6 Awesome Valentine’s Day Activities
This Valentine’s Day, you can spread the love in your classroom and teach your students about the importance of love for their fellow humans. Valentine’s Day is not only about romantic love anymore, but it’s a time to celebrate compassion, caring and sharing. Here are a few V-day activities to keep your students busy:
1. Valentine’s Day cards
Incorporate a vocabulary lesson while your students enjoy arts and crafts. Introduce some words related to Valentine’s Day to your students, for example: hearts, love, Cupid, girlfriend/ boyfriend, etc. After you introduced the words, ask students to share their own sentences or words. Show the students a sample card and let the fun begin! The students can then start making the cards using coloured paper, markers, stickers, paint and any other items you have available. Keep the class chatting about Valentine’s Day throughout the lesson to make sure that they practice their English.
2. Reading
Reading a Valentine’s Day themed book to your class is a great way to improve their vocabulary and get them in the spirit of the day. You can read from illustrated books, which will also impress your younger students. Here are a few book suggestions to get you going: For Pre-K have a look at I Love You, Too!, for primary school try Geronimo Stilton: Valentine’s Day Disaster and your older students will like Cake Pop Crush.
3. Poems
Kick off your class with a Valentine’s Day poem, for example It’s Valentine’s Day by Jack Prelutsky. Discuss with your students what Valentine’s Day means to them. You can also start a conversation about ‘What is love?’ and teach your students words associated with love. Next, read the poem I love you more than applesauce by Jack Prelutsky and afterwards students can create their own unique ‘I love you more than…’ poems.
4. Gratitude wall
Have a dedicated space in your classroom where you display students’ own gratitude-filled cartoon hearts. This can be gratitude towards their classmates or in general. Remember to interact with your students and discuss each student’s heart and the vocabulary or words used.
5. Research
For the more advanced students, ask them to do research about the history and traditions surrounding Valentine’s Day. They can present their findings to the class by giving an oral presentation and practicing their English. This can either be done in groups or solo. Different topics can be assigned to each student or group. Here are some ideas for research topics: What is Valentine’s Day? What are Valentine’s Day traditions around the world? Who was Saint Valentine?
6. Famous pairs
Make a list of famous pairs which could be popular couples or classic duos. Cut out the first name of the pair and place it in a bag or hat. Students should draw a piece of paper and state the missing name of the pair. Students can be divided into teams and you can keep score or you can just do it together as a class. A few examples of pairs you can use are: Romeo and Juliet, salt and pepper, Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, black and white and Barbie and Ken.
Your students will LOVE these activities. Gift each of your students with a small chocolate at the end of the lesson in celebration of Valentine’s Day. All you need is love, but a little bit of chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt anyone 😉