3 Fun and Easy Valentine’s Day Activities to Do This Year!

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Have you ever planned a classroom party?  Does the thought of doing that overwhelm you or excite you?

I believe there is a magic formula to planning classroom parties.  It’s about finding that perfect balance between active games and more calm activities, such as crafts.

Here is my basic formula that I have adopted after planning several:

Start with 4 groups/stations (if need more due to large numbers of kids, see ideas below):

• 1 group is a “food group”…snacks and/or any food project like cookie decorating
• 1 group is a “craft group”…artwork, put together a craft to take home, etc
• 1 group is an “active game group”…some version of Pin the Tail on the Donkey, bowling, ring toss, etc
• 1 group is a “semi-active game group”…minute to win it games, puzzles, Don’t Eat Pete, etc.

 

Also Check Out:

Valentine’s Day Bingo Game (free download)

Today I have 3 more activities for you!  And as a bonus, I have a downloadable Valentine that you can print at home and send in for school Valentine exchanges.  Simply print it out, attach a Smartie candy roll where it says “tape here”, and you are golden!

Bean Bag toss Tic Tac Toe…the ideal active game!

All you have to do is take bean bags (or corn hole bags) and paint X’s and O’s on top of them with puff paint or any kind of fabric paint.

Take a roll of masking or painter’s tape and create a tic tac toe board on the floor.

I recommend also using the tape to make a “toss line”… you know, the line that you have to stand behind when you toss.  Otherwise the kids run all over the board!

I got this idea from a friend last year, and it was a major hit with 3rd graders.  My own kids (1st grade, 2nd grade and 4th grade) have been playing it constantly since I made the board on the floor!

The beauty of this game is that it is completely customizable…choose the bean bag colors you want (I chose red and white for Valentine’s Day), the paint colors you want, and make the board any size you want.

You can find sets of bean bags here.

I typically stick with the standard 3×3, but if you want to try this with older kids and make it a little more challenging, try a 4×4 or 5×5 board (if you have the space).

Just make sure you have enough bean bags to play! For a 3×3 board, you would want 5 bean bags of each color.  For a 4×4 board, you would want 9 bean bags of each color.  For a 5×5 board, you would need a whopping 13 bean bags of each color!

Two ‘Minute To Win It’ games with conversation hearts.

For one game, simply stack as many hearts as you can in one minute. It’s harder than it sounds!

If the stack falls over, you have to start from the beginning. The person with highest stack at the end of a minute wins!

The second conversation heart game is to use chop sticks to move as many as you can from one bowl to another.

The person with the most conversation hearts in the new bowl at the end of a minute wins!

Now for the bonus…I have created a Valentine that you can download and print!  Try it on card stock paper for a little more sturdiness.

This Valentine is definitely “kid-approved” because my 4th grader helped me design it, and he gave it his stamp of approval! Download the printable page HERE.

 

Valentine's Day You are such a smartie