Who do you love the most? Your family! Valentine’s Day activities for parents and kids provides the perfect way to celebrate this love-fest of a holiday. You’ve already got the school Valentine’s box decoration covered and your kiddo has hand-drawn cards for grandma and grandpa. Now what? Check out these awesome activities that will inspire imagination, exploration and family bonding. So go ahead, and make some magical moments as you prep for this heart-felt holiday!
When you had kids, making a Valentine’s meal went from romantic to kind of chaotic. You’ve put the idea of whipping up a five-course meal (complete with filet mignon and a kale salad) on hold, at least temporarily. Now that you’re a parent, you’re all about family time. Get your gang together and prep a Valentine’s meal. Shape slices of bread with a heart cookie cutter. Set out a buffet of the family’s favorites, making sure to put something out that each person loves. Instead of building your own sandwich, give each person someone else to prep for. The goal of the game here is to correctly pick out your chosen person’s favorite foods and make a heart-shaped sandwich that matches.
As your kiddos get older they’ll begin to understand that sometimes mom and dad need some alone time. But, that doesn’t mean you have to completely separate family activities into adults-only and kids-time. Combine the two, letting your kids create a romantic Valentine’s Day dinner menu. Invite a friend or family member over (or the sitter), and have the kids help them to prep your holiday meal. They can measure and mix ingredients and create crafty menus. The kids can even set the table, picking out a holiday color scheme or designing their own artsy décor.
Forget about those store-bought Valentine’s Day decorations. Your creative kid wants to make their own! Make this a parent-child activity by creating heart-shaped art to decorate your dining room, playroom or anywhere else. Cut hearts out from colorful craft felt. You can go with the traditional red and pink hues, or make a rainbow. Use a hole punch on each side of the hearts and string them together with pretty ribbon. Now you’ve got a DIY heart garland! Hang it around the windows, dress up the dinner table or string it around the doors. Save a few extra felt hearts and punch holes all the way around them. Stack them in pairs of two and lace ribbon through the holes, creating no-sew holiday goodie bags. Fill them with your little one’s favorite candy or tiny toys.
Um, science? Yep, that’s right! You can create a parent-child Valentine’s Day heart activity that totally focuses on science concepts – specifically, human biology. A heart isn’t just a shape to use in your child’s craft projects – it’s what keeps your blood pumping. Help your young child to understand what the human heart is and how it works with a physical activity experiment. Show your child how to take their pulse (or yours) at rest. Time it out, writing down what the pulse rate is. Now it’s time to get moving. Go for a family walk or jog. Half-way through stop, and take everyone’s pulses. Write down the numbers. Keep going, walking/jogging home. Re-take those pulses and write the numbers again. Take a break and relax, waiting to re-take everyone’s pulse for at least a half hour. Compare all of the numbers and ask your child to explain why they think everyone’s heart rate changed during the activity.
Don’t forget to snap some photos in between the fun and use them to create a Valentine’s Day themed board book that the whole family will love to look back on for years to come!
