{This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our Disclosure Policy for details.}
Each UNIT STUDY includes suggestions of books to READ, ideas to WRITE, crafts to CREATE, more to EXPLORE, snacks to ENJOY and other ways to LEARN about a specific topic! To read more about the concepts behind my UNIT STUDIES, read this.
If you find it handy to have a simplified printable of these suggestions, you can find one, along with several free printables, here in the FREE Valentine’s Day Unit Study Printable Pack.
Otherwise, read on for a more detailed version with links embedded!
{Note: The links are pink! Just think, “pink link” if you are wanting to follow a link to something.}
INTRO: As you probably know, I used to be a classroom teacher. I loved so many things about my job but celebrating various holidays in my classroom was NOT one of them. Don’t get me wrong, we always had fun and celebrated with games, snacks and whatnot but it was stressful and left me exhausted at the end of the day. Not to mention, somehow even the smallest of holidays seemed to have a lasting impact on the kids’ attention spans and learning capacity that lasted an entire week. It took me a few years to realize that it did not need to just be cupcakes and Bingo to create a celebration. And, as soon as I adapted our holiday celebrations to include actual educational opportunities, the exhaustion and chaos seemed much more worth it! So, when I started homeschooling, I opted to use that same approach. So, with every holiday that rolled around, we did a UNIT STUDY and learned loads of new stuff! And, Valentine’s Day is the first of many small holidays heading your way!
READ: There are so many Valentine’s Day books out there! As always, I suggest checking out your local library. Chances are, they have a great selection already identified and ready for check-out! Of course, Amazon is also a great option…as long as you plan at least two days ahead. đŸ˜‰ But, wherever you find your books, here are a few of my faves….
For the youngest set, I adore Babies Love Valentine’s by Holly Berry-Byrd. It’s a lift-the-flap board book designed to introduce babies and toddlers to the common elements of Valentine’s Day. It’s simple, sweet and durable!
For early readers, I really like Love from The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. It’s short and sweet and features the world’s most famous caterpillar using his favorite foods to show off what love means to him.
Another fairly simple but fun book that is perfectly adaptable for Valentine’s Day is Love from the Crayons by Drew Daywalt. It features a series of crayons explaining why love can be red or purple or brown or green. It features a repetitive text but also includes some more challenging words and phrases which allow for great opportunities to expand vocabulary.
A silly option, that still offers great life and literacy lessons is Roses Are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink by Diane de Groat. It’s about a possum who struggles to write a kind Valentine card for a few of his classmates. Because of the way he feels, he ends up writing some less-than-kind words, but, in the end, the classmates work through their issues and everybody has a happy Valentine’s Day! It’s a sweet and relatable story for sure! But my favorite part is the silly rhyming that the book presents. Rhyming is so important for early readers and writers and, the sillier, the better when it comes to this age-range {6-9 years old}.
Though it’s not really a Valentine’s Day book, I absolutely love A Book of Hearts by Jessica Laurel Kane. It’s a thought-provoking book about all sorts of hearts, including a golden heart, a sensitive heart, a brave heart, a mourning heart and more. It’s not your typical Valentine’s Day story because it’s not all happy hearts, for sure, but it does end with an “understanding heart” which implores us to love all types of hearts we find along the way. It’s a big lesson provided for small people in a short book. I highly recommend it!
WRITE: For a couple of different writing activities, look no further than the FREE Valentine’s Day Unit Study Printable Pack.
It includes this cute and simple activity that coordinates perfectly with Love from The Crayons by Drew Daywalt but can also be used on its own. There are even two styles; one with primary lines and one with standard lines.
Also included in the FREE Valentine’s Day Unit Study Printable Pack, is this cute and clever poem-writing activity. It was designed to be used with Roses Are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink by Diane de Groat but is a perfect activity to use with kids of all ages, with or without the book!
CREATE: These Tissue Paper Stained Glass Hearts are not only super cute, but they are also cheap, easy and NOT MESSY! Oh! And they’re very easy to display as decor and store year after year. All you need is some clear contact paper and tissue paper. That’s it! Seriously! My son and I made some a decade ago and I still pull them out every year to stick on the windows in February!
Another fun, but a wee bit messier, craft is this I Love You To Pieces Mosaic Heart. The included instructions are designed to make a card to give to somebody it could also be simplified to just make on a piece of construction paper. It requires tearing colored construction paper into small pieces and gluing them onto a heart. It’s a great activity for littles and bigs alike!
ENJOY: Starting the day with these adorable Sheet Pan Heart Bear Pancakes would be super fun. You could even prep them the night before to make the morning easier. I might be tempted to modify these instructions to just use heart-shaped cookie cutters, instead of bears, and slice some strawberries the easy way. But, either way, it does not look like too much work at all and I can safely say I almost always have those ingredients on hand {just pancake mix and strawberries!}
For lunch, use that heart-shaped cookie cutter again and create this Valentine Sandwich Snack! The instructions include making homemade strawberry jam, which would be a very unlikely use of time in our home, but the rest of it is easy peasy and too cute! You basically use a cookie cutter to cut a peep-through hole in the top piece of bread. What you put in the sandwich could be anything!
LEARN: For an easy way to work on pertinent literacy skills while learning about some of the fun facts associated with Valentine’s Day, check out this Valentine’s Day Holiday Fact Pack. It introduces your 3rd-6th graders to a variety of topics including conversation hearts, St. Valentine, cupid, chocolate candy and more through Informational Text, Comprehension Questions, Writing Prompts and more! Use discount code 25OffVAL, to save 25%. {Or, if you bought the Celebrate It! Digital Grab Bag, you’ll find it in there!}
EXPLORE: A great path to take if you want to explore more for Valentine’s Day is to focus on the science of the most important muscle in our bodies, the heart! Here is a 5 minute video explaining what the heart is and how it works. It’s great for all ages! And here is a fun, and fairly simple science activity that shows how the heart works. It requires a balloon, small jar, cup, two bendy straws, some tape and water. That’s it! You can also snag some free printables here that allow your kids to color an image of a heart using a color-coded chart.
You may also want to check out this Pinterest Board. It has a carefully curated collection of ideas of how to teach about and enjoy Valentine’s Day in your homeschool!
AND, as a BONUS for this UNIT STUDY, several of my blogging buddies have contributed their own Valentine’s Day-themed posts. There are some awesome ideas included. Check them out!
1. If your kids need inspiration for creative writing, try these fun writing prompts and tips {plus a free printable}, Inspire Creativity in Your Children + Gnome Writing Prompts from In All You Do. 2. If you want some additional STEM activities, check out these 10+ Awesome Valentine’s Day STEM Activities for Kids from Hess Un-Academy! 3. To learn more about the all-time most favorite food for Valentine’s Day, check out the post Chocolate Secrets from Julie Naturally. 4. For additional info on the history behind the holiday, head over to read The History Behind Valentine’s Day from Homeschool on the Range. 5. Do a quick 15-minute music lesson for Valentine’s Day while listening to some of the greatest ever Love Songs from Musicals from Music in Our Homeschool. 6. Try these DIY Felt Fortune Cookies Valentine’s Day Craft + free Valentine printable from Making Room 4 One More. They’re so simple, that your kids can help make a batch! 7. For some additional literacy learning, try these Valentine’s Day Language Arts Resources for Homeschooling Families from Whole Child Homeschool. 8. For something sweet, whip up a batch of Make Some Easy Sweetheart Popcorn For Valentine’s Day from Our Crazy Adventures in Autismland. 9. If you want to go big and have an actual party, check out How to Have a Valentine’s Day Homeschool Party from Everyday Graces Homeschool. 10. For another sweet concoction, try this Valentine’s Chocolate Pudding Cream Cheese Frosting from Homegrown Motherhood. 11. For several more book ideas, check out 27 Valentine’s Day Books for Kids from Heart and Soul Homeschooling. 12. If you want to take your snickety snacks to the next level, here are some 5 Valentine’s Day Snacks that Teach About God’s Love from Stand Up, Reach Out! 13. Here are several ideas to go along with a special book: Story Time: Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch from Orison Orchards. 14. You know I’m all about simple snacks! Here are 15 Fast and Fun Valentine’s Day Snacks for Kids from Thrive@Home! 15. For a craft with a purpose, check out this DIY Valentine’s Day Craft Ideas – Beautiful Heart-Shaped Upcycled Book Decorations from Geez, Gwen!
