’s cards. This Valentine’s letter and list pack is editable and can be found HERE.
Math Around the Room
I love these Valentine’s Math Around the Room centers because they are so easy to set up (just print, cut, and go) and students are always engaged when they are moving around the room “hunting” for the math cards.
Each pack includes over 20 math concepts so it doesn’t matter if you are currently working on number bonds, place value, shapes, or any other K-1 math concepts because they’re all in the pack for you!
You can grab the Math Around the Room Bundle at a discount HERE.
Valentine’s Day Crowns
Y’all know the day isn’t complete without a festive crown/hat! This pack includes several fun different options for you to print, color, and staple onto sentence strips to fit around student’s heads.
I hope you’ve found a few engaging activities from this post that you can bring back into your own classroom during the sweet month of February.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
