10 Free Valentine’s Day Activities for Kids

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Valentine’s Day is one of the cutest holidays for kids. It can be as minimal or as extra as you want, and there are so many opportunities to bring children into the fun!

Whether you’re the type to have holiday jammies for every day of the week or you’d rather grab some discount candy the day after, you can make things exciting for kids at no cost.

Low-cost, simple, and age-appropriate activities are our speciality at Eat Play Say. There are tons of ways to celebrate with your littles, and we listed our top 10 below. From our favorite Valentine’s Day recipes to the best picture books and crafts, we’ve got you covered.

1. Check out Valentine’s Day books for kids

If you’re not a frequent flyer at your local library, there’s no better time than now! So many libraries have dedicated story time readings for different age ranges. If you have littles who fall into multiple age categories, that’s okay! Bring everyone along for some fun in the kids’ section.

When story time wraps up, take a look at all the amazing picture and board books available to check out. Take a stack of Valentine’s Day books home, or just read them there!

Another favorite activity is heading to a nearby bookstore with an amazing children’s section. Similar to a trip to the library, you can look at countless Valentine’s Day themed books and choose whether to bring some home or not!

2. Craft your own Valentine’s Day cards for kids

Do you remember when you were a kid and it was all the rage to see who put a Valentine in your bag at school? Those were the days!

Recreate the childhood magic with your own littles by grabbing some construction paper, scissors, stickers, and crayons or markers. Add in any other craft supplies you’d like, and get to crafting! You can deliver these cards to family, friends, or even neighbors.

This is a great opportunity to work on developmental milestones with no pressure and all fun. For example, if your little is two and a half, they can help out with using scissors! Younger toddlers will enjoy scribbling or practicing drawing a line.

Curious about other developmental milestones? You can check in on developmental milestones for 0–36 months with our most downloaded freebie!

3. Bake a Valentine’s Day treat

Baking is an amazing activity for toddlers and preschoolers to get involved with at home!

There are lots of textures, smells, and opportunities to squish, stir, and pour. Baking includes sensory exploration, fine motor skill work, and gross motor development wrapped up into one activity…and it ends with a sweet treat?!

You can grab a roll of premade dough and practice cutting skills or bake from scratch and add fun sprinkles or use cookie cutters to cut fun shapes! If you’re not up for a day of real baking activities, swap this one out for pretend baking. Use the sweets & treats play theme with play cookies and cake toys to enjoy the pretend play!

4. Go on a Valentine’s Day scavenger hunt

A scavenger hunt works for even the smallest of littles, as it can be adapted to fit any specific needs. If the weather is nice, you can take this one outside or to a local store, park, or even on a car ride for older kiddos.

Depending on your child’s age, you can have them search for red or pink objects, heart shapes, or things that they love!

For an added layer, you can turn this into an engaging snow day activity at home with hearts cut out of construction paper. Hide them high and low, in plain sight or inside cabinets or toys for older toddlers.

5. DIY Valentine’s Day garland decor

When you’re done scavenging for heart-shaped cut outs, punch holes in them and create a fun garland with some twine! Preschoolers can help punch out holes, while littles as young as two can help string the hearts.

Another fun way to decorate with your kids? Grab a roll of craft paper (or whatever you have on hand) and trace a few Valentine’s Day things, such as hearts, candies, or cards, and let littles go to town coloring, bedazzling, and creating!

6. Valentine’s Day Sort and Play

Go around your house and find anything that is heart-shaped, pink, purple, red, or white. Encourage your little one to group by color or shape into bins. Then, see how they play with them!

For older children, you can spread out a variety of conversation heart candies and have your child sort them by color. You can even use them as items for littles to place through a hole into a container, or help your preschooler identify which ones “match.”

For fine motor development, trace some conversation hearts on a piece of paper and have your child try to place the hearts inside the lines. This is like making your own puzzle! Or help your toddler build a tower of hearts! How many can they stack before they crash?!

7. Make a Valentine’s Day sensory bin

Sensory bins are one of our favorite tools for learning through play. They’re amazing for development, are so fun, and can extend play time without overstimulating littles! 

We have a whole blog post on easy sensory bin ideas for toddlers you can mix and match for any time of year. 

A super simple option is to fill a bin with dry rice, oats, or cereal. Then, add scoops, cups, spoons, and a few small toys that are pink, red, or purple (or heart shaped!). 

For more Free Valentine’s Day sensory bin ideas, download our Valentine’s Day Crafts Freebie!

8. Arts and crafts for Valentine’s Day

Speaking of crafts—Valentine’s Day is a top tier crafting holiday. One of our favorite mess-free crafts you can make in few minutes is a paper crown so littles can be the King or Queen of Hearts!

All you need for this is some construction paper, scissors, tape or a stapler, and some crayons/markers for decorating! You can also use stickers or glue on pom poms if you’d like. For more in depth instructions, check out our Valentine’s Day Craft blog!

9. Make chocolate Valentine’s Day treats

This one can be messy. But remember, messes are good for the sensory system!

Kids love to get their hands dirty and experiment with the sensations of different textures, and chocolate is no exception!

For a special Valentine’s Day treat, you can have toddlers stand in a toddler tower or sit in a chair and practice dipping fruit in chocolate. They can also practice cutting skills with toddler knives on strawberries or bananas, or explore how different combinations might taste or feel in their hands! For younger toddlers, model language skills with words like “squish squish!” or “chop chop!”

Not ready for chopping and tasting? You can also pour some chocolate syrup or sauce into a bowl and have your child use it as finger paint on wax paper.

10. Have a Valentine’s Day party at home

This one can be such a sweet memory or even a new tradition! 

Throw a family party at home and lean into your imagination! Themes could include a royal dance party or fancy dinner, where kids get to play dress up and try out different roles and activities! Or pop them in the cutest Valentine’s Day pajamas and have a pajama party! Whether they’re the 5-star chef, a pajama princess, or a king at the ball, you can turn on some music and have a silly dance party to end the night!

More Valentine’s Day activities for kids

Looking for more holiday-inspired activities, or even some of our favorite Valentine’s Day products? We’ve got you covered!

Snag your Valentine’s Day crafts freebie, or check out our collection of craft freebies, including Winter crafts!

And if you’re planning on doing gifts for Valentine’s Day, check out our kids’ gift guide for every age 0-4!