Outdoor play provides great opportunities for early childhood development! Playing outside allows children to exercise, socialize, and learn to appreciate nature.
As we approach Valentine’s Day, you’re probably thinking of festive activities to celebrate this day of love and friendship with your students.
As innovative playground designers, we’re always thinking of ways to combine learning and fun. Today, we’re here to suggest some ideal outdoor activities for children around Valentine’s Day.
Heart Rocks for Strangers
This activity is a great way to encourage your students to practice random acts of kindness. Guide your students as they hunt for heart-shaped rocks or use acrylic paint to decorate rocks with hearts. Then, they can either take them home and leave them somewhere in their neighborhood or leave them on school grounds, where other people can find them, enjoy them, and even keep them.
Nature Collage Hearts
Collage art is a great way to express creativity and explore different shapes, colors, and textures. For this activity, guide students as they collect natural items like leaves and twigs. Then, glue those items to heart-shaped construction paper to create interesting, organic designs that celebrate our love of nature.
Critter Home Hunts
In the winter months, critters of all sorts have to get creative to find warm, cozy places to live. For example, winter birds have a few go-to spots to call home, including leaf litter piles, brush piles, and more. Teach your students how animals stay warm in the winter and then head outdoors to find places where winged, four-legged, and many-legged critters might nest on Valentine’s Day.
Heart-Shaped Bird Feeders
Another way to teach your students to think about how animals survive in the winter months is to create simple bird feeders that you can hang outside the classroom. In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, start with pieces of wheat bread cut into a heart shape with a cookie cutter. Poke a hole in the heart and loop a string or ribbon through the hole before covering both sides of the bread with peanut butter and birdseed to share the love with your local birds!
Chalk Affirmations
Valentine’s Day is a great day for students to share what they admire about their classmates. To complete this activity, grab a few buckets of chalk and head out to your school’s sidewalk or play court. Then, ask your young learners to express their affirmations with art or words.
What Valentine’s Day Activities Will You Try?
Outdoor play is an important part of childhood, and these activities are perfect for your students for Valentine’s Day! What activities will you plan for your students this year?
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