Everybody knows Valentine’s Day is the holiday of love. But homeschoolers can make it the holiday of learning, too.
Although the origin of the true Valentine is not clear, archaeological evidence confirms that a Saint Valentine did exist. It is the combination of legend, mystery, love, and history that makes Valentine’s Day a fascinating topic for study at almost any age.
There are many ways that you can incorporate learning around the holiday of love. From craft projects to essays on the history of St. Valentine, February 14th offers a great opportunity for homeschoolers to mix learning with fun!
One of the great advantages of homeschooling is the flexibility to build lessons around special events and holidays. This year, do more than just send out some valentine cards – make Valentine’s Day an educational experience! See the article Teaching Love: A Homeschool Valentine's Day for Children for some ideas on creative ways to show children how to love others.
But even die-hard academics have to take a break from time to time and just have some fun! With a day set aside specifically to show our loved ones just how much they mean to us, there’s no better time to get creative and simply enjoy our kids.
Valentine's Day Activities
Here are some fun ideas to make a homeschool Valentine's Day special:
- Make cards for others. Have your kids make a Valentine’s Day card for their father, sibling, or friend. Check out this cute stained glass window card as one fun idea!
- Make a Valentine’s Day lapbook! Lapbooks are wonderful hands on ways for children to learn and do at the same time. They incorporate facts, creativity, and fun all together, and give children a “finished product” they can refer to later on. For ideas on a Valentine’s Day lapbook, consider this Valentine's Day lapbook example from Thoroughly Blessed, or this free printable lapbook based on the book Cranberry Valentine.
- Make a special breakfast. Check out these cute red and golden heart pancakes for a festive Valentine’s Day morning meal. Or make these Red Velvet Pancakes with Cream Cheese Frosting.
- Create some Valentine’s Day decorations. Deck the halls together to bring out Valentine’s Day cheer! Consider this Salt Dough Heart Wreath for a simple yet fun decoration multiple ages can enjoy making.
- Bake some Valentine’s Day treats. What is Valentine’s Day without a little sugar? Kids will love to make these Valentine’s Day Stained Glass Cookies, which are beautiful as well as tasty! Or try making these Reese’s Peanut Butter Hearts for peanut butter chocolate lovers!
- Put up mailboxes for the family. Make small mailboxes and put them up in a central location in the home the week prior to Valentine’s Day. Encourage each family member to deliver valentines to each member of the family throughout the week, telling each family member what they love about him or her! Open the mailboxes and read the valentines on February 14th.
- Give some love coupons. Create some coupons and write a special thing on each that you can give to or do for each child. The child must cash in the coupon to get the special! Some examples: Go on a special one-on-one date with the child, a free pass from doing an expected chore, a back rub, a special dessert or treat, movie night, etc.
- Host a Valentine’s Day tea for the children. This idea is especially wonderful for little girls. Life is a Party offers photos and ideas for a wonderful Valentine’s Day tea to make the day super special.
- Make a Valentine’s Day pencil holder. Have too many pencils lying around? Try this fun pencil holder craft to organize your homeschool supplies and celebrate Valentine’s Day at the same time!
- Create paper flowers. Make these tissue paper flowers with your children, or make one flower ahead of time for each child. Place the paper flower at the child’s breakfast place on Valentine’s Day, along with a note of something specific that you love about him or her.
Valentine's Day Crafts
- Y—Young (PreK-3rd)
- M—Middle (4th-6th)
- O—Older (7th-12th)
- T—Teacher Resources
Valentine's Day Across the Curriculum
Valentine's Day Writing Activities
Similes, metaphors, alliterations, and more! These Valentine's Day lessons and activities from Read Write Think cover all of the poetic devices that make love poems great. The activities are paired with age-appropriate writing and literature lessons for grades 3 through 12.
Valentine's Day Chemistry
Learn all about the chemistry of love and chocolate; create fun science-based gifts; and more with these Valentine's Day chemistry lessons from the American Chemical Society.
Valentine’s Day Across the Curriculum
A collection of Valentine's Day lessons and activity ideas from the New York Times that cross numerous subjects. Inside, you'll find writing prompts, literature activities, history lessons, economics and finance activities, fine art activities, STEM exercises, and more!
Kennedy Center Valentine's Day Classroom Resources
The Kennedy Center has a collection of resources to learn and teach about love stories in literature, theatre, opera, music, film, and more. "These resources offer ways to look at the concept of love beyond the lovey-dovey. Whether as sweeping ballet choreography or tragic Shakespearean poetry, you'll explore how love can be expressed in different artistic contexts."
Helping Younger Children Celebrate Valentine's Day
Resources for helping children navigate the hurt feelings that sometimes come with Valentine's Day.
Valentine's Day with Words
Valentine's Day Puzzles
Print these Valentine's Day puzzles; words sudoku, mazes, counting puzzles, and stepping stones for children to enjoy on Valentine's Day.
Valentine's Day Word Search Puzzles
A large collection of printable word search puzzles, available in easy and medium difficulty levels, from The Balance.
Valentine's Day Puzzle
In this fun learning activity for children the candy has fallen out of the Valentine box! Students must click and drag the candy to put it back into the box. Children practice mouse manipulation and patterns in this fun activity. From ABCYa.com
Valentine's Day Word Search
Valentine's Day Word Search is a fun holiday activity for children of all ages. Puzzles can be created two ways: a small grid with shorter words or a larger grid with longer words. This feature will allow younger children to enjoy the puzzles too! You can print or play online. From ABCYa.com
Silly Valentine Poems for children, kids & adults
A collection of Valentine's Day poems taken from the book "Valentine Poems," compiled by Myra Cohn Livingston. From Brownielocks.com
Valentine Printables
The Valentine printables currently available on this site are word search puzzles, dot to dot printables, mazes, valentine coloring pages, cryptogram puzzles, word scrambles, a fun card game called "Capture the Hearts", and more.
Valentine's Day Printables
Cards and Crafts for Valentine's Day
Crafts projects for preschool, kindergarten and elementary school children. The crafts use materials found around the house, like egg cartons, cardboard, paper, boxes, string, crayons, paint, glue, etc. Free site with options to subscribe to an ad-free version.
Kiddyhouse Valentine's
Valentine's Day resources for kids and teachers, including age-specific crafts, activity pages, puzzles, poems, songs, and more. From Kiddy House.
Valentine's Day Resources
A collection of Valentine's Day activity pages, printable coloring pages, crafts, games, and more from Activity Village.co.uk.
February Holiday Resources
A collection of lesson plans, activities, games, stories, and books to celebrate Valentine's Day and other February holidays from Education World.com.
Valentine's Day in History
For some great historical resources about this holiday, visit The Holiday Spot or History.com.
Smithsonian Valentine's Day Collection
A large collection of Valentine's and love-themed artwork, advertisements, songs, letters, cards, and more from the Smithsonian Institute.
A Thousand Kisses: Love Letters from the Archives of American Art
This digital exhibition from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art contains love letters and photographs from famous couples in American History. "This selection of affectionate communiqués to and from American artists gives us insight into the lives of painters, sculptors, illustrators, and others—their relationships, perceptions, and creative energies—from the mid-19th century to the late 20th. They also allow us to empathize with artists through the most universal of human emotions: love in all its permutations."
Today in History: Valentine’s Day
This roundup of primary sources from Primary Source Nexus has tons of neat letters, documents, artwork, advertisements, and more to celebrate Valentine's Day. Inside, you can find historical newspaper coverage, presidential love poems, love songs from around the world, and more.
The Heart of the Matter: A History of Valentine Cards
This digital exhibition from The Strong National Museum of Play explores the history of Valentine's Day cards, the imagery and symbolism of love, and interesting facts on the manufacturing process of the paper products that have come to be synonymous with Valentine's Day.
History of Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day History and Valentine Match Game form Primary Games.com
The History of Valentine's Day
An overview of the history of Valentine's Day, speculated to have originated in Rome in the year 268. From Safe Search Kids.com
The Story of St. Valentine
A reading comprehension lesson on the legend of St. Valentine from ABCTeach.com. Includes a writing prompt and word search.
Fun Valentine's Day Facts for Kids
An informative article that explains the history of Valentine's Day, symbols, traditions, and fun Valentin's facts for kids. From Kids Play and Create.com
