As we’re quickly approaching Valentine’s Day, I’m sure many of us are scrolling Pinterest to find ways to create yet another magical holiday in our precious kids lives. For this exact reason, I’ve compiled a list of how to create a sweet day of love your child will cherish.
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Teach them what Valentine’s Day is about:
Valentine’s Day is all about love. The first step to creating a core memory for your young child this Valentine’s Day is to first teach them what it’s about! Talk about the people they love, how much you love them, and how we can show people we love them and spread love to the world
Volunteer-
a great idea to teach them about love leading up to Valentine’s Day is to volunteer with them! You can find an actual volunteer organization that allows kids to come, or just make your own volunteer activity. These ideas could be picking up litter on a local trail or at a park or beach. It could be baking cookies and bringing them to all your neighbors instead of eating them (but of course you guys can steal a few). It could be taking them to shop for some food to drop off at a local food pantry or homeless shelter. There are plenty of activities you can take kids of all ages to be apart to help show them how to spread love!
Love Activities-
Another great way to teach them about love is to do activities surrounding the concept of love.
Things I love about myself activity- have them draw a picture of themselves OR print out a picture of them and tape it to a heart shaped piece of paper. Then, have them come up with a list of things they love about themselves! Write it on the back of the picture and read it to them often!
Love Tree- Make a tree drawing and tape little hearts all over it as leaves. Within each heart include a name or picture of all of the people, places, and things your little one loves!
My Emotions Activity- While the feeling of love is the target feeling for Valentine’s Day, why not take the opportunity to talk about all sorts of emotions? Click here for a FREE feelings bundle from an amazing company called Harbor and Sprout that I love using with my son.
Make Valentines to send to people they love:
Of course the main activity of Valentine’s Day is: Valentines! Have so much fun leading up to Valentine’s Day by having your kiddo make valentines to give to all their family and friends! You can make your own and personalize each one or just go buy some fun valentines to send out! Last year we did these super fun farm animal ones and this year we’re all about construction so we found these truck cards that come with mini trucks! Of course we had to keep some animals and some trucks for ourselves but thankfully we still had enough to send out. We also made personalized Valentine’s for those we’re closest to, so they could get an extra special one too.
Arrange for a Valentine’s Day Swap:
You may have an arranged school valentines swap if your kid attends school, but if not, don’t let that stop the fun! Reach out to other moms to put together a fun valentines themed play date where all the kids bring valentines to swap. The other fun thing we do is mail our valentines to all our family across the country! They all mail my son back valentines and he gets the excitement of opening all that fun mail addressed to him.
Set the Theme Leading Up to the Day:
The most fun thing you can do is get them excited for the holiday! Here’s how to do that:
Read Valentines Day Books:
Soooo many of your favorite book series have Valentine’s books for your little one to read. Check out your local library to see what you can get (for free) or check out some of the books I have linked below.
The Little Blue Truck’s Valentines
Pout-Pout Fish: Special Valentines
Happy Valentine’s Day, Little Critter! (what we put in our valentine’s basket last year and pulled out again leading up to this year)
Do Valentine’s Activities:
Heart coloring pages:
Valentine’s Day Sensory Bin:
Rescue the Hearts- fill up a sensory bin full of hearts and put lines of tape crossing over the top. Give your little one some sensory tongs and let them rescue the hearts from the bin they’re trapped in!
Themed exploration: Fill up a bin of red items for them to explore. You can use sensory tools, red Pom poms, dyed red rice, or any other red (or pink) items and just let them explore.
Valentines Day Crafts:
Heart Handprints:
Hobby Lobby Crafts: Hobby Lobby is my favorite for holiday crafts! You can usually pick out a fun and easy themed craft for a dollar or two. This year we got their love monster craft!
Blow a Kiss Craft: Take a picture of your kiddo blowing a kiss and print it, and then cut them out! They can then draw hearts or cut out colored pieces of heart paper and glue them to make it look like they are blowing hearts!
Paper Towel Roll Heart Stamping: This one is so simple and so fun! You can take a paper towel roll and bend in one side, then boom! You have a semi heart shaped stamp. Using red and pink paint let them make hearts all over a paper! My mom actually did this with my siblings and I, and she still pulls out the poster paper we heart stamped as decor every year for Valentine’s Day.
Heart Painting: Keep it simple! Just teach your preschoolers how to paint hearts. This is so fun and a great practice of motor skills and art expression. Or you could draw hearts and have them paint them in.
Rock Painting and Love Notes:
Another cute way to express love is to find flat rocks and paint them. This is a fun time and you could definitely paint them Valentine’s themed. Even if you don’t want to paint hearts, decorate them cute and then write “love notes” on them. Help your kids come up with words of affirmation, encouragement, or love, and then write them on the painted rocks and go put them on trails or parks for people to find. Such a fun craft to spread love!
Valentine’s Day Playdough:
Making playdough is an activity for all seasons, and the glory of it is you pick your colors. Make playdough with fun Valentine’s Day colors and watch your kids be entertained for hours! Check out my post on making homemade playdough here if you need an easy recipe to follow.
Bake/Decorate Valentine’s Day Cookies:
Of course, a must do Valentine’s Activity is baking and/or decorating cookies! They’re a fun treat, and also a fun things to give out to people that you can make right at home!
Bake Heart Shaped Pizza:
If you’re looking for something a little less sugary, but still embracing the holiday spirit, bake some homemade pizza! You just need dough, sauce, cheese, and toppings. It can be sooo much fun, and yummy too!
Give them a Valentine’s Day Basket:
My favorite Valentine’s Day tradition is to create a Valentine’s Day basket for my little one and his dad to open, and I get one of my own from them as well. Last year we got baskets on sale from Walmart for Easter, and this year we thrifted cute ones to fill up. In this basket fill it with love! Make your own Valentine for your little one or a cute picture and hand written note and then put in cute items they love. Thing you should put in include:
Candy/Chocolate-
what’s their favorite sweet? If you’re on a budget, make something!
Books-
check out the list of Valentine’s Day themed books above or just grab one your kid would love to get, even if it’s not valentines specific. This year we got Construction Site: You’re Just Right for my son!
A Stuffed Animal-
any stuffed animal would be loved by most children, but go the extra mile for this holiday all about what they love. What’s their favorite animal? Favorite book? Last year we got a cow since that was my sons favorite animal and this year we went with the llama llama stuffy! He’s been obsessed with all those stories and I think this will be a huge hit.
A craft, activity, or toy for your child to DO-
last year for us this was a farm sensory bin! This year we’re getting an art set and a lilo and stitch (my sons favorite movie) yoto card! Both things he’s going to LOVE.
Something they need-
Sometimes it’s hard to justify spending money on things like a Valentine’s Day basket so I love to use this as an opportunity to throw in something I’ve been meaning to buy anyways to make it extra full and fun, while still checking things off my list. This could include: new undies in a fun print (like these stitch boxers we’re throwing in), a new blanket, a new cup (make it Valentine’s Day themed!), a new outfit, new shoes, or anything else you can think off that may be on your list that’s still fun for them to open.
Take them on a Valentine’s Day Date:
Finally, the most important way to make Valentines Day one to remember for your preschooler is just to have them enjoy celebrating it. Maybe before you go on your special Valentines date, take them on one! Do something fun for you both. This year my son has soccer in the morning, so we’re going from his practice to a favorite coffee shop of ours that caters towards moms with fun kids activities and drinks. Putting away screens and just enjoying genuine connection with your child, out of the house, is irreplaceable. We should do that whenever we have the chance and Valentine’s Day is perfect. (Especially since this year is on a Saturday).
Happy Valentines Day guys and I really hope you find yourselves overwhelmed with love, and that you can spread that love into your child’s lives as well:)