What better time of year to show your love than on February 14? As gift guides and date ideas flourish, Valentine’s Day with kids doesn’t have to be complicated. Here are easy ways to make Wednesday, Feb. 14 a special day on the family calendar with smiles and hugs. The key to making Valentine’s Day special is by emphasizing the importance of the love and relationships in your life.
How to Enjoy Valentine’s Day with Kids
Parent Job for Valentine’s Day: Before the kids are up on Feb. 14, decorate your kitchen table with Valentine’s Day cards for each member and a small Valentine treat. Maybe one of those big Valentine’s Day balloons. You don’t have to purchase gifts.
Homemade Valentine’s Day Cards: Encourage your kids to create homemade Valentine’s Day cards for friends and family. This can be a fun and creative activity, and kids can personalize their cards with their own designs and messages. To Do: Set up a card crafting station on your kitchen table with different colors of construction paper, scissors, a glue stick, sequins, stickers, markers, crayons, you name it.
Bake something together: Bake cookies, cupcakes or a cake and decorate it with sprinkles and other decorations. Your kids will bring their imaginations and can do this part themselves. To Do: Be sure you have all of the ingredients on hand that you need. Let the kids measure, stir, pour and more.
Family Game Night after dinner: Choose a couple of games to play that you know the kids love. To Do: After dinner, bring out a stack of games to the kitchen table.
Love Notes: You’ve made the cards, but have your kids ever written a love note? Consider setting up a station where your family can write love notes to each other, remembering something special about each other in the notes. To Do: Put out small pieces of paper and pens on a table or counter and encourage your family to write short but sweet notes to each other, fold them in half and have them secretly delivered by someone else in the family.
Story Time: Gather the family around to read stories and poems about love out loud together by taking turns. Some great options for poetry for kids include Robert Louis Stevensons’ A Child’s Garden of Verses; Robert Frost’s Poetry for Young People, etc.