Ideas for Valentine's Day

Language Focus Other songs about: calendar/time, emotions

"I love you." Times of day (morning, afternoon, evening), moon.

Classroom Benefits

"Skidamarink" is a very sweet song and great for teaching around Valentine's Day. The gestures and silly lyrics are fun enough that they will keep the attention of older learners and captivate younger learners even if they can't follow along completely.

It's a great song for Parent/Child classes. Parent and child can face each other and sing! And it's a nice choice around Mother's Day, Father's Day, Grandparent's Day, or any day children want to share a little love.

Skidamarink Lyrics and Actions

♫ Skidamarink a dink a dink. [Put your right elbow in your left hand and wiggle your fingers.]
Skidamarink a doo. [Put your left elbow in your right hand and wiggle your fingers.]
I love you. [Point to yourself, hug yourself, and point to the other people in your group.]

Skidamarink a dink a dink.
Skidamarink a doo.
I love you.

I love you in the morning. [Make a big circle over your head with your arms, like the sun. Bend over to one side.]
And in the afternoon. [Stand up straight with your arms above you.]
I love you in the evening. [Bend over to the other side.]
And underneath the moon. [Make a small circle in front of your chest with your hands and move it over your head.]

Skidamarink a dink a dink.
Skidamarink a doo.
I love you.

(Repeat) ♫

Click image to download
skidamarink_lyric.pdf	skidamarink_gesture_guide.pdf

Valentine's Day Game

Hearts Concentration

・ Print two color copies of the color hearts worksheet (hearts1.pdf).
・ Cut and paste the hearts onto 20 index cards.
・ Students form groups of 2-6 students.
・ Review the colors of all the hearts.
・ Have the students spread the colored heart cards face down on the floor or table in front of them.
・ The first student turns over one card and names the color ("It's a blue heart"), and then turns over a second card and names the color ("It's a pink heart.") If the two cards match, the student says, "Happy Valentine's Day!" and keeps the cards. That student gets another turn. If there is no match, the student turns the cards back over and it is the next player's turn. Continue taking turns until all the cards are gone.

Tips:
With large classes, make several sets of cards and have the students play in small groups. You can also have students pair up and play together. So, if you have 10 students in a class, have them pair up and make 5 teams.

Variation 1
For students with some basic reading skills, instead of matching colored heart to colored heart, make 10 colored heart cards (hearts1.pdf), and 10 word cards (hearts3.pdf), and have the students match the colored hearts to the correct color words. If you would like students to match colored hearts to the color words but they are not yet proficient enough to read all of the words, you can underline or trace the words with the correct colored marker. For example, on the card that says "red", underline the word "red" with a red marker.

Variation 2
For students with a little higher reading level, you can use the blank hearts worksheet (hearts2.pdf) and fill in the hearts with different Valentine's Day vocabulary words (for example, heart, chocolate, cupid, love, card, February, friend).

Variation 3
This is a very basic activity. Give crayons and one blank hearts worksheet (hearts2.pdf) to each student. Together, color many different colored hearts. "Let's color a pink heart." "Next, let's color a green heart." When you are finished coloring, you can put the worksheets away, or you can have the students cut out all the cards on the worksheet. Then you can sort the hearts by color, or students can give them to one another as simple Valentine's Day cards. ^_^

Click image to download
hearts1.pdf	hearts2.pdf	hearts3.pdf

Activity Ideas

Make a Funny Valentine! Practice parts of the face and get a little silly with this super simple worksheet. Check out our blog to read all about it and download the free worksheet pages.
1

Find more colors around the room with "I See Something Pink" and "I See Something Blue." These songs are a great way to finish up your Hearts Concentration Game! 2

Read this blog post on using "Skidamarink" to help teach about times of day. 3

Get storytime book, craft, and song ideas on our Pinterest board, "Valentine's Day Teaching Ideas." 4

Valentine's Day Worksheets

Sheet 1 (activitysheet1.pdf) is super simple and can be used for almost any age.
Sheets 2 (activitysheet2.pdf) & 3 (activitysheet3.pdf) are for children who are beginning to recognize numbers.
Sheet 4 (activitysheet4.pdf) is for children who are beginning to read.
Sheet 5 (activitysheet5.pdf) is for older learners who already possess basic reading skills. Get tips on using this worksheet in our blog post on cloze exercises.