How Your Kids Can Celebrate Valentine's Day With Virtual Classmates

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As many of us were gearing up and helping our kids write out Valentine's Day cards for a classroom exchange last year, we had probably just started hearing about COVID-19. Almost a year later, we've realized we're far more resourceful and resilient than we ever imagined. In 2020, friends and family learned how to celebrate birthdays during the coronavirus, conduct drive-by baby showers, and even attend socially distanced weddings while still adhering to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines on gatherings.

And now, for Valentine's Day 2021, many parents find themselves wondering how kids can celebrate Valentine's Day online with virtual classmates. If you're looking for ways to make February 14th special this year, incorporate some of these ideas to help your child have fun with their friends, even if they can't hang out together in person.

Check with your child's teacher: Will Valentine's Day be celebrated in the classroom?

Before planning anything for your child's virtual classroom, be sure to get clearance from your child's teacher. Well-intentioned parents often rush into planning events without taking into consideration the fact that not all families celebrate the same holidays.

Your child's teacher will be able to provide guidelines to help ensure the Valentine's Day celebration is inclusive and won't interfere with instructional time. Once you've got the all-clear, consider a few of the ideas below to help your child have a fun and festive online Valentine's Day celebration.

Note: For kids, the romance part of Valentine's Day may be confusing and not appropriate. Stress the friendship aspect of the holiday over love, and talk to them about being kind and generous toward their friends. A fun activity might be to make friendship bracelets for each other and exchange them by mail.

Ideas for an online Valentine's Day party with virtual classmates

Being apart doesn't mean you can't have fun together. Here are ways your child can have a Valentine's Day celebration with their virtual classmates.

Decorate your child's virtual learning space for Valentine's Day
If your house is anything like mine, you've got random decks of playing cards with missing suits lying around. String together all of the hearts cards with red ribbon to create a playing cards garland as a backdrop to your student's work area.

Much like the playing cards, we've also got a ton of random puzzle pieces. Spend an afternoon with your kids painting the pieces red, pink, and white to create a darling Valentine's Day wreath.

Or, skip the decorations altogether – chances are the kids will be having so much fun they won't notice what's in the background.

Play age-appropriate games
Ana, a mom of three and creator of MommysBundle.com, suggests a game of Read My Lips over the computer as a fun way to celebrate Valentine's Day with classmates in a remote-learning world. In her post of virtual playdate ideas, Read Lips is a game where kids take turns mouthing Valentine phrases, while classmates try to guess the correct phrase by lip-reading. Kids can make it even more fun by dressing the part, with festive eyeglasses, hats, or clothing, while letting their lips do the talking!

Amanda Boyarshinov is an educator and mom of three. She created an elementary grade mini-lesson on addressing an envelope. "With the increased popularity of emails and advancement of technology, the necessity to teach children how to address envelopes correctly becomes more important every day," the mom of three wrote. (And this activity will come in handy for sending out Valentine's cards!)

Dress up!
For the Valentine's Day celebration, kids can dress up with fake boas or funny headbands if they wish; the dollar store is the perfect place to find fun holiday accessories.

Read together
Another fun idea for Valentine's Day celebrations with virtual classmates would be to have a Valentine's Day–themed book club meeting. The following chapter book titles are perfect for elementary-age students:

Nate the Great and the Mushy Valentine by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat
Junie B. Jones and the Mushy Gushy Valentine by Jane O'Connor
Cupid Doesn't Flip Hamburgers by Debbie Dadey
Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew by Carolyn Keene

Valentine's Day ideas for kids: Activities to do with virtual classmates

Try these fun Valentine's Day activities to bring virtual classmates closer.

Have a virtual recipe exchange. Students can each submit their favorite cookie or treat recipe to compile a virtual classroom cookbook. Make it extra special and official-looking with a cookbook template from Canva. This would make a fun memento for your student to commemorate their virtual-school-year journey.
Send valentines to friends. Consider getting kids to send one another virtual cards. Conversely, if there's interest, have students send physical cards — either store-bought or homemade — to one another in the mail. While it may not be the same as passing out Valentines in the classic decorated Valentine's box, for kids interested in getting mail, it could be a fun idea. Addressing envelopes and teaching kids proper envelope format could also be a mini-lesson itself, as mentioned in Amanda Boyarshinov's activity outlined above.
This Baby Yoda card craft from Simple Everyday Mom is sure to be a hit with students of all ages, whether they're Star Wars fans or not.
Encourage students to get outdoors and gather leaves for this nature craft from the Oooly blog. Kids can collect leaves near their homes and then decorate them together virtually while chatting about their favorite books.
Incorporate science into the day and learn about polymers while creating this festive Valentine's Day slime from The Farm Girl Gabs blog. Kids can collect the supplies before class meets and make slime together.