Valentine’s Day craft activities for kids: 8 fun ideas to celebrate (2024)

Valentine’s Day isn’t just for grown-ups and starry-eyed lovers. It’s actually a really fun and exciting holiday for kids. After all, the holiday is all about love and kindness. The hearts, sparkles and endless sweets are appealing to little ones, too. Plus it gives them something to look forward to just as they get back to school after a long summer holiday.

Valentine’s Dayfor kids doesn’t have to be dull, and it doesn’t have to revolve around routine staples like cut-out hearts and chocolate. There are many exciting, interesting and out-of-the box ways you can engage kids’ interest on Valentine’s Day. Here, we’ve rounded up some fun facts about Valentine’s Day, a little bit of the holiday’s history and some original ideas to help you celebrate. Ready to dive in?

What is Valentine’s Day?

First, you might want to give kids an introduction to the holiday, especially if they are young. They might be aware that Valentine’s Day, also nicknamed V-day, is the holiday associated with hearts, and they may have a general sense that Valentine’s Day is about love. But it can be helpful to start your Valentine’s Day activities by discussing what the holiday is, and what it means.

Of course, Valentine’s Day means different things to different folks, but in a nutshell, it’s a holiday honouring love, affection and kindness. For adults, the holiday often includes romance, but it’s not necessary to focus on that in order to get something out of the holiday.

Valentine’s Day is celebrated every year on the same date – February 14. As well as Australia, the holiday is celebrated in the UK, Canada, France, Mexico and Argentina, and it’s especially popular in the United States.

The history behind Valentine’s Day

There are differing theories about the history behind Valentine’s Day. By some accounts, the holiday began with a Roman festival called Lupercalia, which was celebrated in the middle of February as a way to usher in (the northern) springtime. There was also a romantic aspect to Lupercalia, where symbols of fertility were celebrated and men and women were matched to one another.

Other scholars attribute Valentine’s Day celebrations to apriest named Valentinewho lived around 270 C.E. Legend has it that during Valentine’s lifetime, Emperor Claudius II of Rome had banned marriage, but Valentine defied him and performed marriage ceremonies anyway.

Valentine was subsequently thrown in jail, where he fell in love with the jailer’s daughter and wrote a “valentine” to his lover. This may have been the first official valentine!In the fifth century, Pope Gelasius I declared the date of Valentine’s death as St. Valentine’s Day, though the day wasn’t associated with romance for several more centuries.

Interesting facts about Valentine’s Day

In addition to learning about the history of Valentine’s Day, it can be fun for kids to amass some fun facts about the holiday. They can even use these facts to wow their friends! Some fun Valentine’s Day facts you can share with your kids include:

• In 2023, Australians spent $849 million dollars on Valentine’s Day gifts and activities.
• In the same year, almost a third of Australians said they would be celebrating Valentine’s Day.
• Almost as many (29%) said they would be giving chocolate on the day of love, although flowers were the most popular gift choice (42%).

Valentine’s Day activities for kids

If you’re looking for more ways to celebrate, here are some fun and entertaining Valentine’s Day activities for kids to make the day extra sweet.

1. Let the kids watch a Valentine’s Day movie

You’re probably familiar with the idea of Christmas movies, but what you might not know is that there are actually a bunch of super cuteValentine’s Day movies, too. Gems like “Be My Valentine,” “Charlie Brown” and “Gnomeo and Juliet” are the perfect way to get that warm and fuzzy feeling.

2. Make fairy bread

Looking for fun, super easy treats to whip up with your kids on Valentine’s Day? Enter:fairy bread. This Aussie kids’ birthday party staple also makes a colourful Valentine’s Day snack. All you need is white bread, butter, hundreds & thousands and a heart-shaped cookie cutter.

3. Practice estimation with candy hearts

Candy hearts, or conversation hearts as they’re sometimes known in Australia, can form the basis for a fun game in the classroom or at home. Basically, you fill a large jar with candy hearts each morning and give kids a crack at guessing how many hearts are inside.

You can start the activity a week before Valentine’s Day and switch up the number of hearts in the jar each day, ensuring it’s an exciting and fresh challenge. Guesses may be way off to begin with, but as the week goes on you should see those powers of estimation sharpening up.

4. Heart symmetry painting

Doing art projects with kids is a wonderful way to celebrate Valentine’s Day, especially with an educational twist. One simple project combines the tradition of making paper hearts with learning about symmetry. All you need is a pencil and paper, some scissors, paint and a sponge-tip paint brush. Here’s how to do it:

• Fold paper in half and draw half of a heart shape with a pencil.
• Keep the folded paper folded and cut along the line you just drew.
• Spread the paper flat, and use the brush to dab paint only on one side of the heart.
• Refold the heart and press lightly on the outside to smooth the paint.
• Carefully open the heart to reveal beautiful symmetrical artwork.

5. Dancing candy hearts

Do you have a kid who enjoys doingscience experiments? Here’s a simple and fun one that you can do with items you have around the house. All you need is a large glass or glass jug, some candy hearts, water, baking soda and vinegar. This video walks you through it.

6. Make a healthy Valentine’s Day treat board

Charcuterie boards are all over social media, and your tweens and teens probably think they are pretty cool. What better way to celebrate Valentine’s Day than by making a bright, yummy, healthy V-day treat board?

You can add fruit (bonus points for red fruit), cheese and cold cuts. If you have a heart-shaped cookie cutter, you can make Valentine’s Day pancakes, biscuits and other yummy treats. For a cute andhealthy snack, consider slicing an apple and using a cookie cutter to cut a heart shape into the centre of each slice.

7. Make a flying butterfly heart and other Valentine’s Day crafts

Valentine’s Day preschool craftsare the perfect way to celebrate. Thisflying butterfly heartis so cute, and can be constructed with materials you probably already have at home. Just gather up a black pipe cleaner, a pencil, markers and two pink paper hearts, and follow these simple instructions.

8. Have a Valentine’s Day reading marathon

It turns out that there are tons of books about Valentine’s Day for kids of all ages, so get yourself to the library and get a bundle of books to bring home! Then, you can create a special Valentine’s Day read-a-thon while you’re enjoying some of the Valentine’s snacks you’ve made. Here are some favourite Valentine’s Day books to consider.

Valentine’s Day books for toddlers and preschoolers

• “The I Love You Book” by Todd Parr
• “Bluey: I Love My Family” by Bluey and Bingo
• “Happy Valentine’s Day, Mouse!” by Laura Numeroff
• “This Books Wants a Date” by Elisa Anderson

Valentine’s Day books for older kids

• “The Princess Diaries” by Meg Cabot
• “11 Paper Hearts” by Kelsey Hartwell
• “The Upside of Falling” by Alex Light
• “Reggie And Delilah’s Year Of Falling” by Elise Bryant

The bottom line

Valentine’s Day isn’t just for grown-ups, and it isn’t just about gorging yourself on chocolate or buying tons of cards and gifts. There are many exciting, engaging and even educational ways to celebrate Valentine’s Day for kids. Special Valentine’s Day activities are also a great way to pass the time, get your kids out of that back-to-school slump and put a giant smile on their faces.