Looking for some fun Valentine’s themed therapy ideas that can be stretched out over several weeks? Well…your search is over!
Valentine’s always seems to come and go so quickly. By the time I’ve decided on an activity and prepped for therapy, it seems as if Valentine’s is over. Planning activities for Valentine’s Day doesn’t have to be so time intensive. Easy-to-use and ready made activities that are fast to prep are the perfect way to go. Here are some of my favorite, tried-and-true Valentine’s themed activities that your students are sure to love. These ready-made and FUN activities are perfect for Valentine’s, great for data collection, and will take the stress out of planning!
1. Valentine’s Themed Books
Two of my favorite Valentine’s Day books are The Day It Rained Hearts (YouTube Version) and Happy Valentine’s Day Mouse (YouTube Version). The books are short enough that your students won’t lose interest but detailed enough that you can use them to target a variety of objectives such as sequencing, asking wh-questions, sentence formulation and expansion, describing and more. These are great books for co-treating with OT and discussing friendships. I like to pair these books with a craft such as making friendship bracelets or a Valentine’s Day cards to give to friends.
2. Valentine’s Themed Crafts
- Valentine’s cards
- Friendship bracelets
- Friendship key chains
- Love bugs
Super simple crafts, perfect to co-treat with, and great for your entire caseload. I like using pipe cleaners and larger beads for the friendship bracelets. Pipe cleaners are easier for smaller hands. Just tie a knot at the bottom of the pipe cleaner, and let your students add all the beads that they want. Instead of forming the pipe cleaner into a bracelet, keep it stay long and attach it to a lunch box or backpack as a key chain. Students can make these and give to their friends and family or keep for themselves. This activity is a hit with everyone, especially if you have any Taylor fans on your caseload (lol).
For Valentine’s cards, grab construction paper, glitter, markers, scissors, stickers, and glue, cut out hearts of different colors and sizes, and have your student’s create cards for friends, teachers, or family members. It’s such an easy and engaging activity.
To make “Love Bugs”, have your students select the the color construction paper they want. Next cut out and decorate the hearts. Accordion fold four strips of construction paper per heart. Tape the “arm” and “legs” on each heart.
3. Valentine’s Themed Cooking Activities
My students LOVE cooking activities. This is such a fun way to incorporate functional skills into your therapy sessions while giving students a break from “normal” therapy sessions.
Here are a few recipe ideas:
(Always check-in with teachers and parents to see if there are any dietary restrictions or food allergies.)
Valentine Themed Chex Mix – Combine strawberry/banana cheerios, rice chex mix, marshmallows, pretzels and skittles (This mix is gluten free and dairy free). If you don’t need the recipe to be dairy free, you could include the pink and red M&M’s. Mix everything together in a large bowl on in individual baggies. You can make cute Valentine’s tags, attach to baggies, and deliver to teachers, teaching assistants, office staff, etc.
Strawberry and Banana Smoothie: 1 banana, 1 c strawberries, 1 cup of milk (of your choice). This makes approximately 3 servings. I love this activity because it provides an opportunity for students to learn how to use a blender along with practicing measuring, which is an easy way to incorporate math into your session!
Fruit Kabob’s or Chocolate Covered Fruit: You can use a variety of fruits such as banana slices and strawberries. We’ve even used small oranges before. Marshmallows and pretzels are also popular items to dip in chocolate. If you have different types of chocolate, students can choose their favorite. I like to have them melt their chocolate in individual bowls. It’s great practice using the microwave too. Then use kabob sticks or forks to dip or drizzle chocolate on the fruit, pretzels, and marshmallows.
These cooking activities are great for working on following directions, turn taking, requesting, giving directives, making choices, practicing sentence formulation, social skills, fine motor skills and so much more!
4. Valentine’s Themed Articulation
This fun and easy Valentine’s day articulation craft and activity allows students to practice their speech and language skills in an engaging way. It works well for a variety of age ranges, group sizes and speech and language goals. Easy to differentiate so students can all work on the same activity at the same time!
5. Valentine’s Day Inferences
This easy-to-use, multi-level Valentine’s themed resource includes both a printable PDF and Boom Cards™ deck. It features engaging pictures and 11 relatable Valentine’s Day scenarios. ALL the hard work has been done for you! This resource has been specifically designed to save you time and to help your students master inferencing during the month of February! You can extend the activity and work on sentence formulation and written language. This resource is great for social skills groups, as you can use the pictures and scenarios to work on problem solving and identifying emotions in the pictures.
6. No Prep Valentine’s Speech and Language Activities
Your students will LOVE these engaging Valentine’s day speech and language activities, and you will love that they save you time and your sanity. This exciting resource is perfect for Valentine’s day and the entire month of February! It is loaded with fun, easy-to-use, print-and-go articulation and language activities that will have your students practicing and mastering these skills in no time at all! Perfect for individual or mixed groups, co-treats, collaborating with teachers, collecting data, classroom use, or great on their own! Your students will have so much fun with this resource!
7. Valentine’s Themed Stuttering Activities and Visuals
This oh-so-helpful Valentine’s themed stuttering resource is loaded with fun, easy-to-use February themed activities that are designed to help your students practice using their fluency strategies in therapy. Use the visuals provided in combination with the activity sheets, picture scenes, wh-questions and conversation starters. Strategies come with a visual, an explanation, and a practice activity.
8. Valentine’s Themed Reading Comprehension Passages and Wh-Questions
It can be a struggle to find short yet engaging stories to work on wh-questions. These time-saving, grab-and-go Valentine-themed short stories are your answer! Each short story is 2-5 sentences in length and includes a what, where, when, who, and why question along with answer choices. These fun Valentine-themed stories will have your students engaged and loving every minute!
That’s it! 8 functional and engaging Valentine’s themed activities that will eliminate your planning frustration and stress! Everything is ready-to-go with little to no prep involved. From friendship bracelets, to recipes and easy articulation crafts, there is something for everyone. Let me know your favorites!
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