Grades
PreK - 5
Turn Valentine's Day Celebrations Into Learning Opportunities
Incorporate these heart-themed activities, writing prompts, and more into your classroom lessons.
Cards, candy, and crafts — these are the essential ingredients to any Valentine’s Day celebration. But before you jump straight into end-of-day-class-party mode, get your students’ hearts (and minds) racing with these engaging Valentine’s Day activities.
Elementary teacher Genia Connell shares her favorite heart-themed activities that will keep your students learning throughout the day as they eagerly await their Valentine’s Day celebration.
Valentine’s Books and Reading Graphic Organizer
Whether you're sharing a sweet adventure with Clifford or a Geronimo Stilton valentine mystery, this reading graphic organizer will be a lovely fit. Using the organizer as a guide, students will identify the setting, character, problem, main events, and solution of the story. The organizer is a great follow-up to a whole-class read aloud, small-group lesson, or for use during independent reading time.
Pair the graphic organizer with any of the Valentine’s books for PreK-5 here, or with one of the read-aloud favorites below.
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save to wishlistStory Starter Writing Prompts
Challenge your students to write their own Valentine’s Day stories using one of these thematic writing prompts. Connell recommends giving students about 35 minutes of writing time to craft their stories.
- Write a friendly letter to someone you love. In your letter, give that person at least three reasons why they are special to you.
- Some schools do not have parties during the school day because it takes time away from learning. Do you think elementary schools should have class parties for Valentine’s Day? Take a stand and write a persuasive paragraph with at least three details that support your claim.
- You just got a job writing new phrases to put on the candy at the conversation hearts factory! What ten phrases would you add to the candies this year? Write out the phrases and explain why you chose them.
- What do you love more than anything in the world? Write a narrative that describes something or someone you love and why.
- Write a poem about Valentine’s Day or love. You can use any style of poetry you prefer, such as acrostic, haiku, a limerick, or free verse.
- Congratulations! You just invented a love potion. Write a TV commercial advertising your new potion. How will you persuade people to go out and buy your potion?
Heart-y Graphing Activity
Candy conversation hearts are perfect for graphing data! Pass out an individual box of conversation hearts to each student in your class. Instruct your students to write a survey question for their classmates using the conversation hearts as inspiration.
Students might survey classmates about which color candy they like the most, or which color or phrase shows up the most frequently in their box. Students should then use their collected data to create two different graphs and fill out this Candy Heart Investigation activity sheet.
Here are a few other ways to use conversation hearts in the classroom:
- Figure out the fractions each color represents in their box of hearts (such as 4/18 are yellow, 3/18 are green, etc.).
- Write a story using the sayings on all the hearts. Share these silly stories with the whole class.
- Make arrays to demonstrate multiplication facts.
- Divide the sayings into parts of speech. Label each section noun, verb, adjective, or adverb.
Love Is… Bulletin Board
A love-themed bulletin board can really brighten up the classroom during a dreary February winter. A great way to fill the room with Valentine’s Day cheer while prompting student reflection is to ask what love means to them. As a class, have students share their thoughts and ideas about what fills their hearts with love.
Once students start to dig deeper and reflect on the true meaning of love, they are ready to fill out and decorate the Love Is… heart. Display their finished hearts on the bulletin board to fill the room with loving thoughts. To expand your lesson, explore these best-selling books about kindness.
Shop books about Valentine’s Day below! You can find all books and activities at The Teacher Store.
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save to wishlistWith gentle text, soft illustrations, and a completely loveable character, this sweet board book is just-right for your baby's library, at Valentine's Day and all throughout the year!
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save to wishlistPeppa loves . . . love! Find out everything that Peppa loves in this adorable, all-original storybook that's shaped like a shiny heart. Little ones will love seeing all the ways Peppa can love the world around her.
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save to wishlistMarylou loves everything about Herbie - how his slime trail glistens in the dark, how he can stretch himself thin to squeeze inside the cellar window, and how he always finds the juiciest tomatoes. But Marylou is a shy slug. How can she get Herbie to notice her?
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save to wishlistPeppa gets a fancy card in the mail from her friend Zoe Zebra. It is a Valentine's Day card! Peppa learns all about the meaning of Valentine's Day and how to show her friends just how special they are to her.
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save to wishlistLittle friend is so excited to make his first valentine―in the shape of a heat! But learning how to cut shapes is a lot harder than you think, and no matter how much he tries, little friend can't make the heart just-right. Will little friend be able to make the perfect valentine? A sweet and silly rhyming story about first experiences, full of gentle Valentine's Day fun!
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save to wishlistClifford the Big Red Dog loves playing outside. Clifford loves reading and swimming, too. But most importantly, Clifford loves spending time with his friends-especially Emily Elizabeth!
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save to wishlistSing and dance along with Baby Shark in this story full of kisses, snuggles, and hugs -- the follow-up to the bestselling picture book!
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save to wishlistLlama Llama shows his friends and family how much he loves them with heart-shaped cards and lots of hugs. Nothing could be sweeter than Valentine's Day with Llama Llama!
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save to wishlistIt's time for Valentine's Day, and there's no better way to enjoy it than with Mr. Fish and his friends!
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save to wishlistCelebrate love with Giraffes Can't Dance! Featuring modified art and text from the bestselling picture book, and a fresh trim size, Love from Giraffes Can't Dance is sure to delight readers of all ages.
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save to wishlistI Love You Little, I Love You Lots is an affirmation of love as demonstrated between a rambunctious dog and a sweet cat. Featuring lyrical text by Douglas Wood and endearing, creative illustrations by G. Brian Karas, this picture book celebrates the universality of love, whether between friends or family members.
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save to wishlistSimple words and short sentences make these lively books perfect for the newest readers.
When Mrs. Mousely asks her class to make valentines, Clayton and Desmond decide to make one together and give it to their teacher as a surprise. But things don't go as planned. First Clayton puts too much glitter on the card. Then Desmond puts on too many hearts. Soon the friends are arguing and they rip the card in half. They both say "I'm going to make my own valentine!" and go home in a huff.
But then Desmond and Clayton realize that by working together they can make the biggest, best valentine ever!
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save to wishlistEven when little dinosaurs are naughty, it's important to remind them that no matter what they do, they are always loved.
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save to wishlistEmma just can't seem to do things the right way like the bigger members of her family, no matter how hard she tries. Will Emma find a way to help her family on Valentine's Day, or is the littlest Valentine just too little?
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save to wishlistKatie Woo's class is having a celebration for Valentine's Day. Katie has lots of fun reading the little candy hearts that her teacher hands out. But when everyone gets a special valentine except her, she feels terrible. Could it be that nobody likes Katie Woo?
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save to wishlistIt is Valentine's Day, and Chomp, the lemon shark, is new to the neighborhood. He hasn't made any friends yet, so who will be his valentine?
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save to wishlistCheesy cards, allergy-inducing bouquets, and heart-shaped everything? It's enough to turn anyone into a monster - YECHHHH! But Crankenstein is in for a treat when his sour day turns unexpectedly sweet...because even the crankiest monsters have hearts.
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save to wishlistGreat Gouda! There were hearts everywhere in New Mouse City. My friend, Creepella, had started a new dating and wedding-planning agency, and she chose me as her assistant! But someone was trying to sabotage the matches. Could I figure out who before hearts are broken?
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