By Pam Molnar
Every February 14th, thousands of students celebrate Valentine’s Day with a classroom party. They exchange Valentine’s cards, make a craft and play a few games. As a Room Mom, it is hard to come up with ideas that the kids have not seen before. If you are still struggling with ideas for your child’s classroom party, look no further.
Crafts
Valentine’s Day Vases – Purchase vases from the dollar store, along with glue, paint brushes, Epson salt and red food coloring. Before the party, mix the Epson salt with the food coloring to give the salt a pink glow. Set up a station to include 6 gallon zip bags filled with the Epson salt mixture. Have the kids paint the outside of the vases with glue and when the vase is covered, place inside the zipped bag. Move the mixture around to cover the vase evenly. This works well with votive candles, too.
Family Bracelet – The kids can make this project for their best Valentine (Mom) or the girls may want to keep it for themselves. Purchase elastic string and beads to make a family bracelet. Choose bead colors to correspond with birthstone colors – red for January, purple for February, etc. – and let the kids choose the bead colors for their family. Find heart shaped spacer beads to complete the design.
Corkboard Frame – For this project, you will need ¼” thick corkboard cut into 4” squares, clear pushpins and colored yarn. Have the kids arrange the pushpins in the shape of a heart and wind the yarn around the pushpins to form a heart shaped frame. Ask the parents ahead of time for a photo of their child and have them available for the kids to put in the middle of the frame. Embellish the rest of the frame with foam stickers or jewels.
Games
Musical Hearts – A Valentine’s Day spin on the two classic games: Musical Chairs and Hot Potato. Using hinged clothes pins, pass around a paper heart in while seated in a circle. Like Musical Chairs, play music as they pass the heart. If you break a heart, drop a heart or have the heart when the music stops, you are out. This game moves quickly!
Matching Hearts – This is a whole class game. Write the name of a famous couple (like Mickey and Minnie) or other items that would go together (salt and pepper or hat and gloves) on each half of a heart. Mix up the halves and pass the hearts out to the students. Can everyone find their match in 5 minutes? How about in 2 minutes?
Twisted Hearts – Kids love the game Twister! Create a Valentine’s Day version by taping 16 colored hearts on the floor. (Not enough room for 16? Make smaller rows or use less colors.) Create your own spinner or create colored dice – one with the heart color and the other one with the words for right or left hands and feet.
Plant a Kiss on the Mascot – Recreate your school mascot or shine a digital version on the wall. Make enough paper lips for each student. Blindfold the student and have a partner (like one from the Matching Hearts game) tell him where to place the lips. The closest lips win.
Shakedown – Fill an empty wide mouthed bottle (like Gatorade) halfway with candy hearts. Use super glue to attach another bottle mouth to mouth and tape around it to secure. For this game, have the kids roll the dice and then try to shake down all the hearts except that number into the other bottle. For example, if they roll a three, they need to shake down most of the hearts into the next bottle, leaving three remaining in the first bottle. For an added challenge, give them a time limit or create two shakers and make it a race.
Pam Molnar is a freelance writer and mother of three. She has been a Room Mom for 10 years. Follow her for more party plans on www.pamspartyprintables.com.
In the excitement of the party, kids can go through these activities fast! Looking for a quick game to play to pass the time until the party ends? Every Room Mom should keep these games in her classroom party arsenal.
Heads up 7up – Every child sits at his desk with his head down and one thumb up. Seven children are chosen to be “it” and quietly goes around the room picking one thumb to push down. When everyone is through, the seven go to the front of the room. Those who had their thumb moved stand up and guess who did it. If they are right, they switch places and get to be it. If they are wrong, the actual person who moved their thumb gets to stay and play again.
Four corners – Choose four Valentine’s Day words like heart, cupid, love and valentine. A room mom stands in each corner of the room holding one of those words on a piece of paper. The teacher closes her eyes as the students pick one corner to stand in. The teacher calls out a word and those students standing in that corner have to sit down. Play continues until one person is left standing.
Silent Ball – All the students are seated at their desk. Using a yarn ball, have the students throw the ball to each other. A student is out if it is a bad throw (not to the person), if someone drops it or if someone gets out of their seat to catch it. Students who are out have to get out of their seat and stand in the front of the classroom. Last one seated is the winner.
