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Creative Valentine's Day Activities

by Richard Flowers

"I have never met a person whose greatest need was anything other than real, unconditional love. You can find it in a simple act of kindness toward someone who needs help. There is no mistaking love. You feel it in your heart. It is the common fiber of life, the flame of that heats our soul, energizes our spirit and supplies passion to our lives. It is our connection to God and to each other." Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

You know the routine. Parents buy Valentine's Day cards with the usual mass-marketed cartoon figures printed on them for kids to pass out in their classrooms. This article will explore some other fun activities that kids and families can do at home and school to celebrate the day of love.

One activity that I enjoy in my classroom is making ladybug love rocks. This is a great activity that uses supplies that many families and classrooms already have. Many people have small river rocks in their yards. Some yards, like my own, are landscaped with small, round river rocks, sometimes referred to as drain field rock. These rocks average from 2 to 5 inches and are generally an oval shape. The school that I teach at has an abundance of these rocks. We go out as a classroom and the kids are able to pick out their favorite rock that they want to turn into a ladybug love rock. The rocks are washed off and allowed to thoroughly dry.

Supplies: red, white and black paint (I just use red tempura), brushes, hot glue gun, wiggly eyes (if you don't have wiggly eyes you can paint the eyes on), pipe cleaners, appliqués of all types (this includes lace, raffia, ribbon, buttons etc.)

Directions: Put a base coat of red or orange paint on the entire rock and allow to thoroughly dry. Use black paint to brush on stripes and spots on your ladybugs. Pick out a black pipe cleaner and glue it to the top of the head for the antenna (a hot glue gun works the best here). You can also glue on legs, but I have found this unnecessary. Glue on any other appliqués to give your ladybug love rock your own artistic expression. Allow the project to thoroughly dry. These ladybug love rocks are great gifts for Valentine's Day and make perfect paperweights!

This project can be used as a catalyst to teach thematically in other subject areas. For music, the kids could learn song called the "Ladybug Song". It is easy to sing since it is a piggyback song. Piggyback songs are songs that have been keyed to familiar melodies. This makes the song easy to teach and learn.

Ladybug Song
(Sung to "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star")

Ladybug, Ladybug
She landed on my nose
I went "kerchoo!" and
Off she flew!

Her body is round with
Big black dots,
My mommy told me
They're called spots.

Ladybug, Ladybug
She looks really neat
With her bright red wings,
And tiny black feet!

For science, children can learn about ladybugs. Read these fascinating facts with your children and discuss them.

For reading, a couple of books I recommend are The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle and Are You a Ladybug? by Judy Allen.

For writing, ask your child to write an expository paper about the steps that they went through to create their ladybugs. Have them include some facts that they learned about ladybugs.

Use the legs of the ladybug as a math manipulative and count out equations. Create story problems such as this one: Mary, Heather, Marqueta, and Joelle all made one ladybug in class for Valentine's Day. How many legs are there if each ladybug has six legs?

The possibilities with story problem math problems are unlimited. Problems can be created to cover all math operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division!

There are alternatives to the everyday mass-produced cartoon cards that pervade Valentine's Day. You certainly can still pass out cards, but adding a creative craft project like the ladybug love rocks will make Valentine's Day rewarding, educational, and fun.

"The spiritual meaning of love is measured by what it can do. Love is meant to heal. Love is meant to renew. Love is meant to bring us closer to God."
Deepak Chopra, The Path to Love

"We can only learn to love by loving." Iris Murdoch.