10 Valentine’s Day Activities for Toddlers and Preschool Children

Valentine’s Day is quickly approaching! Take some time to do these fun activities with your toddler or preschool aged child!

1. Sensory Bin

I love sensory bins for young children. This is a great way to let children explore and learn through their senses. I have made many posts on sensory bins and the benefits of playing with sensory bins. Click here to check that out and more detailed instructions on how to make sensory bins.

This sensory bin is Valentine’s Day inspired. I started with dying rice pink and red. I then added in some fun hearts and stickers. I put all these materials in a plastic bin. As always, I added in a scoop and bowl for my child to play with. She particularly loves to scoop into a bowl.

Click here to read how to dye rice for a sensory bin.

2. Color Sorting Hearts

This is a fun and easy activity to do with toddlers or young children. Color sorting is an important skill to master (although younger toddlers may not be ready for this).

For this activity, I cut hearts out of pink, red, light pink, and purple paper. I then took a full sheet of each color paper and laid them out on the floor (you could also hang them). Then, my daughter matched the color heart to the matching paper by laying the heart on the paper.

Super easy, but a great activity and learning experience!

3. Play Dough Color Sort

This is very similar to the last activity, but a little different version. I made play dough in colors of red, pink, white, and purple. I then made little balls out of each color of play dough. Next, I made a flat circle of each color with the leftover dough.

My daughter matched the balls of play dough to the correct flat circle of play dough. Just lay the little balls on top of the correct corresponding color circle (although she likes to push the balls down).

4. Play Dough

Another fun activity for little ones is playing with play dough. You don’t need a lot of materials to play, just play dough can be enough. I added a few heart cookie cutters, a rolling pin, some foam hearts, and a cut up straw to add to the play dough experience.

Let your child explore and creatively play on their own. You could also assist them while playing and talk about colors, shapes, or even textures!

I made this play dough using the recipe found on my post here. Before I added the food coloring, I split the dough into four equal sections. This recipe makes a lot of play dough and I didn’t want anymore than that but in different colors. It worked out well!

5. Foam Hearts Gross Motor Activity

Looking for a simple gross motor activity? This activity is simple, but lots of fun! Spread some foam hearts on the floor. Put your child across the room and give them certain ways to cross the floor and pick up one heart. For example, run, walk, skip, tip toe, walk backwards, crawl like a bear, etc.

Another twist is to give them a specific color heart to get or even put letters or numbers on the hearts and have them look for a certain heart to pick up.

6. Heart Painting

This is a simple art project to do with young children. I used toilet paper tubes and folded them in the shape of a heart. I put tape around them to make sure they stayed in the shape of a heart. Then, I put some red and pink paint in bowls.

My toddler then dipped the toilet paper tube into the paint and pressed it on a piece of white card stock paper. She continued to do this until the paper was filled with hearts!

7. Jello Hearts

Another fun activity to do with your child is to make a treat to eat! Kids should be involved in the cooking process from a young age. This also helps them develop some fine motor skills as well, like mixing and pouring.

For this activity, I bought jello packets and made jello. I got raspberry and strawberry flavor, so the hearts would be red. I followed the directions on the package to make jello jigglers so I could cut out shapes!

My daughter poured the jello packets into a bowl, mixed it up, and poured it into a glass dish. Once it was set in the refrigerator, we used heart cookie cutters to cut out heart shapes!

You could also make all kinds of recipes but just make them heart shaped! For example, brownies, cookies, Rice Krispie treats, etc.

8. Heart Trace

Another easy activity that will really work on fine motor skills is to trace a heart with stickers. I simply traced a heart shape on a piece of paper. Then, I let my child put stickers on the line. You could also have small hearts all over the paper and let your child put stickers on the line of each shape.

9. Heart Wreath

Making a heart wreath is a fun craft! All you need is a paper plate, construction paper hearts, stickers, and glue. I cut a hole out of a paper plate. Then, my toddler added some construction paper hearts around the paper plate. I put some glue around the edge and she pressed the hearts into it.

Then, I let her decorate the heart wreath with stickers. I used foam sticker hearts and some regular heart stickers.

10. Love You to Pieces Craft

This is a simple craft you can do with young children. I simply printed out this cute “I love you to pieces” sheet on card stock (for more durability). Then, my daughter (with help from me) tore up strips of pink, red, and purple construction paper into little pieces. I then put some glue on the heart and let her put the little pieces of construction paper on the glue.