5 Fun Valentine's Day Ideas and Activities for Students
Feb 05, 2024
It’s early February and everything is red and pink, Reese cups are now in the shape of hearts, and you basically trip over love-themed stuffed animals whenever you walk into a store. Valentine’s day can be a really fun holiday and it's coming!
If you are looking for some February 14th Valentines Day resources and activities for your high school or transition-age classroom, continue reading this blog post and check out my FIVE suggestions below. Read: Not paper crafts, candy hearts counting, or glue stick crafts intended for elementary school-age students.
For the record, I never recall any of my students having a budget/desire to throw a Valentine’s Day party. While that's a lovely idea, it just wasn't applicable to my student population. If we did any Valentine’s day-related activities, the goal was to practice relevant, applicable skills first and foremost!
If your students are like mine, below are some ideas:
1. Valentine's Day Inspired Reading and Budgeting Worksheets (FREE Valentine Printables!)
Valentine's Day lesson plans that are a FREE DOWNLOAD printable worksheet (a.k.a zero effort) = the best kind! Get in the Valentine's Day spirit the easy way with printable activities for your high school students. If your activities from last year are leaving a lot to be desired, good news- my free Sneak Peek resource is a great opportunity to try out two worksheets during your next morning work time before you dive in and buy all 25 (see #2 below for more) !
So, put these free printable to good use the first few or last few minutes of class the week(s) leading to Valentine holiday.
Skills Practiced/Addressed:
- Language Skills (Functional Reading)
- Budgeting
2. Valentine's Day Functional Life Skills Activities: Reading, Life Skills, Functional Math, Budgeting, and Communication
Need a valentine's day theme activity for older students (think secondary students through middle school students) that doesn't completely veer off from your learning targets? You want something that naturally weaves into your lessons, covers a wide variety of skills, and holds your student's attention. You need a creative activity to use with small groups, independent work, whole class, and fast finishers? And, an activity you can print on good ol' white paper (i.e. not construction or tissue paper)?
Well, the February Valentine's Day Functional Life Skills Activities and Worksheet resource is the seasonal activity you need for the days and weeks leading up to February 14. Make the special Valentines day feeling last for a whole week with this jam-packed resource!
Available on Teachers Pay Teachers, these Valentine's Day worksheets cover the following:
- Reading passages and comprehension questions (Example- reading the flyer for registering for a speed dating activity)
- Functional math (Example- Comparing the amount of roses in a half-dozen, dozen, and two-dozen order)
- Budgeting (Example- Calculating how much someone would need to work to afford a date)
- Life Skills (Example- Finding common allergens in the ingredients list of a box of chocolates)
- Communication (Example- Identifying what students love about themselves (self-love)
Designed to be a fun approach to essential functional life skills this resource goes beyond just math worksheets. This resource includes Google Sheets for students to answer functional math questions that reveal a fun, seasonal image with each right answer. The monthly budgeting, functional math, conversation starters, life skills, and reading comprehension activities reinforce comprehension skills through the lens of Valentine's day!
This resource is the perfect opportunity to practice functional skills in fun and different ways from your usual (because they are all based on Valentine's Day!).
And bonus points, because correct answer keys are included for super easy grading!
Skills Practiced/Addressed:
- Critical Thinking
- Problem-Solving Skills
- Reading/Literacy Skills (logical inference, main idea, vocabulary words, summarize, predict, background knowledge, transferring learning, identifying facts, identifying details, and identifying key information)
- Conversation/Communication skills
- Functional Math
- Budgeting
- Activities of Daily Living
3. Social Relationships: Consent and Communication
While Valentine’s Day is all about showing love to others, what if the other person doesn’t want it? Being surrounded by unwelcome offerings of love can be uncomfortable for anyone. Boundaries are healthy!
This short, graphics based video by Amaze covers a general overview of consent and communication in a fun way. It includes different people giving and denying consent and the website includes other information and resources on the topic.
This can be a great way to switch it up from your usual Valentines Day worksheets for those ‘last 5 minutes of class’ activity to round out an otherwise normal school day (because not every schedule allows for a full day to celebrate a love-based holiday) or a jumping off point for other social and relationship conversations. Some other Amaze videos of interest include, Consent Explained , and Understanding Sexual Consent and the Law . Since these other two videos explicitly address sexual consent, confirm appropriateness with administration and/or families before showing these in class.
Skills Practiced/Addressed:
- Communication of wants and needs
- Choice making
- Stopping a behavior
4. Choice Making, Budgeting, Planning, and More: Differentiated Valentine’s Day Resource
If you teach a variety of student abilities and want to address life skills with a theme of love flair, a differentiated resource is the answer!
There is NO dollar over, shopping for deals on chocolates in a sales ad, or construction paper crafts in this resource. Those activities have their place, but current high school and transition students need something more and different!
This Valentine’s Day Activity engages students of various levels in:
- Choosing WHO they want to spend time with (friends, family, significant other, or alone)
- MAKING DECISIONS based on a budget
- PREPARING two plans and choosing the best one
- ESTIMATING time and/or money (option to set time and budget limits)
- CHOOSING transportation and clothes based on their chosen activity
- COMMUNICATING the plan to others
- PLANNING appropriate conversation topics
- And so much more!
This resource can be used in so many ways that it’s hard to put into words!
Maybe the best part about this resource, it’s highly customizable! All the resources have the same look, making it super easy to differentiate for each student in class. And, materials can easily be used as homework, too.
Skills Practiced:
- Decision making
- Budgeting
- Time management
- Thinking of others
- Transportation
- Matching clothes to activity
- Reflecting
- Communication
- Flexibility
5. Communication: Sending Digital Valentine's Day ECards
Whether peers want to send Valentine’s Day cards to a loved one or a Galentine’s Day card to a friend or staff member, communication is what sending cards is all about! If a student creates a FREE Canva account, they can download different graphics and send them via their own email (which likely already has email addresses saved).
This is also a great back-up if original plans are canceled due to weather (because winter) or students just don’t really care about Valentine’s Day, because there is no limit to the type or number of free cards students could create or send!
Skills Practiced:
- Thinking of others wants
- Typing
- Internet navigation
- Writing (depending on card choice)
- Basic digital skills (downloading and attaching)
- Email skills
Let’s be honest, those small Valentine’s Day cards that come in the thin box with pictures of small animals and cartoons are better left on store shelves. Forgo the traditional Valentine’s day activities or craft (that will most likely end up in the trash by the end of the day) and engage in more age appropriate activities where student's can really use to make their own Valentine's Day cards!
Happy Valentine's Day!
