Joanie Clarkson
This video offers some great games, activities, and lesson ideas for celebrating Valentine’s Day with your class. Hopefully, you find a couple you can incorporate into your lesson plans this February 14th.
Couples
This is a fun game where to write the names of famous pairs on pieces of paper and students have to find their partner without speaking (we love quiet games). Examples include Tom and Jerry, Batman and Robin, Salt and Pepper. You could also do a math twist with this. Instead of pairs of people or objects, do pairs of numbers. Give one student the sum or product and the other student the unsolved equation. For example, 2+2 and =4, or 4×4 and =16. Again, students have to find their match without speaking. You can make this as simple or elaborate as you want.
Plan a Date
This is a group project that encourages communication and teamwork. Students pair up, or you can use the game described above. They need to work together to plan a date. They can plan it for their characters from above to make it less awkward if you choose. Or you can pair kids that have a crush on each other if you want to be sneaky, but we are professionals and would never do that. The assignment is they have to plan their date to the last detail: time, location, what they will do, what they will eat, etc. To make this activity more challenging, randomly assign a budget to each pair and have them research the cost of their date.
I can, I have, I am
This is an exercise in gratitude with a “love” flair. Using a graphic organizer, students will create 3 lists of “I love that…” The first is I love that “I can” where they list their abilities, for example, I love that I can read. The next list is “I have” where they will list positions or relationships. For example, I love that I have a dog, or I love that I have a cool aunt. Last, students list attributes they love about themselves. I love that I am funny, tall, etc. This is a good way for students to practice self-care, and it might be good for you to participate in this one too.
Secret Valentine
Assign students a classmate, this can be random or intentional. Students are to take their secret valentine and keep it a secret. They then write a kind note, listing all the good things about their classmate. This can be such a fun activity and really build up relationships among your students. Use your discretion on if they should reveal their secret valentine or if you should approve all the notes before they are exchanged.
Card and Poem
This is an activity I remember doing when I was in school. Start by reading a sample poem to the class, the video suggests I Love You More Than Applesauce by Jack Prelutsky, but if you have one you like better, go for it. Your students then need to write their own poem in a similar fashion to the example. They can write it to whomever or whatever they please. After writing their poem, have them make a card and neatly write the poem inside the card. I think it would be really nice for students to do this for their parents or guardians, but you know what will work for your students.
Love Idioms
You can give your students a list of idioms, the sillier the better, and have them guess what they mean. Here are some examples: with all my heart and soul, my one and only, falling head over heels, take my breath away, the apple of my eye, to have a crush on someone, to fancy a person, to go out with someone, to dump or be dumped, love me warts and all, pop the question
Love Songs
This is simple, play love songs or sing love songs together. We have a fun one here that is about love in a broad sense.
I Love You
This is a fun way to be inclusive and diverse. Create a list of how to say “I love you” in different languages, pair them with countries this language is spoken. Have students try to make the match. You can use a map instead of a list of countries. You can play this as a whole class or students can work as a group. This is great for older kids too! Some of the other activities would not be a good fit for high school, but this is a great one for geography, foreign language class, or even English class.
Acting
This is another one for older kids. Have students act out famous love scenes from movies or plays. A classic is, of course, Romeo and Juliet. This is great for a literature or drama class.
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