Whether you use them at home or for school parties, these simple Valentine’s Day activities for kids will get kids laughing and learning in no time. One bag of conversation hearts…so many ways to play and learn!
Conversation hearts…whether you love them or hate them, you’ve got to admit they are an iconic part of Valentine’s Day.
Even though I think they taste kind of like chalk, I love that you can do SO many simple and fun activities with them. Whether you want to practice preschool math skills, plan a classroom party, or have a raucous night of family fun, you can do it all with one little bag of colorful hearts.
So if you’re in the market for some super simple, low-prep fun, I’ve got you covered!
Learning Games & Activities
Learning should be FUN! Here are a bunch of simple games and activities you can do with your kids to add a little learning to playtime!
Muffin tin heart counting
Put a small paper heart in the bottom of each muffin cup with numbers 1-12. Help your child count one heart into the “one” cup, two hearts into the “two” cup, and so forth. You can extend this activity to practice basic addition, too! Pick to cups, take out the hearts and count them together (example 2 hearts + 5 hearts equals 7 hearts!).
Dice wars
This simple and fun math game is a great way to help kids practice counting, addition, and other basic math skills while competing to win the “dice wars.” It’s been a favorite for many years at our house. Learn how to play the game here.
Graphing
Give each player 20 random conversation hearts (or a small box of their own). Sort each color and place in it’s own column to create a bar graph. Discuss: Which color has the most hearts? Which has the fewest? A printable graph sheet for this activity is included in the Valentine’s Day Activity Bundle for Kids.
Science experiments
Rather than eating your hearts, why not experiment with them?! Here are some that we’ve done before and loved!
Make patterns
Use your candy hearts to make different types of patterns with your child. You can start a pattern (like pink, white, pink, white) and challenge your child to continue it, or you can each make your own patterns!
Tracing your name
Write your child’s name on a piece of paper in large letters and let them “trace” the letters by placing conversation hearts along the lines. You could also use my favorite alphabet flash cards, number flash cards, or shape flash cards to add more learning fun!
Measuring
Use candy hearts to measure various household items. How many hearts long is a pencil? your favorite book? What else can you think of to measure? Make predictions and see how close your guess is!
Guess how many
Teach kids more about predictions by filling a small jar or cup with conversation hearts. Ask, “how many do you think are in the jar?” Make your guesses, then teach kids about how to make an educated guess. (Hint: Try counting how many candies you can see on the bottom of the jar. Then count how many “layers” of hearts are in the jar and multiply!) Write down this adjusted guess as well. Finally, dump out the hearts and count the actual number of hearts (putting them in groups of tens helps), and see how close your guess was!
How big is your heart?
This is a variation of the game above. For this activity, cut out a few paper hearts of different colors and have kids guess how many hearts they can fit on the heart without any going over the edge. Then, test it out! Begin adding hearts, and count how many candies it takes to fill each one.
Party Games
Planning a classroom Valentine’s party or a family fun night? These games will get everyone giggling in no time!
Don’t eat Pete!
Kids love this simple game! Place a piece of candy (or other small food) in each square on the game board. Send one person out of the room while the other players choose which Valentine’s monster will be “Pete”. The guesser returns to the group and starts eating the candy one piece at a time, trying not to eat “Pete”. When he/she picks up the candy that is on “Pete” everyone yells, “Don’t Eat Pete!” Then it’s the next player’s turn. Get this game in the Valentine’s Day Activity Bundle for Kids (aren’t those monsters just too cute?!)
Conversation heart relay races
There are several races you can do with conversation hearts. Balance a conversation heart on a popsicle stick and race across a certain distance. Or, give each team a cup full of hearts and a small spoon. Tell them they can carry as many hearts on the spoon as they want, but if any fall off during transit, they have to start over!
Conversation heart conversation game
Get everyone talking about the things they love best with this simple conversation heart game. Grab a bowl of hearts, and assign each color heart a question. For example, purple could be “Tell your three most valued possessions.” Sit in a circle, and have each player pick a heart at random and answer the question that matches its color! Try it after dinner, during snack time, or use for a class party! Get a done-for-you printable version in the Valentine’s Day Activity Bundle for Kids.
Conversation heart chopstick transfer (“Heart Transplant”)
Use chopsticks to transfer hearts from one bowl to another. For younger kids, try using tongs instead. This one makes for a fun minute-to-win-it challenge! Variation: You can also play this game using a straw to suck the candy heart up and transfer it to the other bowl.
Conversation heart toss
The simple version: how many conversation hearts can you toss into a bowl in one minute? If you want to extend this activity, use a muffin tin with point values in various muffin cups. You get the points for the cup your heart lands in. Or, if you want to add a learning twist, put sight words or math problems in the muffin cups. When a heart lands in the cup, the player has to read the word or solve the math problem to get the points for that cup.
Conversation heart towers
The challenge is simple: how many conversation hearts can you stack before your tower topples over. You could make this a timed game (whoever has the tallest tower at the end of one minute wins) or just work together and see how high you can get. Want to make the challenge extra hard? Build your tower on top of a popsicle stick that you’re holding in your mouth!
Bingo
Use conversation hearts as markers for a classic game of Bingo. You can use any Bingo board you want, like alphabet or sight word bingo to add a boost of learning.
More Games
We’re not done yet! Here are a few more ideas…because conversation hearts are just so fun!
Tic tac toe
Draw a simple tic tac toe board and use two different colors of conversation hearts as the markers. Can you get three in a row?
Scavenger hunt
Hide conversation hearts around the house and see how many your kids can find!
“The floor is lava!” rescue game
Are your kids as obsessed with playing “the floor is lava” as mine? The idea is simple. Like the name says, the floor is lava, and players may NOT touch the bare floor. Instead, they must use furniture, pillows, or other “stepping stones” (we like to use placemats) for safe travel across the room. This is a fun game on its own, but you can up the ante by adding an element of rescue to the activity. Place conversation hearts in various places around the room and tell your child that they need to “rescue” the hearts before the lava destroys them. This is a good time for an elaborate story about how the hearts are magical heart gemstones that have the power to bring peace to the earth…or whatever you come up with (It’s all in the marketing!). Read how we use this as a learning game here.
WANT MORE VALENTINE’S DAY FUN?
Then you’ll love the Valentine’s Day Activity Bundle for kids!
It includes nine different print-and-play activities that will bring more laughter and love to your family this February…without the stress.
Just print them, keep them nearby, and pull out an activity anytime your kids need a boost of fun.
GET THE ACTIVITY BUNDLE
