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Are you on the lookout for Valentine’s Day ideas to infuse love and learning into your classroom or therapy sessions? Join me on a journey of creativity and skill development as I share a diverse range of activities meticulously planned for the week of love.
In my planning process, I ensure inclusivity by incorporating options for gross motor, sensory exploration, fine motor tasks, visual perception challenges, writing and keyboarding exercises, crafts, and engaging games. Recognizing the unique needs of the 50-75 students I work with each week, I embrace variety to meet diverse goals.
To complement hands-on activities, I leverage a variety of worksheets to target fine motor, writing, and visual perceptual skills. Visit my store for an extensive collection of Valentine’s Day resources that seamlessly integrate into your sessions.
For students with writing goals, I’ve designed roll-a-sentence activities that not only encourage reluctant writers but also serve as effective keyboarding practice. Explore my collection of scrambled sentences, versatile for both fine-tuning writing skills and keyboarding proficiency. Access a Valentine’s Day Roll a Story in my Free Resource Library or explore the full set available in my store.
Make this Valentine’s Day an opportunity for holistic skill development, fostering a love for learning in your students. Explore, engage, and create a memorable week filled with meaningful activities that cater to every learner in your classroom or therapy sessions.
Self-regulation and emotions are important goals for many of my students. We will use my Valentine’s Emotions bingo game to work on identifying emotions.
I usually start with a gross motor warm up. A Valentine’s day themed free spinner can be found in my Free Resource Library or check out the full set for all the holidays in my store.
Need a sensory bin? Consider dying rice or pasta red and add a variety of other red, white, and pink items to make a sensory bin. Students can look for different objects to practice their visual discrimination skills.
Or make red Play-Doh and use cookie cutters.
I love using stickers for sorting activities and crafts. I have even found sports and superhero heart stickers for all the boys on my schedule.
Check out this year’s low prep craft choice. Students trace their arm and hand on brown paper and add stickers for the leaves. I have a variety of heart stickers from both the dollar store and Amazon. Here are a few other simple craft ideas as well.
Here are a few other fine motor ideas I will have in my therapy bag during the week of Valentine’s day. Heart rainbow scratchers, heart pony beads, colored paper, scissors, hole punch, and yarn. I have matching colored pipe cleaners to string the beads on to and others can sort them by color using strawberry hullers. I will also have a variety of colored paper to practice scissor skills by cutting out hearts, as well as some precut from cardstock, laminated, and hole punched to use with ribbon or yarn as lacing cards.
Here are two new Digital Boom Cards for Valentine’s Day. Check them out in my TpT or Boom Store.
I hope you were able to find a few ideas for your Valentine’s Day classroom or therapy themes.
About the Author
I am a Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant (COTA) and have been working in a public school system for more than 25 years. My resources can be found on TPT, BOOM Learning, Made by Teachers, Classful, and Your Therapy Source. I appreciate your interest wherever you wish to shop.
My mission is to help you find creative ideas to incorporate fine motor, visual perception, gross motor, and social-emotional learning into your lessons.
I hope you consider signing up for my Free Resource Library with your Email. I send out emails about once a week and share resources, tips, and planning ideas for your classroom or occupational therapy needs. Hopefully, these help your students work on building their skills in a fun and engaging way.
