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With candy, flowers and hearts galore, Valentine’s Day is an exciting time of the year for students! Plan a celebration your students are sure to love.

Here are five of our favorite crafts, activities and recipes to celebrate Valentine’s Day with your students:

Candy-Heart Science:

Discover what happens to conversation hearts when they are placed in different liquids!

Materials:

  • Five recycled bottles
  • Four different liquids (water, vinegar, soda and rubbing alcohol)
  • Paper
  • Pencils/pens

Instructions:

  1. Before starting the experiment, ask students how they think each liquid will affect the candy hearts. Record their predictions.
  2. Then, fill four of the bottles with different liquids. Leave one empty for the “control” bottle.
  3. Drop in about 4-5 candy hearts into each bottle.
  4. Take a few minutes to observe any reactions. What do students notice about the candy hearts once they come in contact with the liquids?
  5. Continue observing the reactions over a period of one day or one week. Have students compare the results with their initial predictions. Do they get it right or were their predictions off?

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Valentine Sun Catcher:

Materials:

Instructions:

  1. Start by cutting a heart frame out of the red construction paper. Simply fold the paper in half, cut out a large heart and then cut a smaller heart out of the large one to create a frame.
  2. Cut a piece of contact paper that is larger than the heart. Lay the heart on top of the contact paper and trim off the excess.
  3. Have students cut or tear the tissue paper into pieces and stick them onto the contact paper. The contact paper is sticky, but use glue to secure the pieces if needed.
  4. Allow students to decorate their suncatchers with glitter.
  5. Once they’ve finished decorating, cover it with another layer of contact paper to seal in the tissue paper pieces and glitter.
  6. Then hang the suncatchers in the window to “catch some rays!”

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Dipped and Decorated Pretzels:

Share this tasty treat with your students for Valentine’s Day!

Ingredients:

  • Large pretzel rods and twists
  • Red, white and pink candy melts
  • Vegetable shortening
  • Wax paper
  • Microwave-safe bowl
  • Candy sprinkles
  • Candy wrappers

Instructions:

  1. Place the candy melts in a microwave-safe bowl and add two tablespoons of vegetable shortening to about a cup of candy melts.
  2. Microwave the melts in 30-second intervals, stirring each time in between until the melts are smooth and creamy.
  3. Place a large sheet of wax paper over a hard surface. Dip each pretzel into the bowl of melts and cover about a third of the surface. Tap the pretzel on the side of the bowl to remove excess candy. Alternatively, use a spoon to pour the candy melts over the pretzels.
  4. Place the dipped pretzels on the wax paper and decorate with your favorite candy sprinkles.
  5. Let the dipped pretzels harden for about an hour. You can also place them in the fridge for a quick chill.
  6. Wrap your treats with candy wrappers and hand them out to your students with love.

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Take Care of Your Heart:

Give students a chance to explore the human heart and how exercise affects their heart rate.

Materials:

Instructions:

  1. Watch this video to give students an overview of the heart’s function.
  2. Divide students into pairs. Have one student take take her own pulse while her partner takes the time.
  3. Ask students to record their pulses on paper.
  4. Then, have students run or skip around for five minutes. Ask them to record their pulses again.
  5. Finally, let them rest for a few minutes. Have them take their pulses again and record them.
  6. Discuss the difference between their resting heart rate and their heart rate during moderate intensity activities, like running and skipping. Use this opportunity to discuss the benefits of a healthy heart and ways to keep it healthy.

Valentine’s BINGO:

What’s better than a game of BINGO? Playing with candy hearts!

Materials:

Instructions:

  1. Play Valentine’s BINGO like you would a traditional BINGO game.
  2. Begin by having students place a candy heart in the free space on the board.
  3. Then, call out random numbers on the board. For example, B22 or N8.
  4. Continue until a student fills up an entire row on their board (horizontal, vertical or diagonal) and yells “BINGO!”
  5. Play extra rounds to give more students a chance to win!