Valentine’s day is a perfect time to bring lots of love and laughter into the classroom with some fun activities for little ones. From hearts and crafts to exciting games, these fun games will have preschoolers giggling and smiling from ear to ear.
How Valentine’s Day Started
Valentine’s Day can be traced all the way back to Saint Valentine, an early Christian martyr in Rome. The day became associated with love and romance in the 14th century when writer Chaucer wrote a poem about two lovers named “Valentines”.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, people began to exchange small tokens of affection such as cards, coins, or flowers on February 14th. Commercialization of the holiday started in the late 19th century with boxes of chocolates and teddy bears being exchanged as gifts.
Today, millions around the world celebrate Valentine’s Day by sending cards, buying gifts, or making special plans with their loved ones.
Valentine’s Day Classroom Games for Preschoolers
#1 – Paper Plate Conversation Hearts Game
For this game, you will need paper plates, paint or markers, construction paper, and glue. First, have the kids decorate plates with different colors of hearts and phrases like “Love You” and “Be Mine”.
Next, have them cut out construction paper hearts in various sizes and glue them to the back of their plates. Finally, have everyone take turns spinning the plate around to see what phrase is revealed at the end – it’s a fun way to encourage conversations!
#2 – Valentine Bingo Game
This game is great for kids aged 3-5 since it requires little reading and features colorful, fun cards. Have the kids each pick Valentine’s Day-themed bingo cards and let them enjoy their game while they practice their matching skills.
#3 – Flower Power Spin Valentines Game
This is an exciting game that requires moving around and a bit of luck to be successful. All you need are paper flowers for each child, with each flower containing a special task or prize on it such as spinning 5 times or getting an extra sweet treat at the end of the game. Take turns spinning each child’s flower until all tasks are completed!
#4 – Valentine’s Day Memory Game
Memory is a classic preschooler favorite and this one will be even more special with Valentine’s twist! Create your own memory board using Valentine-themed cards, coloring pages, or characters, and have kids take turns selecting two pieces to match up together.
If they have a match, then they keep it on the board; if not then it goes back in the pile. The player who collects the most matches wins!
#5 – Hearts Charades Valentine Game for Kids
Act out charades using Valentine’s Day-themed actions like “giving someone a box of chocolates” or “writing a love letter” and see who can guess what action you are demonstrating first!
Valentine’s Gay Games Ideas
#6 – Grab Bag Carnival Style Maze
Set up stations around your home with activities like tossing hula hoops around pins, ringing bells for prizes, or other objects inside bags… Add some treats along the way and have kids complete various tasks before collecting their goodies! A perfect way to celebrate Valentine’s Day in style!
#7 – Valentine’s Day Stamp Station
Design your own personalized stamp stamps with words such as love, hugs, kisses, etc., and drawings too if you would like – make sure to include lots of fun colors that the kids can use at their own creative stamp station while making their valentine cards.
#8 – Heart Mania Wall Toss
Set up heart-shaped target boards around your living room (or whatever space you have) and arm everyone with light balls such as pompoms on strings -Whoever scores a maximum number of throws through any target win s/he wins! Let them enjoy a heart mania wall toss together for some friendly competition on V-Day!
#9 – Make Someone Smile
Divide the class into teams and hand each team supplies such as construction paper, scissors, glue, crayons, and markers. Give them 15 minutes or so to create as many Valentine’s cards as possible for their classmates. When time is up, have everyone present their Valentines and vote on who made the most creative cards.
#10 – The Sweetheart Relay Race
Create two teams with equal numbers of kids on each side of a long table. Place a pile of assorted Valentine’s Day candy at one end of the table, and at the other end place two empty baskets for collecting candy.
This game is just like a relay race – each player must take a piece of candy from their side of the table and run it over to drop it in their basket before running back to tag their teammate so they can do the same. The team with all the candy in their basket first wins!
#11 – Cupid Says
Another classic game that you can easily make more festive is “Cupid Says” – like Simon Says but with Valentine’s Day-themed instructions! To play have one child stand at the front of the room acting as “Cupid” while all other children line up facing them.
Cupid will give instructions such as “Cupid says touch your nose!” or “Cupid says ‘give your neighbor a hug’!” Anyone who follows along when Cupid doesn’t say “Cupid says” is out until there is one remaining person left – who has been crowned the winner by Cupid himself!
#12 – Chocolate Toss Game
This game requires nothing more than some Hershey kisses and paper plates (or cups). Have each student pair up and take turns throwing Hershey kisses onto paper plates from about five feet away.
The duo that gets ten kisses on their plate first wins! All participants can revel in eating chocolates at the end after tallying scores!
#13 – Love Match
Divide students into pairs and ask each pair to come up with five questions they would like to ask each other (the questions should relate to things they know about each other). When every student has written down five questions, have them switch papers with their partner.
Now they’re answering questions about each other instead of asking them. When all students have answered, go around the room and let everyone share one thing new they learned about their partner that was revealed by one of their answers.
#14 – Cupid’s Arrow
This is an easy game that requires nothing more than paper arrows and blindfolds. Simply give each student a paper arrow with their name written on it and then have them take turns wearing the blindfold, spinning around three times, and then trying to throw their arrow at someone else in the room. Whoever they hit wins that round and gets a small prize (such as candy).
#15 – Pass-the-Heart
Make large heart shapes out of construction paper and divide your class into two teams then pass one heart between members of each team while music plays until it reaches its starting point; when it does so you can stop playing music; whichever team passes more hearts wins! Alternatively, you can also play musical chairs using Valentine-themed objects instead of chairs.
#16 – Heart Puzzles
A popular game that’s simple yet effective is to make heart-shaped puzzles out of various materials found around the classroom. All you need are some red, pink, or white paper cut into heart shapes, a pair of scissors for each student, and some creativity!
Have each student create their own puzzle by carefully cutting out sections from their paper heart. Once completed, have them switch puzzles with a partner. Have all pairs work together to assemble the other person’s puzzle before time runs out!
#17 – Love Letters
This game requires students to write love letters to themselves! Using paper, markers, and any other decorative materials you can think of (e.g., stickers or glitter), have each student write their own love letter.
Encourage students to express what they love about themselves – it can be anything from physical features like their eyes or hair color; positive personality traits like being kind or thoughtful; special skills they may have such as playing an instrument or sports; activities they enjoy doing; or even just something general like being who they are.
Once everyone has finished writing their letter, encourage them to share it with the rest of the class if they feel comfortable doing so. This activity helps build self-esteem as well as encourages communication between classmates in a safe and fun environment!
These are just some ideas for Valentine’s Day games that can be played with kids in the classroom. Whether you want something that requires physical activity or mental acuity or something simpler like matching objects together, these activities are sure to keep your students entertained and interested over this holiday season!