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Four Sensory-Friendly Valentine’s Day Activities for Kids
Valentine’s Day is about much more than romance. When you have kids, Valentine’s Day is a great opportunity to talk about kindness, love, and friendship. For sensory kids, it’s also a chance to explore fun new sensory activities that help them express themselves, connect with others, and find new ways to enjoy old traditions.
Valentine-Themed Sensory Bin
Make your kids a Valentine’s Day-themed sensory bin for a cool twist on a beloved classic. It’s fun to share with friends or siblings or experience alone! You can get creative and add whatever feels most heartfelt and festive to you, but here are a few ideas for your bin:
- Soft and fluffy cotton balls
- Squishy foam hearts
- Hard candy hearts
- Velvety felt hearts
- Sleek glass hearts (or plastic)
Once you have your bin (or bins), let your children feel around and explore the objects. Their level of engagement might depend on their age. Give them cups and canisters to scoop and pour the items.
Most of these items can also be used to create a touchy-feely Valentine. You can also fill a Mason jar with these items and let your child keep it in their room as a decoration. The different textures, colors, and sizes make a cute, conversation-prompting addition to any child’s room.
Beautiful Valentine’s Day Playdough
Playdough is a hit any time of year! Make it seasonal using holiday-themed colors and heart-shaped cookie cutters to create fun Valentine’s Day dough. Depending on your child’s age, you can also turn this into a learning opportunity.
Talk about where the heart is in the body, how you can feel it beating, and what that sounds like. Your kids might also love some of these heart-related fun facts:
- Your heart beats over 100,000 times per day
- A child’s heart is about the size of a fist
- An adults heart is about the size of two clasped hands
- The fairy fly has the smallest heart of any living creature
- Whales have the biggest heart of any mammal
- Laughing is good for your heart’s health
Finger-Painted Valentines
Creating Valentine’s with your kids is a classic. They can hand them out to friends, family members, classmates, or even pets! For a fresh take on a loving tradition, let your kids get a little messy with fingerpaints. Finger painting Valentines allows kids to work on finger isolation and can help improve pencil grasp as well.
Heart-Shaped Balloon Sensory Matching
Fill heart-shaped balloons (or regular balloons in Valentine-themed colors) with unique fillings. You can use rice, beans, buttons, beads, water, and more. Make two of each kind, and let your children try and match the pairs. Ask what they think is inside each and why they believe that. You can hand out rewards for correct guesses!
Conclusion: Sensory-Friendly Valentine’s Day Activities for Kids
However you spend Valentine’s Day, we hope it’s filled with love, tenderness, and something sweet to eat! We also hope these sensory-friendly activities help you and your family make memories to cherish and maybe even find some favorite new traditions.
Remember, you can always count on Sensory Scout for the latest sensory news, products, and plenty of community support. Access sensory tools and toys, teletherapy sessions, and more through our Facebook Group. We hope your Halloween is all treats and no tricks!
