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Valentine’s Day crafts for elementary students of different ages, including some that can be adapted during remote learning.
Valentine’s Day is always a special occasion in the classroom. This year, you might find that kids are more eager than ever to express their feelings of friendship, kindness, and love to classmates and family members (and hopefully, to their teacher, too).
We’ve rounded up Valentine’s Day crafts for elementary students of different ages, including some that can be adapted for doing together remotely and a few feel-good projects for people in the community.
Valentine ornaments
Have your students cut heart-shaped ornaments and decorate them with craft supplies or a simple printed poem. If they finish quickly, allow them to make several.
via craftulate.com
Heart wreath
Have kids cut hearts of different shapes, sizes, and colors. Then help them glue the hearts to a paper plate with the middle cut out, or arrange the hearts so they can be glued together.
Heart tree
Print this colorful, customizable paper tree and hearts. Have children write messages of love and friendship on the hearts and glue them to the tree trunk. Alternatively, kids can write messages for their parents or other family members for a homemade gift.
via ptotoday.com
Long-distance hug
This sweet idea is especially poignant during a time of distance between families, but it also works during more normal times for relatives who don’t live nearby. Have kids trace and cut their handprints and use ribbon, glue, and small hearts to make the “hug.” Finish by attaching a tag with a message.
via thepartyevent.wordpress.com
Friendship poster
After discussing with the class the qualities of a good friend, give your students a heart with the name of a classmate and ask them to add nice comments about the person. Have the children glue or tape the comments to a piece of poster board and decorate it.
via scholastic.com
Sweet memento
Make a framed “class picture” for parents or other relatives by using small individual photos of students along with a simple frame they can cut from card stock and decorate with paint or stickers.
Adopt an organization
Depending on the grade, ask the class to pick an organization to make valentines for. For example, 3rd graders might make Valentine’s Day cards for nursing home residents while 4th graders work on crafts together with patients at a children’s hospital.
Simple card-making
Making Valentine’s Day cards is a basic home or classic activity, but this year it has some added meaning because of challenges of the past year. Encourage kids to think of someone in their lives who’s had a difficult time, and help them come up with encouraging and loving messages.
Rocks of love
Invite students to decorate rocks with messages of kindness and love. You can collect and place them in a designated garden (or line the walkway of an outdoor learning space with the decorated rocks), exchange with each other, or bring home as a gift for a family member.
Goody bags for those in need
Ask for donations to assemble goody bags for your local food pantry. Include a small handmade card from a student inside each bag, and ask some parents to assemble and deliver them. Borrow some of these ideas for adding a Valentine’s Day message to food items, keeping in mind COVID-19 guidelines (and that most food pantries don’t accept perishable items).
Thumbprint heart bookmark
This cute project for the younger set is sure to make the recipient smile, and it’s just a matter of cutting and showing them how to cut and make a heart using their thumbs.
via crafts-for-all-seasons.com
Heart-shaped paper chain
A heart chain is a great class activity that has the added bonus of being a class decoration after.
via ptotoday.com
Warm and fuzzy
Ask parents or a fabric store for donations of fleece, and work with kids to make simple, small no-sew blankets for an animal shelter.
“Bookentines”
This activity was created to give students a chance to express their love for a book. Check Scholastic’s blog post for a template and simple directions for making a unique way for kids to mark the day.
via scholastic.com
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