- Friday 14 February 2020
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Love isn’t just for romantic couples—it’s also for family, friends, pets, places and even ourselves. What better time to remind students of the importance of love in all its forms than Valentine’s Day! Today we’ve assembled a list of people and things your students can show their love for this 14 February and suggested relevant classroom activities for each.
Love a parent!
Parents and guardians will love being surprised by a present from their child this Valentine’s Day. Our first suggestion for this gift is a Valentine’s card. Students will easily come up with creative cards if provided with coloured paper, scissors and glue. However, a fun idea is to make pictures using fingerprint painting. Here are some inspiring examples, although simple flowers and hearts are easy to make too. Take the opportunity to teach your class that their fingerprints are unique: nobody else in the world has the same ones as them, just as nobody else loves their parent like they do.
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For a gift that’s a little different, students can make framed photos of themselves. The necessary materials are:
- Popsicle sticks
- Decoration (buttons, pasta, fabric, etc.)
- Craft glue
- Paint
- A photo of the student (perhaps making a heart shape with their hands)
- Small magnets (optional)
Frames can be crafted by gluing four popsicle sticks together to match the photo’s size. Students can then decorate and paint the frame as they like. The magnets are an optional touch to create some fridge-worthy decorations.
Love a classmate!
This is a good activity to do Kris Kringle-style: students receive a random name of someone else in the class and create a gift for that person. Our suggestions for this gift are friendship necklaces or friendship bracelets. For both, you’ll need some beads and string. If you don’t have lettered beads for the friendship bracelet, students will still be able to create unique patterns for each other. Once everyone has finished with their bracelet, everyone can exchange their gifts.
This activity is great for practicing fine motor skills and patterns for mathematics, as well as helping students show affection to each other.
Love a pet!
Do you have a class pet? Have students celebrate Valentine’s Day while appreciating the pet and practising their writing skills! Ask each student to draw the pet and write a short paragraph on why they love it. Alternatively, students can write about their own pet or make up a pet if they don’t have one.
Students can also love a pet by making one: instead of a writing exercise, ease students into the day by crafting these adorable Valentine’s Day monsters together. If making a pompom by hand is too tricky for your students, provide them with store-bought ones. These cute pets can then sit on your students’ desks for the day as a reminder to show their love.
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Image from Practically Functional
Love a book!
Did you know that 14 February is also Library Lovers’ Day? This makes it the ideal day to set up blind dates with books! This idea is used at bookshops: cover classroom books in wrapping paper and write a brief description of each book on the wrap. Students can pick a book they like the sound of and read it later in the day.
Love yourself!
Self-love is just as important as every other kind of love. For this activity, have students cut out big love hearts from red and pink card. They then write positive statements about themselves on the hearts. Suggest to students that they write using the phrase ‘I am…’ (strong, brave, clever) or ‘I am good at…’ (science, running, art). When complete, these hearts can be turned into a lovely class wall, reminding every student of their strengths and showing the classroom of varied individuals they make up together.
Love your classroom!
It’s still early in the year, so your classroom might be a little bare of student work. Valentine’s Day craft is not only fun, but is sure to brighten the room. For example, these heart butterflies make lovely wall decorations.
For a decoration with a mathematical theme, you could make a garland out of these heart-shaped möbius strips. Ask each student to make one and then string them up somewhere in the classroom. You can also use this activity to show students how möbius strips work.
Love your students!
Just as Valentine’s Day is the perfect time for students to show their love, it’s the perfect time for teachers to do the same. It’d be a nice morning surprise for every student to find a heart-shaped sticky note on their desk saying what you appreciate about them. You could even include a heart-shaped lolly or biscuit. Students will definitely appreciate the sweet start to their day.