February is quickly approaching.  

Every year my kids look forward to celebrating 14 days of love, a tradition I started years ago.  

Family traditions are so important.  They help make memories that last a lifetime, and they also strengthen family bonds.  

Giving your child 14 Days of Love Notes is a super simple Valentine’s Day tradition that kids love and will remember years later.   

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Every February we have lots of fun making heart-shaped crafts and doing other Valentine’s Day crafts to decorate the windows and doors around our house.  

But our favorite activity each year is when we start with these notes of love.  It’s a tradition my kids look forward to every February. 

While I try to tell them I love them every day, this heart activity lets me focus on what makes each of them special.

14 Days of Love Notes

We’re all busy, right?  But this is a super simple Valentine’s Day activity that doesn’t take a lot of time, but brings a HUGE amount of joy.

To make it even easier, you can prepare all the messages ahead of time.

Spouses and grandparents also love receiving this small notes.  

In recent years I’ve started including my husband in my daily notes.  He has kept them in a small box.  

This year the kids plan on sending hearts through the mail to their grandparents as well.  We will probably send all 14 at once to save on postage, with each one marked to be read on different days.  It’s a simple way to remind them that we are thinking of them and can’t wait to see them again.  

Valentine Notes for Kids

To make sure you don’t miss any days, you may want to prepare all your notes ahead of time.

Start by cutting out plenty of hearts.  

Use very thick construction paper or colorful card stock to keep your hearts looking nice over time.  This way the person receiving them can keep them to look back on long after February is past.  

Cut the hearts from different colored paper.  You may even want to use fancy scissors for some of them.  Make them as fancy or simple as you wish.

If you are writing notes of love for multiple people it will be helpful to have separate envelopes to organize all the hearts.

Once you have plenty of hearts and envelopes to place them in, it’s time to write your notes.

It may be tempting to write your notes as you go each day, but writing them all now means you won’t forget a day!

Use a fine tip permanent marker or an ink pen to write a short love note or poem on each heart.  Pencil could smudge or fade away over time.

Try to be specific when you write your hearts.  Think about what makes the person special and unique.

For my husband I like to write about all the simple things he does that I sometimes take for granted, like making pancakes on the weekends and baking the world’s best brownies from scratch.

Ideas for Love Notes for Kids

Need some inspiration?

Try starting with a few of the ideas below and filling in the blanks to make the notes more personal.  

• I love listening to you _______________(sing, tell stories, laugh…).
• I love when you _______________.
• I appreciate it when you ______________.
• You are so _____________! (creative, funny, smart, generous…)
• You are so talented at __________________.
• You were very brave when you _____________________.

Check out the video above for even more inspiration.  

14 Days of Valentines Love Notes

Starting on February 1, surprise your loved one with one of your love notes.

I like to tape the heart notes, one a day, on each of my kid’s bedroom doors.  They love to find them first thing in the morning and watch their door fill up with love.

If you’re writing notes for a spouse, you can tuck it in their laptop, stick it on the steering wheel of the car, or  shower them with all the love notes in one location you know they’ll see them, like taping them to the vanity mirror in the bathroom.  

It will be one of the first things they see each morning.

As a mom it is easy to get lost in the daily monotony of dishes, laundry, and taking care of kids.  Sometimes we miss out on telling those we care for most just how much they mean to us.

Writing 14 Days of Love Notes is the perfect way to let them know just how special they really are.

• Melt the Frozen Heart Valentine’s Day Science
• Glittery Valentine’s Day Slime Recipe
• Awesome Valentine’s Day Ideas for Boys

Originally published on January 29, 2016. 

The post 14 Days of Love Notes first appeared on There's Just One Mommy.

There are so many fun Valentine’s Day crafts for kids, many of which can be done in the classroom or at a Scouting event.

And while crafts are fun, the party really gets exciting when there’s a fun game to play.

Kids love to race, which was the inspiration for this heart relay race.

Valentine’s Day Relay Games like this one are perfect for that group party or to play at home as a family.

Looking for more Valentine’s Day party ideas?

Make sparkly Valentine’s Day slime  or have fun with this melting frozen hearts activity. 

You may also like these fun games for kids. 

Valentine Relay Races

Affiliate links have been used below.  See my full disclosure for more details. 

Materials Needed:

• Plastic Drinking Straw for Each Participant
• Foam Heart Stickers
• Paper Cup for Each Team

Divide children into  teams.

Teams of 5-6 kids work great, but you can easily do this activity with a smaller group. 

We did it with a Girl Scout troop of 5, and had one team with 2 and another with 3 girls.  And later I did it with just my 2 at home.  Both times it was lots of fun!

Give each team 10 foam heart stickers.   (Heart stickers are also perfect for this cute Love Tree craft.)

Have them line the stickers up on a table placed at the starting area.

Give each player a plastic drinking straw.

Have the kids practice using the straw to pick up the stickers.

They will do this by placing one end of the straw in their mouth and the other end on a sticker.  When they suck in through the straw, the sticker will get suctioned onto the straw’s end.

As long as they maintain the suction, the sticker will remain on the straw.

Valentine’s Day Relay Game

Once the kids are familiar with how to pick up the sticker hearts, it’s time to begin the game.

Have teams line up next to the table where you have placed the stickers.

Place the plastic cups on another table at the other side of the room.   

Since we played in the school cafeteria, we were able to place our cups 30 feet away from our starting area.  

This is a relay race.  That means the players on each team will take turns transporting the hearts.

The first person in line goes first.

Once they get their heart sticker into the cup, they will race back and tag the hand of next person in line.  Then that player will use their straw to carry a second sticker to the cup.

If a player drops a sticker, they must pick it up and go back to the starting point.

The goal is to be the first team to transport all 10 of the team’s heart stickers from the starting table to the plastic cup.

The first team with all 10 hearts in the cup wins!

Valentine’s Day Relay Games like this one are always fun at parties.  

If you are planning a party, you may also like the following ideas.

• Valentine’s Day Ideas for Boys — Make your own bow and arrows.  Build a Valentine’s Day robot.  The holiday doesn’t have to be all hearts and flowers.  In this post you’ll find activities and homemade cards that even boys will enjoy.  
• Heart Crafts for Kids —  Find tons of craft ideas that are perfect for kids of all ages.  
• Fizzy Valentine’s Day Science —  Everyone will enjoy this sweet-smelling, bubbling science experiment.  

More Valentine’s Day Games

• Valentine Minute-to-Win-It Games
• Heart Hop-Scotch
• Musical Hearts Reading Game

Originally published January 23, 2019.

The post Valentine’s Day Relay Race with Hearts first appeared on There's Just One Mommy.

These Heart Activities for Kids would be fun to do with the kids all month long.     

 You may want to add a few of them to your list of ideas for Valentine’s Day crafts & activities.

If you are looking for activities with hearts, you’ll also want to check out these heart crafts for kids.

Heart Activities for Kids

14 days of love notes—  This simple idea will quickly become your favorite holiday tradition.  Discover a beautiful way to show your kids just how much you love them.

Match the Hearts Sensory Bin — Keep them busy and learning with this Valentines sensory bin idea.

Melting Hearts Word Search —  Combine science and reading with this fun idea. 

Matching Hearts Math Game —  Get kids practicing math facts with this simple to set up math activity for February. 

Driving over Hearts — Practice reading skills with this fun activity.

Dinner Table Conversation Hearts — Get the whole family talking and sharing with these hearts. 

Heart STEM Activities 

Melt the Frozen Heart — Toddlers and preschoolers will have fun discovering the fastest ways to melt the ice and free the colorful heart.  

Working Heart Model — Discover how you can build a functioning model of a human heart.  

Heart Marshmallow and Toothpick Structures —  Let the kids get building with this Valentine’s Day STEM activity.  

Paper Heart Structure — What structures can you child build using only paper hearts?  Challenge them to make the tallest structure they can, or the most creative.  

Fizzing Hearts — Let kids explore chemistry with this science activity.  

Lego Heart — A simple Valentines engineering activity with Lego bricks. 

These heart activities for kids are perfect for February.   

You may also like these posts:

• Valentine’s Day Ideas for Boys
• 15 Homemade Gifts for Kids 

The post Heart Activities for Kids first appeared on There's Just One Mommy.

If you spend a lot of time on Pinterest you’ll find lots of DIY ideas that leave you feeling a bit untalented.  (At least that’s how I felt.)

Then my daughter and I came up with this beautiful rainbow heart garland.

This simple Valentine’s Day craft for kids looks gorgeous hanging from the windows.  And, it’s easy enough for kids to make.  

This simple heart craft is perfect for doing  together as a family.

Why not create one of these for each window in your home?  It would be a fun activity to do with the kids to celebrate 14 days of love. 

How to Make Paper Heart Garland

Materials needed:

• • • Thick Construction Paper (We used red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.)
    • Clear Tape
    • Hole Punch
    • Yarn
    • Small Bell or Large Bead (optional)

Cut a 1 inch thick strip from the length of each color of paper.  Be sure to use a thick construction paper or card stock for this craft.  Very thin paper will collapse in on itself once your heart garland is hanging.

Fold each strip in half.  

Then bend the edges of the strip in towards each other to form a heart.

Use clear tape to hold the edges together.  You will need to put the tape up about and inch from the edge to keep the heart shape.  You can also use glue, but then you will have to wait for it to dry before the next step.

Once all the hearts are formed, arrange them so the points of each heart alternate back and forth, from left to right, as shown in the picture below.

Use the hole punch to make two holes in each paper heart, diagonal from each other. 

One hole should be at the top of the heart. The other hold should be at the bottom, near the paper heart’s point.  

Rainbow Heart Garland

To create the rainbow affect, make one heart from each color of the rainbow and put them in order before punching your holes.

Tie a loop at the top of the yarn to hang your DIY Valentines decoration.

Then thread your yarn through the holes in the rainbow-colored hearts.

To secure it, you can tie a small bell or large bead at the bottom of the strand.  Or, you can just tie a large knot to keep the hearts from slipping off.

When finished, hang your rainbow heart garland from the curtain rod or a wall hook to enjoy.   

You’ll also like these posts:

• • • Spinning Rainbow Heart Mobile
    • Heart Shaped Animals
    • 14 Days of Love Notes
    • Sparkly Valentines Day Slime

Originally published January 21, 2016.

The post Beautiful DIY Rainbow Heart Garland first appeared on There's Just One Mommy.

But what about the boys?  

For boys who aren’t in to all the hoopla surrounding this overly girly holiday, here are some awesome Valentines Ideas for Boys.

Why wait for the 14th?  Your child will love these 14 Days of Love Ideas.  

Valentines Ideas for Boys

• Red Hot Slime  —  Slime is always fun.  Boys will have fun making this slime, using candy red hots hearts to give it a holiday twist.  (Be sure to have a few extra for tasting!) 
• Candy Heart Science  —  Use those conversation hearts for some fun and tasty experiments.  
• Erupting Lava Lamp  —  There is just something about making things explode and make a mess that boys love.  This Valentine-themed science experiment will have them begging to do it over and over.  
• Cupid’s Quiver and Arrows —  This would be so much fun for pretend play.
• Heart Bombs — Boys will have fun making these  heart bombs fizz to expose the hidden surprise inside.    
• Funny Valentine’s Day Books for Boys —  When it comes to holidays, I love finding books to read with the kids.  If you’re looking for Valentine’s Day books that will have him giggling,  check out these.

Boy Valentine Crafts

Looking for Valentine craft ideas your son won’t run from?   Check out these Valentine ideas to try at home or Scout meetings. 

• Looking for the perfect box to collect those Valentine’s Day cards?  Check out these boys Valentine boxes. 
• Valentine’s Day Jet Pack — Boys will blast off to adventure with this fun craft. 
• Valentine Robot —  This robot would be so fun to craft together as you explore shapes.   
• Cupid’s Arrows —  Kids will have fun making these arrows you can fly like paper airplanes.
• Paper Heart Penguins —  Who can resist a cute penguin?  You may also want to check out these Paper Heart Animals.

Homemade Valentines for Boys

Cards are a big part of Valentine’s Day.  

Whether your son is making the cards for friends at school, or you are looking for one to give your son, these Valentine cards for boys will make him smile.  

• Valentine Spoon Superheroes  — These are so creative and would be a fun make for a class party.   Your son can choose to skip the pink and make them with capes of red and blue instead.  
• Straw Rocket Valentine  —  When it comes to Valentines for boys to make, this one is going to get people talking.  The secret is, it really flies!  
•  Paper Plate Dinosaur Valentine —  Boys love dinosaurs.  These homemade dinosaur valentines would be fun to make at home to give friends and relatives.  
• Footprint Race Car — This footprint craft is perfect for boys that love cars.  
• Hand Print Monkey Valentine —  Make it as a card, or put it on a canvas for a beautiful keepsake.   I can see it as a fun Cub Scout Valentine craft that kids can give parents afterwards.  
• Monster Truck Valentines —  Have you ever tried painting with trucks?  Use the artwork to make some one of a kind, all boy, Valentines.
• Printable Car Card — This adorable car Valentine says, “I wheelie like you!”  It’s perfect for adding a toy car to as an extra special gift. 
• Non-Mushy Valentines — These printable cards would be fun for any boy to hand out to friends at school. 

Girls may love all the frilly pink hearts and flowers, but boys shouldn’t feel left out this February.  These Valentines ideas for boys are sure to be big hits.

Know someone with boys?  Be sure to share these ideas!

You may also like:

• 14 Days of Love Notes
• 50 Heart Crafts & Activities 
• Cherry Explosion — Valentine’s Day Science 

Originally published January 18, 2016.

The post Awesome Valentine’s Day Ideas for Boys first appeared on There's Just One Mommy.

It’s something I’ve done every year since they were little.  

This year I plan to take it a step further.

Join me and count down to Valentine’s Day with these 14 days of love ideas for kids.

Affiliate links have been used below.  See full disclosure for more details.

Valentine’s Day Activities are always popular for kids in February. 

But your child will remember these 14 days of Valentines for kids, and how much you love them, their whole life. 

14 Days of Love Ideas

Decorate Their Room —  Sneak into your child’s room at night and cover the room with streamers and  paper hearts.    Afraid you’ll wake them up?  Try cutting long strips of crepe paper streamers and taping them to the top of the door frame so they hang down.   It takes less than 5 minutes.  

Holiday Popcorn Treat —  Surprise your child with this special treat after school.  Or, better yet, gather the ingredients and mix up this sweet and salty concoction together.  

Valentine’s Day Game —  Play a Valentine themed game with the kids.  Make your own heart-shaped spinning Nerf targets and take turns with your child testing out your target skills.  Or, try out this fun Heart Relay Race.  

Lunch Box Note —  Does your child pack lunch?  Make them smile by tucking a few of these Valentine’s lunch box jokes in their lunch box.  

Valentine’s Day Slime—  Does your child like slime?  This sparkly slime is super easy to make and can be made in red, pink, or lavendar –perfect for February.  

Heart Shaped Cookies  —  Pick a day to bake cookies together.  Use a heart shaped cookie cutter to cut out sugar cookies.  Then let your child decorate them with sprinkles.    

Homemade Valentine  —  Remember making Valentines as a child?  Make a special one for your child.  Get out some colored paper, scissors, and markers.  Add Valentine stickers.  Try using paper doilies to make it extra fancy.  

Valentine Scavenger Hunt —  Send your child on one of these 14 fun scavenger hunt ideas.  

STEM Activities —  Young kids will have a blast with this melt the frozen heart activity.  Older kids will enjoy these STEM Activities for Valentines.  

Dance Party — Turn up the jams and have a silly dance party.  It just takes a couple songs to get everyone giggling and smiling.  

Do Their Chores  —  Does your child have a chore they really hate doing?   Let them know you are doing that chore for them for one day.

Heart Crafts —  Nothing lets a child know how much you love them like when you spend time with them having fun.  Pick a craft to do together.  

Cook Their Favorite Meal  —  Show them how much you love them by cooking their favorite meal.  Want to really hit it home?  Ask them to help plan the menu.  Then they’ll know the meal was really planned with them in mind.  

Candy Bouquet —  Surprise them with a bouquet of all their favorite candies!  Check out this simple tutorial and see how a trip to the dollar store can help you create a gift that even a teenager will love. 

This year show your child just how much you love them with  14 days of love in February.

You may also like these posts:

• Awesome Valentine’s Day Ideas for Boys
• 14 Days of Kindness Notes for Kids by Coffee & Carpool
• 30 Ways to Show Your Kids You Love Them by Mommy Nearest

The post Show Your Kids How Much You Love Them with 14 Days of Love first appeared on There's Just One Mommy.