While Valentine’s Day is traditionally a day to celebrate romantic relationships, it can also be a fun time to celebrate love with your toddler. Here are some fun ideas you can use to bring Valentine’s Day to your little ones.
- Busy Bag
A busy bag is a really fun activity that can be tailored to your child’s likes and dislikes. They are self-contained games or fun, exploratory activities designed for toddlers to play with independently. You can make them as basic or elaborate as you like. For example, you can make a simple, matching game with different colored hearts on Popsicle sticks.
- Make Valentine’s Cards
Your toddler may not be able to make their cards independently, but he or she can still have fun helping decorate them. You can make them for friends and family, or for your child’s preschool or Sunday school class. Make simple hearts and let your child color them. Then write a short little message and sign it from your child.
- Bake Valentine’s Day Cookies
Baking cookies with your toddler can be quite the task, but if you’re prepared for a mess it can be a lot of fun. One thing toddlers love to do is help stir the dough. You can prevent the mess from spreading by putting a large piece of plastic on the floor underneath you. Decorating can also be a fun activity for toddlers. Provide a variety of colored icings, sprinkles, and candies to add to the cookies. You can also share the love by delivering them to friends or family members once they’re complete.
- Valentine’s Day Slime
Little kids like all things ooey and gooey so this activity is perfect to keep them entertained. Slime is also a great sensory activity because it has solid and liquid properties, and it’s really fun to play with. You need two packages of clear glue, one package of white glue, liquid starch, water, measuring cups (½ cup), red food coloring, two bowls and a spoon, and glitter and heart confetti. Mix it together and you’re all done. You might want to mix this one on your own and then give it to the kiddos when you’re done. Warning: you have to use some muscle to mix it up completely.
- Acts of Kindness
You can take Valentine’s Day as an opportunity to show your child that love isn’t just between family and friends. You can show love to strangers and people in need. An easy way to do this is to go through your child’s toys and choose a few ignored toys to donate to a shelter or a local organization. You can also make blessing bags to pass out to the homeless. Include snacks, toiletries, and a water bottle in each. You can also make Valentine’s Day cards for residents at an assisted living center and take your child with you to hand them out.
