Looking for some easy Valentine’s Day activities for kids? You don’t need to search through Pinterest when the best set of Valentine ideas are right here. This post shares a mix of arts and crafts, sensory, literacy, and math activities for Valentine’s Day – all perfect for early childhood.
Valentine’s Day is a tricky holiday in the toddler and preschool years. For starters, it’s a little random and abstract, and it’s no where near as explosive and exciting as Christmas just was.
It can be a little ho-hum.
Or it can be a whole love of fun with these easy Valentine’s Day activities for toddlers and preschoolers. Simple activities, quick and easy activities. The kind of activities that introduce the holiday in a fun, loving way.
What are the best Valentine’s Day activities for kids?
I know you don’t have time to scour through Pinterest looking for little kid appropriate Valentine’s Day activities.
Well good news, I (kind of) do. I definitely spent some solid nap times on this but it was well worth it.
I went through the Internet looking for the best, simplest, and easiest activities for toddlers and preschoolers in February. This list is filled with ideas that don’t have fussy activity supplies or need hours to set up.
These are quick and easy activities that are perfect for the early years.
How to introduce Valentine’s Day to kids
As I’ve started introducing Valentine’s Day to my kids – I’ve found that activities are a great way to talk about a “new to them” holiday.
Activities (and children’s books about Valentine’s Day) give toddlers and preschoolers exposure, experience, and context when it comes to holidays.
It’s important to remember that these kids don’t have years of past experiences or memories with a holiday to go off of. It’s up to us to help start forming their understanding of abstract days.
Tip: We started making these “Love Posters” as a simple Valentine’s Day activity that can be done daily with the whole family where we talk about what we love about each other.
The best Valentine’s Day activities for Kids
I looked high and low, and got in contact with some of my favorite bloggers to put this list together for you. Get ready to click over to some amazing blogs!
Valentine’s Day Sensory Bin
Dye rice red, purple, and pink, toss in some trinkets from the Dollar Store and you’ve got a Valentine’s Day activity you can pull out annually.
Candy Heart Oobleck
Have you made oobleck? Have you dyed it purple? Have you added candy hearts to it? You’re going to want to get on this activity ASAP.
Valentine’s Play Dough
Pink and purple GLITTER play dough is pretty much perfect for Valentine’s day. Make it for home or to gift to friends.
Heart Letter Puzzles
Create a DIY puzzle that’s Valentine’s themed but also perfect for literacy fun.
Heart Sticker Activity
Have a little Valentine’s day fun with dot stickers in this color matching activity for toddlers.
Candy Heart Science
A twist on the classic baking soda and vinegar experiment: color it for Valentine’s day and add hearts. It’s a winner.
Learning Colors Hunt with Hearts
Have a little Valentine’s day fun with dot stickers in this color matching activity for toddlers.
Valentine’s Day Letter Match
What a great game to play with kids to practice the alphabet and celebrate Valentine’s Day.
Heart-themed Fine Motor Activity
This was one of my kids’ favorite activities, too. This is such a sweet Valentine’s Day themed version of an old classic.
Love Potion Bubble Foam
Bubble foam is the BEST: make it even better by theming it for Valentine’s day in this soapy clean sensory bin.
Valentine’s Day Sorting Activity
Grab a box of the classic conversation hearts and turn it into a color sorting activity. Add in tongs for an extra challenge.
Valentine’s Day Gluing Activity
A fantastic Valentine’s Day activity for toddlers and preschoolers that introduces kids to wet glue.
Love Stickers
This Valentine’s Day dot sticker activity also focuses on letter recognition and sorting skills.
Valentine’s Slime Sensory Tray
This slime activity with a Valentine’s day theme is adorable for kids – and this recipe for slime is a good one.
Colorful Cooked Pasta
Yup, you can dye noodles and it makes for one amazing taste-safe sensory bin and learning space for kids.
Heart Hopscotch
What a fantastic idea for a gross motor activity during a winter month holiday? This is brilliant!
Colorful Hearts Sensory Bin
I’m obsessed with this sensory bin activity using shredded paper. What a great, unique bin idea with a sorting and fine motor twist.
Counting Hearts Sticky Wall
I love Con-tact paper is this is a perfect use for it with Valentine’s Day!
Valentine’s Day Heart and Rice Bin
I love Con-tact paper is this is a perfect use for it with Valentine’s Day!
Giant Heart Matching Game
This is such a fun game to build for kids around Valentine’s day. Would be great with a group of preschoolers!
Valentine’s Day Sensory Table
Use those roses for a fun sensory bin for kids – it’s just petals and water and it’s perfection.
Dyed Chickpea Sensory Bin
Have you dyed chickpeas before? It’s so easy and you can save this supply for many future Valentine’s days.
Valentine’s Day Soup
It’s not actually soup: it’s a dyed water sensory bin that’s absolutely epic for Valentine’s day. It’s a family favorite here!
Heart Number Recognition
This is such a great Valentine’s day learning activity.
Candy Heart Smash
Smashing candy hearts. This might be the only way I’d ever touch a candy heart (sorry friends, I cannot with the taste).
Frequently Asked Questions
Nope. Never. You never have to. Valentine’s day activities are an extra option but only if it works in your life. Your child will still go to Harvard someday even if they never did a Valentine’s Day activity at home.
It’s the Valentine’s day sensory bin! Why? Because you can make this once and enjoy it for years. We made this activity bin in 2019 and it’s been with us for 4 Valentine’s days. Now that’s a good activity!
I don’t, but Lauren (a librarian) at Happily Ever Elephants has a great list of Valentine’s Day books and a list of books about love.
Susie Allison, M. Ed
Owner, Creator
Susie Allison is the creator of Busy Toddler and has more than 2.3 million followers on Instagram. A former teacher and early childhood education advocate, Susie’s parenting book “Busy Toddler’s Guide to Actual Parenting” is available on Amazon.
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neet and angel says
Love these ideas for a busy toddler! My little one is always on the go, so it’s great to find activities that can be done in short intervals. Can’t wait to try the heart collage with my kiddo. Thanks for sharing!
Vanessa Outlaw says
I love your ideas for valentine’s activities. I work with infant and Toddler’s. I’m all ways looking for safe activities for them.