Brighten up your classroom with a paper heart garland
This heart garland is an easy way to bring a fun on-theme feel to your classroom. It’s simple enough for everyone to join in and enjoy themselves, making it a great activity for all ages. You can have each table work on cutting out hearts from different coloured paper – perhaps one table does pink, another red, and another white. Your students can practice their cutting skills, and once you have a range of colours, you can string them together to create as many garlands as you need.
The garlands can be hung as a display border, draped across the walls, or adorned on the windows. If your school is hosting a Valentine's Day disco or party, you can even have the students help make the decor for that!
Here's what you need:
- Coloured paper (red, pink, white, or any colours you like)
- Scissors
- Glue stick, hole-punch or stapler
- String or ribbon
How to make it:
- Fold a piece of paper in half and draw half a heart along the fold.
- Cut along the line to make a symmetrical heart shape.
- Repeat to make lots of hearts in different colours.
- Either punch holes in the hearts and string them together with ribbon or glue them onto a long strip of paper.
- Hang the garland around the classroom for an instant Valentine's Day display!
Create a handprint love tree for you classroom
This craft is a wonderful way to get all your students involved in a collaborative project, celebrating friendship and teamwork. Each classmate will add their unique handprint to the tree, creating a beautiful and meaningful display that reflects the sense of community in your classroom. This a great activity for Valentine’s Day, but it also makes a lasting classroom decoration that can stay up all year long! It’s quick, it's easy and it can be pulled together without much prep.
Here's what you need:
- Large sheet of paper or card
- Brown paper (or brown paint) for the tree trunk
- Coloured paper for hearts
- Scissors
- Glue
How to make it:
- Have each student trace their hand onto coloured paper and cut it out.
- Arrange the handprints on a large sheet of paper, sticking them to form the shape of a tree.
- Cut out small heart shapes and glue them onto the handprints as leaves.
- For a personal touch, let the children write their names, a kind message, or even a goal for the year on their handprints.
- Hang up the completed tree as a classroom display!
Create classic Valentines Day cards
This classic activity is simple, easy, and fun - and, more importantly, it doesn't take long to pull together! Making Valentine's Day cards lets your students get creative while practising kindness and appreciation. Whether they're crafting their card for a friend, teacher, or family member, it's a meaningful way for them to express their feelings. Plus, it's a sweet little keepsake they can take home at the end of the day.
You’ll need:
- Folded card or coloured paper
- Felt tips, crayons, coloured pencils
- Stickers, glitter, or other decorations
- Scissors and glue sticks
- Imagination!
How to make it:
- Give each of your students a piece of blank folded card.
- Let them decorate it however they like with their choice of colours, drawings, and stickers or anything else you have lying around!
- Inside, they can write a heartfelt message to someone special.
- Encourage them to add personal touches like drawings or fun stickers to make the card even more unique.
- If you’d like, you can even set up a card swap so everyone gets to share the love with a card from a friend!
Fun and easy friendship bracelets
Valentine’s Day is all about celebrating kindness and friendship, and what better way to do that than by making friendship bracelets? This simple craft is fun and helps teach your students the value of friendship, showing how small acts of kindness can make a big difference in the classroom. Plus, making something by hand gives children a chance to create a special gift for a classmate that they then get to take home and keep!
This is yet another craft that requires little to no setup or foreplanning – all you need are some beads and string! Put out a selection of colourful beads on each table, and let your students get creative as they design their own bracelets.
You'll need:
- Thread, wool, or thin string
- Beads (variety of colours and styles)
- Scissors
How to make them:
- Cut pieces of string (about 30 cm long) in different colours.
- Put a selection of beads on each table and let your students pick a handful of their favourites.
- Show them how to string the beads onto the thread to create their bracelet.
- When they're done, they can share their bracelet with a classmate and take them home!
These easy-to-set-up crafts are the perfect way to spread kindness and creativity in your classroom this Valentine’s Day! Plus, they’re great for promoting teamwork and friendship and honing those essential fine motor skills.
If you're looking to make learning just as engaging as your creative projects, at EPSL, we offer a wide range of personalised exercise books, reading records and vocabulary and spelling books to help support your classroom activities! If you have any questions or need any assistance, don't hesitate to call us at 01254 686 500. We're always here to help you create the best classroom environment for your students!
