Valentine's Projects and Crafts for Young Teens

There are lots of fun food crafts that teachers can make with their students, however, when it comes to Young Teens, allow them to use their own creativity.

Valentine's Day Food Project:

This Project may be used in a Language Arts Classroom or Home Economics classroom. It could also be adjusted to work in a Social Studies or History class, or even Health as part of a Nutrition unit.

Encourage the students to search online for Valentine's Recipes. Working in groups of 2-3 they will need to make one or two Valentine's Day food items. The project must be creative and artistically appealing. In a language arts classroom, students must also write about their project. They will need to include why they chose the project, as well as their own personal opinions about it. They will also need to "test" the food by giving out free samples to friends and/or neighbors and family who will then rate their food.

Students will vote on each others food based on originality, creativity, taste, and presentation. The winners of the competition may receive a bag of Hershey's kisses from their teacher.

This is a great project that will keep students engaged, excited, and fed!

Another Valentine's Project to be used with Middle School Students, particularly in a Social Studies or Language Arts Classroom is a Historical Valentine's Poster.

Students will need to include at least 5 significant Historical Events that took place on Valentine's Day, as well as how the holiday originally came to place.

Students may make a timeline and decorate their poster in a visually appealing manner. Working in groups of 3, students must come up with relevant information and include 3-4 outside sources. Students may then be graded on their performance of the presentation, relevant information, visual representation of information, and spelling/grammar/usage.

To extend the project, have students write a 300 word reflection on what they learned about Valentine's Day as it has changed throughout time.

Another Valentine's Project for middle school and high school students is themed by Valentine's Around the World. This works well for Social Studies and/or Language Arts. Students will need to research at least 5 other cultures to discover how the culture views Valentines Day. They will need at least three informative facts concerning each culture. They will also need to find pictures of each country and present the information to the class. Students should be encouraged to use a power point to display their information as well as bring in at least one visual aid, whether it is food from one of the nation's they selected, or traditional dress. Students may also bring in music, the nation's flag, or some other traditional style of a visual aid. Working in groups of 2-3, students should be encouraged to present their information in 5-8 minutes.

Another Valentine's Project for Middle School Students involves sending care packages. Whether it is to troops overseas in Iraq, or the less fortunate children their age around the world. Grouping students in 2-3, each group will be responsible for creating a care package including candy and or games, as well as a letter to the receiver of the package.

This small project could be part of a Social Studies unit and would not necessarily need to be graded.

Middle School Students can also be encouraged to write creative stories revolving around the theme of Valentine's Day. They may be romantic, thrillers, or comedy. Students will be asked to share their students with a small group for peer editing. Teachers may also want to make a contest out of the stories in order to make it a little more exciting for the kids.

You could also use several theme style poems and make February poetry month. By exploring romantic poems of Emily Dickinson and other famous poets, you could not only teach your students great poetry, they will also learn to be poets themselves.