When you think of February, does Valentine’s Day come to mind? It does for us, and so do all the ways this very visual event lends itself to creative and fun activities for early childhood classrooms.

Sure, a quick Google search will connect you to Valentine’s coloring pages and Valentine mailbox ideas. But February 14 has much more to offer childcare providers and teaching staff.

Let’s look at how Valentine’s Day can help you teach children about:

• Shapes
• Colors
• Seasons

Looking for other ideas for February? We have you covered. Scroll below for Groundhog Day and Presidents’ Day links and resources.

Teaching About Shapes

What is the shape of a Valentine heart? It has one sharp point and two rounded parts. Use paper cut-outs of hearts to help students see these various shapes (get free templates and ideas).

If you fold a heart in half, what shape does it create? Is it an ice cream cone? A raindrop? A microphone? Turn it upside down and it could be a party hat!

Could hearts be leaves on trees?

Or even an ornament? What else can you make with a heart shape?

Kids could also decorate a larger cut-out of a heart shape by drawing on it all of the things they love, like a favorite toy or memory. If the cut-out is large enough, it would make a great place mat!

Experiment with other ways to make hearts. Give each child a strip of paper, then walk them through folding and rolling it up to make a 3-D heart!

Lined up and taped together, each of the students’ hearts can form a streamer to decorate the classroom and symbolize the importance of connecting with others.

Speaking of connecting with others: Did you know we offer online training and professional development courses for early childhood educators on Family and Community Relations? Check out the Power of Connection: The First Five Years, Fostering Family Engagement, and more.

Teaching About Colors

Which colors represent Valentine’s Day? Probably red, pink, and white, right? 

If you think about it, when you mix red and white together, you get a pink. Perhaps, then, February is a great month of the year to talk about color.

How do other colors change if you mix them together? Color mixing with a simple paint kit is a fun, hands on activity. Students will see darker and light shades of colors appear to them in real time.

 And what happens when you mix red with other colors besides white? Red and yellow become orange. Red and green become…a mess!.

You can also help kids connect colors to the world around them:

• What color is your house?
• What color is your favorite food?
• What colors do you see in a sunset?
• What color is the shirt of the friend sitting next to you?
• Raise your hand if your jacket is black/blue/brown/etc.?

More Resources About Teaching Colors

• 32 Color Activities for Preschool That Will Stimulate Their Minds
• How To Teach Your Toddler Colors! (9 SIMPLE Strategies)
• 7 Fun & Easy Ways to Teach Toddlers Colors

If you love working art into your lesson plans, check out Open-ended Preschool Art, Art Projects for After School Programs, and other dynamic, information-packed creative online courses. 

Teaching About Seasons

Let’s focus on the “When is Valentine’s Day?” question. While Valentine’s Day greetings and presents might warm our hearts, the February weather in many states requires us to bundle up big time. Brrr!

During story time, we can talk about what it is about winter that makes us happy: Snow people, sledding, hot chocolate, and, yes, snow days. We can also talk about why winter can make us sad sometimes, like if it’s too cold or icy to go out and play.

Once we’ve talked about winter, we can talk about what we are looking for later on in the year with spring, summer, and fall and how those seasons are different from each other.

We can also connect activities on shapes with weather-related lessons, too. This quick video shows how to make wintery snowflake decorations out of -- you guessed it -- hearts!

Education World has a whole host of printable winter-themed worksheets and resources. Fantastic Fun & Learning offers this massive list of a whopping 75 winter activities and lessons for young children. Science Explorers has tools and tips for helping kids understand how water becomes snow and ice and why it gets cold this time of year.

Other Early Childhood Classroom Ideas for February

Groundhog Day

Did Punxsutawney Phil see his shadow? Do you see your shadow?

Ask kids in the class to move around the room and look at their shadows. This is a fun, movement oriented activity (and works best if you bring in an extra lamp to cast shadows in different directions).

Wait, what is a groundhog anyway? Use this time as a fun opportunity to talk about different types of animals. Some, like groundhogs, burrow into the ground. Which animals swim? Which animals fly?

You can also download and print this free Groundhog puppet template. Following the alliteration of Punxsutawney Phil (two words that begin with the same letter), ask the kids what they would name their groundhogs. Cleveland Connie? Houston Harry? Minneapolis Mary?

Not to knock our old Punxsutawney pal, but he’s not the only animal meteorologist out there.

If you’ve had your fill of Phil, check out this list of Groundhog Day Forecasters Around the World to learn about Big Al, the weather-predicting alligator from Beaumont, TX, as well as Ernest and Minnie, two skunks from Saint-Félicien, Quebec, and Racine, WI, respectively (they might just give new meaning to “bad winter weather stinks”).

There’s also Lucy the Lobster and “Cluxatawney” Henrietta -- a chicken -- as well as owls, marmots, guinea pigs and other critters.

Presidents’ Day

Your childcare center or school may be closed on Presidents’ Day, so talking about this Federal holiday is a good activity for the Friday before or Tuesday after.

What if students had to draw their own Mt. Rushmore? Instead of popular presidents, they could choose their best friends, family members, or even cartoon characters.

The Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota has some great curriculum materials and other activity sheets for Pre-K and up.

Some early childhood educators provide activities the week of Presidents’ Day similar to what they do around Election Days. You could hold a class election, or you could make fun crafts with stars and stripes.

If there are no formal professional development events your organization is holding on Presidents’ Day, check out our catalog of online courses you can take from home. If you are a childcare center administrator, consider purchasing in bulk for your team. Our unique tracking system means you will never lose training dollars to changes in staffing.