Valentine's Day Ideas for the Classroom

 

Are you a teach or volunteer soon discovers when Valentine’s Day hits that you are at a loss for finding cute games and crafts to keep the children busy? Do you have horrible visions of your child’s entire class running amuck from having too much time on their hands? You can count on Party411.com to keep kids of all ages happy and entertained throughout the "Season of Love."

 

After decorating the classroom, put a cherry on top with a Valentine Cutout of the teacher!  Kids will love getting their pictures taken with this giant heart cutout!

 

Make sure to keep the kids entertained until the school day ends with a variety of fun Valentine's theme games:

1. Valentine Hunt - Divide the kids into teams and give them a list of Valentine's Day related items to locate around the room. Some fun items to place around the room are heart shaped erasers, pencils/pens with hearts on them, small notepads with hearts, small boxes of candy hearts, etc. The team with the most items found wins.
2. Hiding Hearts - Draw a picture with hearts all over the place throughout the picture. Give everyone pencil and paper and have them write down the number of hearts they can find in the picture. After 3 minutes, call time. The kids who find the correct number of hearts in the picture win a prize.
3. Valentine Freeze Dance - This game does not need much explanation. Put a group of kids in a room, play some songs with the word "love" in them, and watch them dance. Turn the music off during different times in the song, at which time they must freeze in their current position. If they move at all, then they are "out." The kids who are still in the game continue to dance/freeze as you control the music, until one person wins.
4. Sense-Sational - Test their powers of smell! Fill paper bags with a variety of items that have an aroma that has to do with Valentine’s Day such as cinnamon, chocolate, roses, etc. Be sure the smells are familiar to the age group. Then pass the bags around and let the kids smell them without looking inside. Give prizes to whoever guesses them all correctly (or whoever guesses the most correctly).
5. Musical Valentine - Gather the kids in a circle and give one of the children a wrapped Valentine present. Play music and have them pass the present around the circle. When the music stops, the child holding the present gets to keep it and then drop out of the game. Start another present around the circle.
6. Good Guess - Find a variety of items that the kids can guess "How many…" For example, "How many red jellybeans in a jar," "How many Red Hots in a jar," "How many pieces of heart shaped pasta in a bag," etc. Award a prize to the child who has the closest guess for each item.

Have the kids make their own Valentine's Day favors with themed crafts.  Have them make one or two of these winners:

• Frame the One You Love - One of the best craft ideas for Valentine’s Day is a picture frame. This craft will work for even the youngest child and is sure to melt every parent’s heart. The materials needed for this craft are popsicle sticks (Tongue depressors might be easier for young children to work with), glue, a piece of cardboard (length should match that of a popsicle stick when horizontal and vertical), markers, heart confetti, beads, sequins, buttons, glitter, etc. Glue a popsicle stick along each side of the cardboard, overlapping the corners. Stack a second (and last) level of popsicle sticks and let the glue dry. When the glue is dry let the children decorate the sides of the frame without gluing anything on to the cardboard. The final touch is gluing a picture on to the cardboard.
• Sweet Love - Bake sugar cookies or cupcakes before your child’s Valentine’s Day class party. Take in the cookies/cupcakes along with frosting (use food coloring to dye white frosting red or pink), tongue depressors (to spread the frosting), and lots of sugars, sprinkles, and candies like Conversation Hearts and Red Hots
• Love to Read - This bookmark is a really fun and easy craft that won’t take too long to make. Go to your local craft store and buy some tongue depressors. Each child can decorate a tongue depressor or two with markers, flat foam shapes, sequins, glitter, etc. (really, anything flat will work). Buy some pompoms as well as googly eyes as well so that the children can glue a little "Love Buddy" at the tip of their bookmarks to hold their places in whatever books they are reading.
• Be My Valentine - Most kids are already familiar with a "Valentine's Day card exchange." This is when each child decorates a box/bag in which they can receive and carry Valentines to and from school, and either buys or creates Valentines to give to each member of their class. (Make sure children create a card for each member of the class so that no one feels left out.) Kids can get very creative with their decorations using candy conversation hearts as well as everyday household items like tin foil, cotton balls, doilies, and anything red that they can get their hands on. Have a contest to see who can be the most creative with both their "Valentines Mailbox" as well as their Valentines.

Valentine's Day Pink Punch

Serve a fun punch along with some cookies for a fun Valentine's Day treat. Here is one of our favorites; it's easy and kid approved:

 

Pink Party Punch

 

2 Quarts Pink Lemonade

1 Container of Raspberry Sorbet or Strawberry Ice Cream

2 Liter Bottle of Lemon Lime Soda (Sprite, 7up)

3 Cups Sliced Strawberries or Raspberries

 

Add all ingredients to punchbowl, stir and serve!

 

Punny Valentine's Day Gifts For the Kids

Give the kids a fun little gift  and attach a Valentine with a fun phrase on it. Here are a few ideas

• Mini Puzzle - "Love you to PIECES!"
• Fancy pen or pencil - "You're All WRITE!"
• Pack of gum - "Would CHEW be mine?"
• Bubbles - "You BLOW me away!"
• Gummy frogs - "You are TOADally fun!"
• Play Doh - "DOH you want to be my Valentine?"
• Bouncy ball - "Hope your Valentine's Day is a BALL!"
• Box of Crayons - "You COLOR my world!"
• Krazy Straw - "SIP SIP Hooray for Valentine's Day!"
• Balsa Wood Plane - "You're just PLANE awesome!"
• Bag of Swedish Fish - "Glad we are in the same SCHOOL!"
• Small plastic jungle animal toy - "I'm WILD about you!"
• Toy Car - "I love how you ROLL"
• Glow necklace - "Valentine you make my heart GLOW!"
• Ruler - "You RULE Valentine!"
• Applesauce - "You are the APPLE of my eye"
• Sunglasses - "I've got my EYES on you!"

Valentine's Day Playlist For the Kids

What's a party without music? Try this kid friendly Valentine's Day playlist for the kiddos -

• Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Queen
• Sugar, Sugar, The Archies
• Skidamarink, John Archambault and David Plummer
• The Power of Love, Huey Lewis and the News
• I’ll Be There, Jackson 5
• Thank You For Being A Friend,  Andrew Gold
•  Who Loves You, Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons
•  Friday, I’m In Love, The Cure
•  Love Is A Battlefield, Pat Benatar
•  I Just Called To Say I Love You, Stevie Wonder
• We Go Together, John Travolta and Olivia Newton John
•  Baby Love, The Supremes
• My Girl, Temptations
• How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You), Marvin Gaye
•  I Love You (Always Forever), Donna Lewis
•  Best of My Love, The Emotions
• Love Me Do, The Beatles
• Elephant Love Medley from Moulin Rouge
• Silly Love Songs, Paul McCartney

 

Have a happy Valentine's Day from your friends at Party411.com!