Valentine's Day Game Ideas
Attractive
Valentines
Make good
use of old valentines or those you find on sale after the holiday.
Attach the valentines to self adhesive magnetic sheets; then cut
them apart.
Use the magnetic valentines on your chalkboard or at a center on a
metal cookie sheet.
Have youngsters use the valentines for matching, counting, sorting,
or memory games.
Valentine I Spy
Encourage the children to play "I spy"
looking for items that are red or pink.
Sweet Tic-Tac-Toe
Add a new
twist to the traditional game of tic-tac-toe with conversation heart
candies.
To prepare, make a game board by cutting out a large construction
paper heart and
drawing a tic-tac-toe grid in the center. Then laminate the heart
for durability.
Next, gather five pink conversation hearts and five green conversation
hearts.
Place the pink hearts in one snack size resealable plastic bag and
the green
hearts in another bag. Invite a pair of children to the center and
have each child
take a bag. Direct each player to use his or her candy hearts to
play tic-tac-toe
on the gameboard. The game ends when a child places three of his
hearts in a row.
Postman,
Postman
Everyone gets to participate in this game
involving a hidden valentine.
Choose one child to be postman and give him or her the postman's hat.
(Red strip of paper with pink heart that says Postman.) The postman must
hide his eyes while you give another child a valentine to hide behind
their
back. Then the postman uncovers his eyes and faces his classmates
who say, "Postman, postman, where's the mail?" The postman gets three
guesses to find out who is hiding the mail. If he guesses correctly, he
continues
as postman. If he guesses incorrectly, the person with the mail becomes
the postman.
Valentine
Charades
At circle
time have a basket with several hearts in it. On the back of each heart
is written something for the children to do for example touch your toes,
hop on
one foot, sing your ABC's etc. Each child draws out one heart and the
teacher will read it for preschoolers or help the child read it and then
the child
will do what the heart instructs. Go around the circle till each child
has several turns.
Heart
Matching Game
Use
wallpaper samples and make a heart matching game by cutting
out 2 of each color or pattern of paper. These can be used as
they are or turned into a file folder game and laminated.
Match the Hearts
Cut
heart shapes from construction paper. Cut each heart
shape in half using
different cuts, such as straight, zigzag, or curvy.
On each heart half shape,
draw a matching shape or numeral. Give each child a
construction paper
heart half. Encourage them to name the shapes or
numerals on their halves.
Next, play music and have each child look for
another child who has the
matching half of the construction paper heart. Stop
the music and have
the pairs name their shapes or numerals. Repeat
several times,
giving each child a different heart half each time.
Valentine Hunt
Hide four or five valentines around
the room. Let your child try to find them all.
To make
it more challenging, set a timer. See if he or she can
find
all the valentines before the timer goes off.
Valentine Button Game
Use a red button, if
possible. Children pretend it is a tiny valentine
heart.
(The teacher may wish to us a candy heart
instead.) One child has a large red button
or
valentine. The rest of the children fold their hands and
close their eyes. The one
with the button goes to each
person, dropping the button into one closed hand along
the
way. When the child has gone to everyone in the class,
someone else asks
who has the button. This child asks
another until the button has been found.
Insist on clear
speech; for example: Question: "Billy, do you have the
Valentine?"
Answer: "No, Sally, I do not
have the valentine."
Alphabet Heart Mates
Make a necklace for each child by
cutting a heart shape out of poster board, punching a hole in
the
top and tying on a loop of yarn. Divide the heart necklaces
into pairs. On each pair print an
upper-case alphabet letter
and a matching lower-case letter. Give each child a necklace
to
put on. Help the children identify the letters on their
necklaces.
Then let them walk around to find their
"alphabet heart mates."
Variation: Write
matching numerals on the pairs of necklaces.
Or draw on
matching shapes such as circles, squares, and triangles.
Flying Hearts
Glue a red and a pink heart
together back to back. Put this special heart plus about three
dozen plain
hearts in the center of an old bed sheet. The children
hold onto all sides of the sheet and gently toss
the hearts up and
down. At the shout of "Hearts high!" the children toss
the sheet high into the air, making the hearts
fly. The child who
picks up the most hearts and the one who finds the special pink
and red heart are the winners.
Sweet Tic-Tac-Toe
Add a new twist to the
traditional game of tic-tac-toe with conversation heart
candies.
To prepare, make a game board by cutting out a
large construction paper heart and
drawing a tic-tac-toe grid in
the center. Then laminate the heart for durability.
Next,
gather five pink conversation hearts and five green
conversation hearts. Place the pink
hearts in one snack size resealable plastic baggie and the green hearts in another
baggie.
Invite a pair of children over to the game and have
each child take a baggie. Direct each
player to use his/her
candy hearts to play tic-tac-toe on the game board. The game
ends when a child places three of his hearts in a row.
Tic-tac-toe, Valentine!
Postman, Postman
(Similar to
"Doggie, Doggie, Where's Your Bone?")
Everyone gets to participate in this game
involving a hidden valentine. Choose one child to be
postman and
give him or her the postman's hat. (Red strip of paper with pink
heart that says
Postman.) The postman must hide his eyes while you
give another child a valentine to hide
behind their back. Then the
postman uncovers his eyes and faces his classmates who say,
"Postman, postman, where's the mail?" The postman gets
three guesses to find out who is
hiding the mail. If he guesses
correctly, he continues as postman.
If he guesses incorrectly, the
person with the mail becomes the postman.
Heart Match
Cut out heart shapes in many different colors
and sizes and then cut them into halves.
Pass them out at
random to children. Ask the children to match their heart
halves.
Heart Pass
Have the children sit in a circle. Have
them pass a construction paper heart
around the circle.
Explain to them, as the heart comes to each child,
he or she names
something or someone he/she loves.
Valentine, Valentine, Through My Window
To begin form a circle, the children hold hands
with their arms held up to form doorways.
Place a pile of hearts
in the middle of the circle. Each child takes turns, first he
picks up
a heart from the middle and then
goes in and out the windows while the others sing the song.
(Sung to the tune of: "Bluebird,
Bluebird, Through My Window")
Valentine, Valentine through my window.
Valentine, Valentine through my window.
Valentine, Valentine through my window.
My friend, I like you.
Pick a little friend and give her a valentine.
Pick a little friend and give her a valentine.
Pick a little friend and give her a valentine.
I'll give you a red valentine!
Valentine, Valentine, Red and Blue
Children will enjoy this simple tag game with a
valentine theme. To play this game,
you will need one red and one
blue valentine. Have the children sit in a wide circle on
the
floor. Pick one child to carry the valentine. The child with the
valentine walks around
the outside of the circle while the rest of
the group chants, "Valentine, valentine red and
blue, I have
a valentine just for YOU! As soon as the child with the valentine
hears the word
"you", he puts the valentine down behind
the closest child. That child picks up the valentine
and tries to
tag the valentine giver, who runs around the circle to the empty
place and sits
down. If the valentine giver reaches the empty
space without being tagged, the child holding the
valentine must
now give it away. The game continues until every child has had a
turn to give away the valentine.
Variation: One child, holding a
heart shape, walks around the circle and taps the head of each
child,
saying "Valentine." As the child walks
around the circle, he or she chooses another child to be IT
by
dropping the heart in back of the child and saying "Be My
Valentine."
The selected child stands up and chases the
other child to the empty place in the circle.
Cleanup Heart
Cut a heart shape out of a large piece of red
paper. Hang the heart at your children's eye level.
Write each child's name on a different doily. Tape it to the
heart. Show your children the
cleanup heart. Help each
child find his or her doily. Explain to the children that
each time they
help clean up, they will get stickers to add to
their doilies. Have the children clean up. Give a
sticker to each child who is working hard at cleaning up his or
her things or helping other children
clean up. Have the
children put their stickers on their doilies before going to the
next activity.
Let them take their doilies home at the end
of the week.
Variation: Instead of a heart with
doilies, try a basket with eggs, a pumpkin patch with
pumpkins, a
bare tree with fall colored leaves, a Christmas tree with
ornaments, etc.
Valentine's Day Musical Hearts Game
Cut several large hearts out of butcher
paper. Make each one large enough for a few children to
stand
together on it. Talk to the children about sharing
with friends, helping, and ways we show we care,
like
hugging. Explain that you are going to play a game like
Musical Chairs. When the music plays,
the children move or
dance around the hearts on the floor. When the music stops,
each child finds
a heart to stand on. Explain that there
will not be enough hearts for each child, so they will need to
share
with their friends. Also, sometimes it may seem like
there is not enough room on the heart for
any more friends, but if
they try very hard, they can probably help their friends find a
spot on the heart.
They may have to help by holding onto
their friends or "hugging" them so they won't fall off
the heart.
Stop and start the music as in Musical
Chairs. After a few rounds, take one heart away each time
you
stop the music. Continue until only one heart remains
and all the children are touching part of the heart.
Heart Line Up
Cut four or five hearts of various
sizes out of red construction paper. Mix them up and give
them to
your child. Invite your child to line up the hearts
from smallest to largest or from largest to smallest.
Circle Time Heart Match Game
Make a valentine for half the number of children
in the group. Cut each heart in half in a zigzag
or swirly
fashion, so that each cut is fairly unique and identifiable. Each
child is
given part of a heart and must find his/her partner by
matching the valentine halves.
Box of Chocolate
Purchase a heart shaped box of
chocolates. Show your children the box. Ask them if they
can
guess what's inside. Have them close their eyes. Open the box
and let each child sniff the chocolate.
Now can they guess what is
inside? If you wish, let each child have one of the chocolates at
snack time.
Valentine Message Game
Have the children help you cut twelve large
hearts out of construction paper and number them from
two to
twelve. Write a message on the back of each heart. The
message might say, for example,
"make a funny face,"
"tell a joke," "sing a song," "pretend
your are a bird (or another animal),"
"cry like a
baby," "say something nice to a friend," or
"hug your teacher." You can keep the
messages on
the Valentine theme or you can vary them. Place all the
hearts on the floor in
numerical order. Make sure that the
numbers are visible and the messages are face down.
Let the
children take turns rolling dice and turning over the heart that
bears that number.
Read the messages and encourage children
to act them out. Continue until all children have had a
turn.
Variation: The game is endlessly
variable by changing the messages on the backs of the
hearts.
You could play it as a detective game, drawing
pictures of objects in your room on the backs of the hearts
and
having the children find the objects and bring them to the
circle. This eliminates the need for reading.
Happy Heart Hunt
Before the children come to class, hide 3 cut our hearts for
each child. When the children arrive (or at any
set
time) ask them to find the hearts. Have the children gather to
circle once they have found their hearts.
Pass the Heart
Cut a heart shape out of red
construction paper. Turn on some lively music.
Sit with your
children and pass the heart around the circle. When the music
stops
whoever is left holding the valentine says one nice thing
about each person in the group.
Hearts & Circles
Give each child a heart. When
a child's name is called, he/she is instructed to put his/her
heart
on the circle, below the circle, or above the circle.
This activity will help children learn those positions.
Fish For Hearts
Make fishing poles from 1/2 inch
(1.3 cm) wooden dowel rods which can be purchased at a hardware
or
craft store. Cut a groove around one end of the dowel rod
about one inch (2.5 cm) from the end.
Tie a short length of
yarn into the groove. Tie a small magnet onto the other
end. (Magnetic
strips are available at most craft stores). Cut
out three sizes of hearts, one from red, pink, and purple
paper. Attach a large paper clip to each heart.
Instruct a child to fish for a certain size and color.
Guess Who
Make pairs of hearts from wallpaper designs (those in pink and
red are best).
Distribute the hearts
to the
children keeping one heart from each pair for yourself. Say the
rhyme and hold up
one heart....
My friend gave me a valentine
But signed it "guess who!"
Our hearts are just alike you see.
So, stand up if it's you!
Color Valentines
Give each of your children a red, blue, pink, yellow, or green
valentine heart. Say the following rhyme, and
have the
children listen carefully. When they hear the color of their
valentine, have them hold it up in the air.
Valentines red,
Valentines blue,
Valentines pink
Say "I LoveYou."
Valentines yellow,
Valentines green,
Prettiest valentines
I've never seen!
Hearts on the Move
Provide each child with a construction paper heart.
Then have your
youngsters sing the song below and follow the
directions given.
(Sung to the tune of: "He's Got the Whole World in His
Hands")
Wave your valentine
In the air.
Wave your valentine
In the air.
Wave your valentine
In the air.
Wave your valentine in the air.
Trade a valentine
With a friend.
Trade a valentine
With a friend.
Trade a valentine
With a friend.
Trade a valentine with a friend.
Put your valentine
On your (nose).
Put your valentine
On your (nose).
Put your valentine
On your (nose),
Put your valentine on your (nose).
Repeat the last verse, replacing the underlined word with
other body part words in turn, such as head, arm, and foot.
Will You Be Mine?
(Sung to the tune of: "Mary Had a Little Lamb")
Cut a class supply of red, pink and white construction paper
hearts. Next, make a miniature
mailbox by covering a shoes
box with colored Con-Tact paper and then cutting a slot in the
lid. To begin the activity, provide each child with a
construction paper heart. Then direct
each child to place
his/her valentine in the box when the color is mentioned in the
song.
Mail your (red) heart valentines,
Valentines, valentines!
Mail your (red) heart valentines,
And send love, oh so fine!
Repeat placing the underlined word with pink and white in
turn.
I mailed my friend a valentine,
Valentine, Valentine!
I mailed my friend a valentine,
And sent my love so fine!
When You Send a Valentine
When you send a valentine,
That's the time for fun,
Slip it underneath the door,
Ring the bell and run, run, run,
Ring the bell and run,
Have a bell and a letter with a
valentine in it for a prop. The child can act out the
sneaking up
to the door and pretending to push button. All the children must
run to safety.
Little Valentine
Make a circle. Child in the center will be
the Valentine. Children will skip around singing.
The
child in the center will point to a child who will say the color for
the last line of the song.
Then the child chosen will take
place in the center and the game will continue.
(Sung to the tune of: "Skip
To My Lou")
Little red Valentine, I love you.
Little red Valentine, I love you.
Little red Valentine, I love you.
Blue one says, I do too.
Little blue Valentine, I love you.
Little blue Valentine, I love you.
Little blue Valentine, I love you.
White one says, I do too.
Will You Be My Valentine
(Sung to the tune of: "Mulberry Bush")
Child sings, walks around the group and hands a child a
Valentine.
Who will be my valentine,
valentine, valentine
Who will be my valentine,
On Valentine's Day?
Chosen child sings.
I will be your valentine,
valentine, valentine.
I will be your valentine
On Valentine's Day.
Group sings.
(Child's name) will
be (his/her) valentine, valentine, valentine.
(Child's name) will be (his/her)
valentine
On Valentine's Day.
Child named will then continue
the game.
Counting Valentines
Make number concept cards using red
Valentines. Give a child a card and instruct the
child to
stand when the number is sung. When counting from ten the
child will sit down.
This can aid in counting, number
recognition, simple addition, and subtraction.
(Sung to the tune of: "Ten
Little Indians")
One red, two red, three red
valentines
Four red, five red, six red valentines
Seven red, eight red, nine red valentines
Ten red valentines.
Ten red, nine red, eight red
valentines
Seven red, Six red, five red valentines
Four red, three red, two red valentines
One red valentine.
Variation: Substitute other colors. Cut
out ten valentines of the color and have children dramatize
the
song. Group the children according to different number and
color and sing. For example:
One red, two blue, three green valentines.
Four orange, five yellow, six purple valentines.
Seven black, eight brown, nine pink valentines.
Ten white valentines for you.
I Am Stuck On You
Give each child a construction paper heart and
have the children stand in a circle. Ask the children
to
pretend that their hearts are very sticky. As you sing the
first verse of the song below, have one
child give his/her heart
to the child on his/her right. (Since the heart is sticky,
both the children's
hands will remail "stuck" to
it.) Continue singing the first verse of the song, letting
each child in turn give
his/her heart to the next child, until all
the children are stuck together. Then sing the last verse of
the song.
(Sung to the tune of: "The Mulberry
Bush")
Here is my Valentine,
My valentine, my valentine.
Here is my valentine,
I am stuck on you!
Now we're stuck together,
Together, together.
Now we're stuck together,
We're one big valentine!
Valentine Compliments
Cut out a small construction paper heart for
each child and print the child's name on it. Place the
hearts
in a basket. Have the children sit in a circle.
Let one child begin by taking a heart from the basket and
holding
it up. Have the child whose name appears on the heart raise
his or her hand (or identify the
name yourself). Then let
the other children take turns saying something nice about that
child.
Continue in the same manner until each child has
received his or her "valentine compliments."
Share My Heart
This game is
similar to musical chairs. To prepare, cut out a large
construction paper heart for each child. Laminate the cutouts for
durability.
Then randomly place the cutouts on the floor, To play, encourage children
to walk around the hearts while you play some lively music. Then stop the
music and have all the kids find a heart to stand on. Begin the music
again,
remove one of the hearts. The next time the music stops, a child
must
share his heart with another child. Continuer in this manner removing a
heart each round, until several children must share each heart. This
heart-y
game is a wonderful way for youngsters to form some heartfelt
friendships.
Find the Heart
Materials Needed:
several different colored felt heart shaped pillows (very small) -- at
least one per child
Procedure:
Children "sleep" (close eyes) while music is playing. Teachers hide
hearts, then stop music. Children "wake up," then search for hearts.
Variation:
Children can take turns hiding hearts.
