Valentine’s day is approaching and if you’re anything like me, it’s probably snuck up on you. Valentine’s Day is fun and all but for some reason, every year, I’m left feeling unprepared without Valentine’s cards and short on Valentine’s Day classroom ideas.
So, after this happening for enough years, I decided to create and share easy Valentine’s Day classroom ideas so that I could help myself, and also help you. In this blog post, you’ll find three Valentine’s Day activities that are perfect for upper elementary.
A Little Self-Love
In upper elementary, for some students, confidence starts to dwindle so a self-esteem boost is always a great idea. Valentine’s Day is the perfect time to do this as students can focus on giving themselves a bit of self-love!
The DIY Way
Doing any activity where students focus on a lil’ self-love is a great Valentine’s Day classroom activity, especially for upper elementary students. You could have students choose an affirmation and create a piece of artwork surrounding that affirmation. Upper elementary students would love to create “affirmation cards” on Canva using a free education account.
An Easy Way
To make this even easier, I created this affirmations garland craftivity & accompanying self-esteem student pages. This resource has students loving on themselves during Valentine’s Day.
Within The Classroom
To spread love to each other, students can share compliments and special memories they have with each other. This has all students feeling special and reflecting on their strengths. This activity was a massive hit with my grade four students last year. You can learn more about this specific Valentine’s Day activity here.
The DIY Way
Write students’ names on a piece of paper or the front of a booklet. Students then write a compliment or memory they have with each of their classmates. At the end, each student gets to see the compliments and memories that were written for them. You can also collect compliments & memories for each student on a Google Form and compile them into a digital book, too, but be forewarned that this involves more work for you.
An Easy Way
I print out a Valentine’s Day book for each student and give them each a class list. They are in charge of writing out a compliment or memory they have with each student. I give them a week or two weeks to get through everyone’s book. They cannot peek at their own book until Valentine’s Day.
The best part? This also serves as a Valentine’s Day card from the teacher. I write a special note for each student on the back page which, IMO, is even more special than a store-bought card.
Within the School
Since Valentine’s Day is all about love and kindness, I love to work on Kindness Missions as a class during February! It’s a way for us to come together to work toward a common goal and to spread some love throughout our school.
The DIY Way
On chart paper or your whiteboard, give students a kindness mission like finding a student who doesn’t have someone to play with and play with them or using great manners when talking to others throughout the school. When students achieve that mission by showing that behaviour x amount of times, you can celebrate as a class. It’s up to you if you want to attach a reward to it, or not.
An Easy Way
If you’re looking for a pre-made resource to do kindness missions with your class, check this out.
Hopefully this blog post gave you some great Valentine’s Day classroom ideas to move forward with so you aren’t left feeling like the holiday snuck up on you. With the right resources, classroom activities, and ideas, you can create an enjoyable and memorable experience for your students. Have a fun and happy Valentine’s Day!
