What could be more fun than indulging into STEM Valentine activities for the month of love! Add a dash of pink, a generous doze of creativity and transform easy STEM activities for kids into Valentine’s STEM ideas.
With all that buzz and markets going crazy with Valentine decorations, it is almost apt to engage in fun Valentine STEM activities for kids. Simple and fun, these 10 easy Valentine STEM challenges for kids will fire up their creativity besides building their science & math skills.
Our Latest Video on Valentine DIY Crafts for Kids
Valentine STEM Activities For Kids
These fun and easy STEM valentine activities are perfect for preschoolers, kindergarteners and older kids. They combine a variety of skills and help children learn in a fun, hands-on way, making learning better and more effective.
1. STEM Jenga Hearts
Use the tiles of the classic game to structure a STEM inspired Engineering challenge for your kids. Ask them to make heart using the tiles.
As simple as it sounds, it is quite a challenge for young children to make heart from rectangular tiles. Take the challenge notch higher by making a standing heart and trying domino effect.
2. Valentine Heart Tower
This is a cool Valentine STEM challenge for little architects in the making. Inspired by valentine day, the task is to make the tallest tower out of paper hearts! This may sound easy-peasy but it’s far more challenging than what meets the eye.
How to Make Valentine Heart Tower:
To get on with this valentine inspired engineering challenge, you will need around 20 to 25 paper hearts. We used pink and red construction/craft paper to make hearts.
Ours were approximately 4cm long and 5cm wide. This is a decent size but you can make bigger hearts if you like.
Next, using scissors, make a neat slit in all the hearts. These slits will help you interlock the hearts.
Now, challenge your kids to make a tallest tower using hearts. They will need to figure out how to link the hearts so as to make a firm base. Once a stable base is set, the task is to build the highest tower possible in 10 mins.
Quick Tip: Take a brain break with Valentine Inspired Would You Rather Questions.
3. Mobius Strip Hearts
Mobius strip hearts are a fun STEM Valentine activity for kindergarten and older kids. Sure to help see kids maths in a new light, these fun valentine activity is a wonderful addition to math classroom in the month on February!
4. Valentine Slime
Make this beautiful, satisfying slime for Valentine’s Day! This borax free slime recipe is perfect for little kids to make and just so much fun to play with.
5. STEM Lego Challenge
This is another cool Valentine STEM activity for preschool and kindergarten. Ask your child to make a heart out of legos.
There are so many iterations waiting to be discovered. Starting with the simplest ways to more complex ones, these will certainly spark creativity and STEM acumen in your child.
6. Secret Codes
Brain storm with your child how you can send code messages to each other without anyone else getting to know the message. The answer is simple…have your very own code language!!
Make a simple code language by writing alphabets corresponding to numbers upto 26. And instead of using alphabets, code your message in numbers!! Much like a digital system, you have your own number based secret code.
We bet your kids will love this Valentine inspired STEM activity and will soon come up with their own novel ideas to make secret codes.
Related: Got a little detective at home? Read about Crime Scene Investigation for kids to help them learn the trade secrets!
7. Blooming Notes
This simple STEM activity relies on capillary action to reveal valentine messages. Cut heart shapes in different colours, write a love note at the center and fold them neatly.
Give these folded hearts to your child and ask them to place them in bowl of water to reveal the hidden love note inside. Just like flowers, these hearts will bloom when added to the bowl of water.
8. String Art
Use your old Geo-board and twine to make heart shaped string art. You can also use thermocol and push-pins if you don’t have a geoboard to try this string art project. This can be made into a tricky symmetry project as well for older kids.
A great Valentine STEM activity for classroom, this one will keep kids happily busy!
9. STEM Scavenger Hunt
Go on STEM scavenger hunt in your nearby park and spot trees and plants that have heart shaped leaves. You will be amazed to find the number of different heart shaped leaves.
Compare their sizes, colours and textures. Paste these leaves on a black card to make a nature inspired STEM Valentine Card.
10. Heart Thaumatrope
Thaumatrope is a great STEAM project for kids. Easy to make and simply delightful, thaumatropes are a great way to introduce kids to the amazing world of optical illusions.
Optical illusions are nothing but patterns or images that can deceive the mind. Optical illusion happens when the information gathered by eyes is processed by the brain to create an image that is different from reality. Sounds confusing? Well! That’s exactly what optical illusions are!
Here is what you need to get started:
- Paper
- Sketch pens
- Straw/Pencil
- Glue
- Scissors
How to Make Valentine Day Thaumatrope:
Step 1: Draw two circles, approximately 8cm in diameter, on the paper. Cut them out using scissors
Step 2: With a sketch pen, draw a heart on one circle and write ‘Love U’ on the other circle.
A quick tip here: To make the optical illusion almost perfect, place the second blank circle over the first circle that has the heart drawn and try writing ‘Love U’ within the center of the heart. This will help blend the two pictures precisely.
Step 3: Paste the circles back to back on the straw/pencil.
That’s it! Your Valentine thaumatrope is done! Now, just sit back and spin it between both the hands to witness your perfectly created optical illusion.
11. Origami Hearts
Origami is fun, a mess free activity to practise math and science skills. Research indicates a strong link between this art of paper folding and mathematical & science abilities.
It is a great way to practise visualisation skills and build models…something that most engineers and scientists do.
This easy to follow, step-by-step tutorial lets you make a lovely origami heart for your loved ones in just a few minutes. What better way to spread love!
12. Secret Valentine Message
Surprise your kids with invisible ink messages for them. Take a white sheet and write a message for your child using white oil crayon.
Ask them to colour this sheet using water colours to reveal your secret message. Help them make Secret Valentine Notes for the rest of the family and spread joy.
More Valentine’s Day Activities
There are just so many fun and crafty activities to indulge in for Valentine’s Day! Kick-off Valentine’s day countdown with these fun and engaging Valentine activities for kids & family.
Make sure to make pretty Valentine crafts with kids. From easy Valentine crafts with printables to cutesy valentine crafts, this list has it all to keep kids happily crafting.
Indulge in a fun session of Valentine Would You Rather Game. It is fun way to get everyone talking and makes for a perfect game for classroom as well as home!
HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!
