12 Valentine’s Day Games for Kids to Play

Creating Valentine's Day games for kids is a great way to get them involved in all the fun of this holiday. Traditionally it is a holiday for lovers. However, I like to set an example for my children so that they know how to celebrate love. It's by no means restricted only to Valentine's Day but it is a great excuse to really go overboard and get them involved. They love it too. I make Valentine's Day more about celebrating the people you love, rather than just celebrating a partner.

In this post today, I have some great do-it-yourself options and a few easy store-bought ideas. You will also find some great last-minute printable games to play (minimal setup, crafting, or drawing required!). So there should be something here that suits you and your time frame.

Below is the shortlist of the games I've included, many with multiple options or alternatives:

• Heart Scavenger Hunt
• Valentine's Day Charades
• Heart Hopscotch
• Sweetheart Relay Race
• Tic Tac Toe
• Musical Heart Actions
• Pin the Heart on Cupid
• Cupid's Arrow Cups
• Heart Matching Game
• Valentine's Day Emoji Pictionary
• Kid's Valentine Bean Bag Toss
• Mittens + Kisses Game

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#1 Heart Scavenger Hunt

Who doesn't love a good scavenger hunt?! Gather any hearts you may have. These may be plastic, paper, origami, or simply anything in a heart shape. You could also cut your own. Hide them around your house or outside. Leave them in obvious places for kids to find them, or leave clues so that they have to work for those hearts! Make the game more challenging by setting a time limit. The first one to find all the hearts wins.

For older children, challenge them with additional Valentine's Day items such as chocolate, bears, and flowers to find. If you need something quick and easy, you can also download my printable Valentine’s Day scavenger hunt from the shop that comes with clues.

#2 Valentine's Day Games for Kids: Charades

On small pieces of paper, write down an assortment of Valentine's Day-themed words and phrases. For younger kids who may not be able to read, you could draw or print Valentine icons. Use phrases such as popular symbols, objects and activities, like red roses; box of chocolates; flowers; be mine; kissing etc. For more ideas, you could check out this article with a Valentine's Day vocabulary list.

Once you have all of your words written down, place them into a hat. You can play this game individually or divide players into teams. One player from each team takes a piece of paper from the hat. They must then act out the Valentine's Day phrase without speaking. The rest of the team tries to guess what the player is acting out.

You could choose set a time limit such as one minute. A point is awarded for each correctly guessed phrase. The game continues until there are no more pieces of paper left. The team with the most points wins.

#3 Valentine's Day Game for Kids: Heart Hopscotch

There are a couple of ways you could set up your Valentine's Day heart hopscotch. It is basically played the same as regular hopscotch, only with the added fun of hearts! Draw and cut 10 hearts from coloured paper. Number them 1 to 10 and lay them out as you would regular hopscotch.

The first player begins by throwing a bean bag, rock, or other object onto the first heart. It must land inside the heart and not on the edge or outside. If it does then play goes to the next person. If the object lands inside the heart then the player is to hop through all of the hearts and back.

They must skip the heart that has the object on it. The player loses their turn if they step on the edge of a heart, step outside the heart or hop on the wrong heart. On the way back, the player must pick up the object and skip back over that heart back to the beginning.

Each person has their turn. Once a player has successfully completed the first heart they move onto the next. If they lose their turn, they must wait until their next turn to attempt that heart again. The player who is the first to complete the whole hopscotch course wins.

#4 Sweetheart Relay Race

This is a fun Valentine's Day game for kids that will get them out and moving. A great activity for school children to play. Gather as many hearts as you can find. These could be conversation heart candies, paper, plastic, or any type of crafting hearts.

Set up the relay course with a starting line. Then divide the kids into two or more teams. Allocate the hearts for each team into one container. The first player picks up as many hearts as they can carry and runs the circuit, back to the starting line. They then stack their hearts (you may need a table for this). The next player then picks up as many as they can carry and this continues. Set a time limit and the team with the most stacked hearts wins.

Alternatives to this game include

• Adjusting for a straight-running race. This may be easier for younger children.
• If you are short on hearts, use only one heart per run then tally them at the end of the time limit.
• Add obstacles to the relay course for more challenging fun.

#5 Valentine's Day Games for Kids: Tic Tac Toe

There are hugs and kisses in this game so it had to make this Valentine's game list! A fun favourite and great for small groups, requiring only two players. Each player takes turns marking a grid with their designated symbol (either “x” or “o”). The first person to place all of their symbols in a line of 3 (either horizontally, vertically or diagonally) wins.

Options for playing this game include:

• Drawing your own Tic Tac Toe board. You could use coins, gems, stones, or any other markers.
• Grab this instant printable download.
• I found this super sweet wooden Tic Tac Toe board that you can get customized with your child's name.
• Or you could just grab my printable Valentine's Day activity mat that has Tic Tac Toe and other activities included.

#6 Musical Heart Actions

From coloured paper, cut large hearts. On each heart write an action. Actions may depend on the age group but could include things like animal walks, star jumps, singing a song etc.

Like you would with musical chairs, lay all of the hearts on the floor in a circle (or heart-shaped circle for more fun!) and play music. The players need to walk around the circle and then stop when the music stops. They must then perform whatever action is noted on the heart they are standing in front of.

For additional Valentine's Day fun play love songs or use Valentine's Day actions. These could be things like hugging the person next to you; blowing a kiss; pretending to catch a shower of love hearts etc.

#7 Pin the Heart on Cupid

This is a twist on the classic game of Pin the Tail on the Donkey. Set up the game by drawing a picture of Cupid on a large sheet of paper or cardboard. Then draw and cut love hearts from paper or cardboard. You could save time by using a heart paper punch for this if you have one.

Give each child a love heart and have them write their name on it. I would use something like Blu-tac to put on the back of the heart. Blindfold the first child and spin them around several times (pay attention that they actually like this, some kids may not like this part). Guide the child toward the Cupid poster. The aim of the game is for them to pin their heart on Cupid's chest. The heart closest to Cupid's chest wins.

Be sure to supervise children as they will be disorientated after being blindfolded and spun around. You can also find a game to purchase such as this sweet Pin the Heart on the Valentine Gnome.

#8 Cupid's Arrow Cups

Use some Valentine's Day themed or coloured party cups to stack into a pyramid tower. The aim of the game is simple – knock over the cups. The way in which you do this could vary. Use a straw and cotton tips to blow the cup over. Use a dart gun to shoot them or scrunch paper up to throw (the scrunching is also good for fine motor).

You may wish to number the cups then each player takes turns knocking over a cup. The amount of cups they knock over is their score. The person with the highest score wins. Depending on the skill level of the players, you may wish to specify rounds and tally their score from all 5 attempts for example. For smaller children, you may have fewer cups and simplify the game to just knocking cups over.

#9 Heart Matching Game

This Valentine's Day game for kids is great for the little ones. Create a set of heart cards with different colors or patterns. You could draw patterns or scrapbooking paper (just make sure you can't see the patterns through the back of the heart). As I mentioned above, if you have a heart paper punch that will make this task much easier.

Lay all of the hearts face down on the floor. The kids take turns flipping over two cards at a time, trying to find matching pairs. The one with the most pairs wins.

Alternatively, cut out Valentine's Day-themed pictures, words, or cards. You could make your own, use old greeting cards, or draw/print some Valentine's Day clip art icons. Cut each card in half. Lay them face down on a table. The kids take turns flipping over two cards at a time but have to find the card that matches.

#10 Valentine's Day Emoji Pictionary

Valentine's Day Emoji Pictionary is an easy last-minute solution, great for older kids and adults too! Using the emojis given, match the clue to a Romantic Movie or general Valentine’s Day phrases. These are games that I sell in my shop, in a couple of different designs. You will also find other great games such as Valentine’s Day Trivia and Match the Love Song to the Artist.

You'll find all of my designs and Valentine's Day games and activities in the shop here.

#11 Kid's Valentine Bean Bag Toss

There are several ways you can create your bean bag toss landing and I will detail others further below. You will need to cut out several large hearts to play this game. On paper or card, cut a large heart out, you will then need 3 more hearts all a little smaller than the next. These will then be glued or attached inside the larger heart. It works best if the hearts are of different colours however it isn't necessary.

Once you have attached the hearts, write scores on each heart. The smallest heart would be the largest score. This could be worth 10 points; the second heart 8 points; the third heart worth 6 points and the last (biggest) heart worth 4 points.

Once you have made your landing, each player takes turns standing behind a line and tossing the bean bag. The person with the most points wins.

Alternatives to this game include:

• Using chalk to draw your hearts on the pavement.
• Use turf paint or spray paint to draw your hearts on the lawn. Please check with the lawn owner, some spray paints aren't good for the lawn!
• Check out this Standup Valentine's Day Bean Bag Toss Banner Game

#12 Mittens + Kisses Game

Such a sweet Valentine's Day game for kids, you'll find the full instructions over on Skip to My Lou. Divide children into teams. Each player takes turns putting on the mittens, unwrapping a Hershey's Kiss and eating it. Each child takes a turn and the first team to finish wins.

I hope you enjoyed this round-up of Valentine's Day games for kids and found something fun to play. Many of these games are great for children's gross motor and fine motor development. That is just a bonus when the kids are having so much fun!

What favourite Valentine's Day game for kids do you and your family like to play? I'd love to know, comment below!

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