Valentine’s Day Activity Ideas for Preschoolers

Valentine’s Day is such a fun holiday to celebrate love with your family! This festival of fondness has a fun history, beginning with Saint Valentine. It’s also a wonderful opportunity to teach kids about different types of Valentine’s love like friendship, family, and romance.

My favorite way to pass the day with my Messy Play Family is to facilitate a few Valentine’s Day activities for kids. From homemade cards to books about love to heart-shaped baking, I’ve gathered all of my favorite Valentine’s activity ideas for preschoolers. My best Valentine’s Day art, craft, and gift ideas for babies and toddlers are included in a separate blog. With a dash of love, a sprinkle of glitter, and a bushel of paper hearts, I’m confident that you and your family will have a very happy Valentine’s Day no matter the age of your kids!

Valentine’s Day Art Projects for Preschoolers

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Art projects are the perfect activities to celebrate Valentine’s Day with your preschoolers. Process-based, open-ended art activities help preschool aged children to explore the creative process at their own pace, without the pressure of expectations about the final product. Take a look at the Valentine’s Day art and craft activities below that are age-appropriate for your kiddo in preschool. 

Valentine’s Day Candy Organization

Grab an old egg carton or a number of small bowls and pour some heart-shaped candy or colorful marshmallows onto the table. Then invite your little one to organize the candy or marshmallows into the bowls by color or shape! 

“Things I Love” Book

Have your preschooler make a page of art for everything they love: like you or their cuddly pet, their favorite teacher or their best friend, the sport or food they enjoy most. Then punch a few holes into the pages and string them together with red or pink ribbon to create a “Things I Love” Valentine’s Day book.

Cotton Balls Heart Painting

Grab some construction paper or cardstock, glue, and cotton balls. Then let your preschoolers glue the cotton balls to the paper in a heart or whatever other shape they’d like! Pour some taste-safe paint colors into cups and add a paint brush to each color, then let your little ones splash the cotton balls with color!

Heart Stickers Craft

Tape a large piece of butcher paper to the wall with a heart drawn or painted in the middle. Then give your preschooler a page of Valentine’s Day themed stickers to place into the heart! You can also tape contact paper to the wall sticky side out, then hand your little one heart-shaped construction paper to press onto the wall!

Magic Letters Heart Painting 

Place a piece of white construction paper onto the table with some white crayons. Help your preschoolers to draw a few big hearts in their favorite colors, then practice writing one letter inside each heart with the white crayon. Pass your kiddos some water color paints and a few paint brushes, and then let them paint over the white crayon letters so that they reappear like magic. Of course water resist is not magic, it’s science! Watch this video to learn more about the hydrophobic properties of wax!

Salt Heart Watercolor

Gather some construction paper or cardstock, salt, glue, and watercolors. Then let your preschooler create a Valentine’s Day shape out of the glue. Whether it’s a heart or a bunch of things they love, the glue shapes will provide the base for the salt. Pour salt on top of the glue, then brush off any additional salt on the page. Watercolor on top of the salt to make a colorful piece of art!

Red Water Play

A more environmentally way to play with water for Valentine's Day is with reusable water balloons! Dye some water red or pink with my favorite liquid watercolors, then fill them up throw them at a white sheet that's hung from something outside. Watch the video above for all of the fun! You can also use these mini-trigger spray bottles or these condiment squirt bottles for some fun Valentine's Day water play activities.