Over the years, I’ve posted many fun activities here on One Time Through to celebrate Valentine’s Day with kids. As my son has grown, I’ve realized more and more that what makes or breaks any activity is whether it brings us further into a state of connection or not. In other words, the best ones are the ones we do: together, that are fun for both of us, and which let us experience love, gratitude, and joy… together (did I mention that already? Lol!).
With that said, here are my favourite activities from the blog, as well as a few new ideas (with free printables! Wahoo!) to help expand your love and connection with your child – the ultimate Valentine’s Day (or any day) gift!
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Fun Valentine’s Connection Activities
Enjoy some heart-y toast
Try making this cute and easy breakfast idea with your kids on Valentine’s Day. Simply cut out bread with a heart-shaped cookie cutter, (or knife), toast and then slather with butter and raspberry jam!
Make a love pizza
Cook up some love with individualized homemade pizzas shaped like hearts for a special lunch or dinner. Let each family member add their own favourite ingredients and use it as a prompt to talk about how each of you are different and how it’s our differences that makes us each special! Click on the picture for full instructions.
Spread the love
Who doesn’t like to hear what others love about them? But how often do we actually make the time to tell our loved ones these things?
This year, why not start a Valentines dinner tradition of taking turns sharing what you love about each other! To get you started, download my free Love Notes for Valentines Day printable.
These notes have been crafted to allow you and your child to include words that express both feelings and needs that are met by the recipient. This makes for a uniquely satisfying love note!
To use these notes, just fill in the blanks of the prompt using feelings and needs words from within the hearts on the instruction sheet. You can read them to your loved ones or cut them out and create love notes to deliver!
Here is what the prompt says:
“I love when you _______ because I feel ________ and (describe a need it meets) ________.”
Examples: I love when you give me spontaneous hugs because I feel so happy and peaceful and connected.
You can even use these prompts with your spouse. For example,
I love when you shovel the driveway on snowy mornings. I feel so relieved and grateful that I can peacefully help our son get ready for school without having to worry about rushing to get him out the door.
Bake cookies
If your child enjoys being in the kitchen with you, why not make some of these amazingly decadent Belgian Valentines cookies together. They make the perfect dessert for Valentines Day, or can be given away to friends and relatives as gifts!
To make them, start with a basic sugar cookie or lemon sugar cookie recipe. I like the one in the Joy of Cooking personally. Roll out the dough and use a heart shaped cookie cutter to make the cookies.
After they’re baked and cooled, spread raspberry jam in between two cookies, and add icing on top. I’ve had a lot of success using Martha Stewart’s royal icing recipe. Make the icing pink or white or whatever colour you like! You could even get squeezable decorative icing tubes to add sweet words like “Love you!” or “Adorable” or “Be Mine” if you wanted.
Make classic valentines
Get a bit artistic with your kids and create some fun valentines together for friends, family members, or each other! Simply break out the red, pink and white construction paper and markers, or try one of the projects below. Click on the pictures for instructions.
Go on a heart hunt
Whether indoors or out, go on a hunt with your kids looking for hearts in unlikely places. My family has created a jar of heart-shaped stones that we have found over the years.
You could even just take photos of any found hearts like the authors did in the lovely inspirational book, See a Heart, Share a Heart.
Create a personalized love book
Stimulate some great discussion and really get to know what your child loves by creating this personalized book with them. Young kids especially will enjoy becoming an author, and the result will be a treasured memento to read and play over and over again together. Click on the picture for full instructions.
Illustrate quotes about love
Older children may enjoy some time at the kitchen table with you reading and then perhaps creating some illustrations to go with favourite quotes about love.
For your inspiration, I created a free printable sheet of famous quotes about the meaning of love. Some are deep, some are touching, and a few are hilarious! To get your copy, just click on the image below.
Create word heart-art
If you have a techy kid, why not hop online to Wordart.com and have fun learning to create a word cloud together. There are lots of different shapes to choose from and you and your child can brainstorm what words to add.
Make a word cloud around a concept such as “Things we love.” or “What does Valentine’s Day mean to us?” or have fun creating valentine clouds to send to loved ones full of words that describe what you love about them.
Squeeze out some playdough love
Whip up some squishy playdough fun for littles with these Valentines themed recipes. Even older children will enjoy this activity if you’re sitting down with them playing too! And you may be surprised at how relaxing it is for you to sit, squeeze, pound and chat with your child with no particular goal in mind. Click on the pictures for full recipes and instructions.
Make chemistry together
Looking for a science activity that has the best bang (or bubble at least) for your buck? Try this stimulating love chemistry activity with your littles. Click on the picture for full instructions.
Play a sound game
Got some little heart containers handy? Why not create this sound matching game for preschooler-aged kiddos. Click on the picture for full instructions.
Level up your parenting game
If you’ve got 5 minutes for a quick read (or two!), check out one of these four popular posts to learn some more ways to help your kids feel loved and connected.
Lots of love always! Happy Valentines! ❤️
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