Primary games and resources for Valentine’s Day
14th February 2025
Looking for Valentine’s Day lesson ideas that go beyond colouring hearts? These primary Valentine’s activities are designed for classroom use across English, art, history and PSHE, with clear learning outcomes and minimal prep.
Use Valentine’s Day as a hook to explore kindness, friendship, self-expression and love in its wider sense — including self-love — while keeping learning purposeful. From card-making and poetry to Roman history, Pop Art and reflective writing, these activities work well as stand-alone lessons, afternoon projects or part of a Valentine's themed day.
All activities are ready to use on screen, ideal for whole-class teaching, group work or independent tasks.
Valentine's Day cards
Children can create, design and write their own Valentine’s cards - for a friend, family member or someone who has helped them - using ready-made templates, clip art, stamps and creative tools.
Link this activity to a short history starter: St Valentine was a real person living in 3rd-century Rome, and the tradition of sending cards has grown into a global celebration of care and affection.
Write a poem
A perfect Valentine’s writing activity for KS1 and KS2.
Children can write short poems about friendship, kindness or appreciation. Add an illustration to turn the poem into a display-ready piece of work.
Works well for
-
Exploring adjectives and descriptive language
-
Discussing tone and audience
-
Creating class displays
Flowers
Flowers are traditionally given on Valentine’s Day and this activity lets children design their own symmetrical flowers for the occasion.
Children choose a flower shape and decorate it using colour, texture and stamps, naturally introducing symmetry and pattern.
Discussion prompts
-
Why do people give flowers on Valentine’s Day?
-
What could different colours represent?
-
How do real plants grow and stay alive?
- Can you name the different parts of your flower?
Roman gods and goddesses
Bring Valentine’s Day into history by exploring Cupid, the Roman god of love.
Children can use the writing templates and clip art to write about 10 different Roman gods and goddesses, with a clear Valentine’s link through Cupid and Roman beliefs.
Curriculum links
-
Roman history
-
Non-fiction writing
-
Understanding belief systems
Pixel art
Get creative with Valentine-themed pixel art patterns and pictures.
This activity works particularly well as a maths-art crossover, encouraging careful placement, pattern recognition and colour choice.
Paint like Andy Warhol
Turn Valentine’s Day into a Pop Art project by creating bold, repeated Valentine-themed images in the style of Warhol.
Children can:
-
Recreate a Warhol-style image using hearts or Valentine symbols
-
Compare colour choices across repeated prints
-
Reflect on how repetition changes the impact of an image
A great opportunity to discuss how art can celebrate everyday ideas — including love and kindness.
Our 'Make a masterpiece' area includes lots of different artists to explore painting in the style of many artisist from Van Gogh to Kandinsky.
Write about Romeo and Juliet
For older primary pupils, Valentine’s Day is a natural hook into Shakespeare.
Use templates to:
-
Summarise the plot
-
Explore characters and themes
-
Discuss different types of love shown in the play
Ideal as a short literacy task or part of a wider Shakespeare topic.
Face trace (self portrait)
Valentine’s Day isn’t just about other people, it’s also about self-love, self-worth and self-acceptance.
Children create a self-portrait using face tracing tools, then reflect on:
-
What makes them unique
-
How they see themselves
-
Why it’s important to value who you are
Links well to PSHE and emotional literacy.
My recipe
Food plays a big role in Valentine’s celebrations. Children can design and write their own Valentine-themed recipe.
They draw their dish, list ingredients and explain each step clearly — building sequencing and instructional writing skills.
Extension ideas
-
Create a class recipe book
-
Discuss favourite celebration foods
-
Link to real-world cooking and instructions
Write a journal entry
A structured journalling activity that encourages children to reflect on their day, their feelings and what they are proud of.
This works well for Valentine’s Day when focusing on kindness, gratitude and self-awareness, and supports emotional literacy.
Links well to PSHE and wellbeing.
