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Valentine’s Day Activities for Children: Expressive Arts and Design

Monday 2nd February, 2026

Valentine’s Day offers a lovely opportunity to support children’s creativity while celebrating friendship, care, and self-expression. In the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), Expressive Arts and Design (EAD) focuses on enabling children to explore materials, develop their own ideas, and express feelings through art, music, movement, and imaginative play.

Below are Valentine’s Day activities that directly support the Early Learning Goals (ELGs) of Expressive Arts and Design: Creating with Materials and Being Imaginative and Expressive.

1. Valentine’s Day Art and Craft Exploration

EYFS Link: Creating with Materials

Provide a range of open-ended materials and let children choose the materials they want to use for the following activities:

• Painting hearts using different tools (e.g. sponges, fingers, brushes, and cotton buds)
• Making a collage of things the children love (family, friends, pets, hobbies, toys, etc.) with tissue paper, foil, fabric scraps, and recycled materials
• Printing with heart-shaped objects or homemade stamps (e.g. sponge, potatoes, and cardboard)

What these activities support:

• Exploring colour, texture, and shape
• Using tools and materials with increasing control
• Expressing ideas through artwork
• Encourage children to talk about their creations and describe the choices they have made

2. Valentine’s Role Play and Small World Play

EYFS Link: Being Imaginative and Expressive

Set up a Valentine-themed role play area, such as a post office, card shop, or gift shop.

Resources could include:

• Envelopes, stamps, and postcards
• Soft toys to ‘send’ Valentine messages to
• Pretend food, gift bags, and wrapping paper

What this supports:

• Inventing narratives and storylines
• Using language to express feelings and ideas
• Playing cooperatively and imaginatively
• This also naturally supports communication and personal, social development

3. Music, Movement, and Dance

EYFS Link: Being Imaginative and Expressive

Introduce music and movement to help children express emotions physically.

Activities might include:

• Dancing with scarves and ribbons to slow and fast music
• Exploring how music can make us feel happy, calm, or excited
• Singing simple songs about friendship and caring

What this supports:

• Responding to music through movement
• Exploring rhythm, sound, and expression
• Building confidence in performance
• Allow children to move freely and interpret the music in their own way

4. Valentine’s Baking and Creative Play

EYFS Link: Creating with Materials

Cooking activities combine creativity with sensory exploration.

Activity:

• Decorating heart-shaped biscuits
• Mixing ingredients and noticing changes in texture
• Choosing colours and decorations independently

What this supports:

• Exploring materials through hands-on experiences
• Making choices and developing ideas
• Talking about processes and outcomes
• The focus should be on the process, not the finished product

Valentine’s Day activities within Expressive Arts and Design should always remain child-led, playful, and open-ended. By offering rich materials and opportunities for imaginative play, children can explore their creativity while expressing feelings of care, friendship, and belonging.

It is important to remind children that it is not about creating the perfect Valentine’s Day craft – it is about the process, self-expression, the thought and kindness of making something for someone else, and the joy of creating together.