5 Interactive Valentine’s Day Activities for KidMin

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, and it’s a great opportunity to invite kids to explore God’s love! This week, we’re sharing some of our favorite ideas from Nathan Hamilton, the creator of Kids Enjoying Jesus, along with some of our own DKM favorites! Use these ready-to-go ideas to help you incorporate play-based learning into your Sunday School class, ministry time, or to share with families this Valentine’s Day.

1. (From Nathan and DKM) Share the story of St. Valentine – One of our favorite Valentine’s Day traditions is telling our kids who Valentine really was. St. Valentine lived a couple hundred years after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He refused to stop loving Jesus when the emperor of Rome outlawed Christianity and he was subsequently martyred for his faith. If you’re interested in a kid-friendly version of the story of St. Valentine (and a free Valentine card craft with a memory verse acrostic that goes with it!), find a free copy from Kids Enjoying Jesus here! (And here at Deeper KidMin, we’ve got a full Valentine Holiday History lesson that shares the story of St. Valentine here!)
2. (From Nathan) How BIG is God’s Love? Hands-On Activity – Read Ephesians 3:17-19 and show the children pictures of things that are wide, deep, long, or tall. (*Blue Whale, Star, Sun, Earth, Jupiter, Mountain, Redwood Tree, Dinosaur, Giraffe, Train, Jet, Ocean, Sky, etc.)  As you show each massive item, remind them it’s puny compared to God’s love. Have everyone say “Nothing is bigger than God’s love!” Finish up this activity by singing a song about God’s love and remind the children God showed His BIG love for them through Jesus. *If possible, do some research ahead of time so that you are also prepared to share a few facts about each massive object you show the kids. (For instance, they’d probably love to know that giraffes, the tallest living land animals, have the same number of neck bones as humans.) You can also use a tape measure to measure out the length of interesting items such as a T-rex tooth (6-12 inches), the world’s largest waffle (8 feet across), mammoth tusk (10-15 feet), world’s largest flower bloom (3 feet across), Stegosaurus tail spike (2 feet), or the world’s longest mustache (14 feet). As you measure out the size of these BIG items, remind the kids God’s love is TOO BIG to measure!
3. (From Nathan and DKM) Valentine’s Day Gospel Object Lessons – Hmmmmm? A holiday focused on love… How could we possibly use that to point kids to the Gospel? I’m so glad you asked because I happen to LOVE using Valentine’s Day to share the Gospel with kids. There are lots of simple ways to connect hearts to the Gospel. Check out this prayer stations lesson that uses cymbals to teach kids about 1 Corinthians 13 and then invites them to explore God’s love through interactive prayer stations! Watch this video to see how to teach “A New Heart”, one of Nathan’s favorite Valentine Gospel Object Lessons. This Valentine resource uses 2 object lessons to teach the gospel to kids! Find all our Valentine teaching resources here.
4. (From DKM and Nathan) Get creative! – Invite kids to tap into their creative side using special Valentine coloring pages or playdough mats. When kids engage the creative parts of their brains while learning, the lessons tend to stick! Music is another easy way to connect kids with truth in a way that they’ll remember it. I (Nathan) like using familiar tunes like B-I-N-G-O! and Mary Had A Little Lamb to teach Gospel truths to kids. Here’s a few hearty tunes you can use to celebrate God’s love with kids on Valentine’s Day.
5. (From Nathan) Where in the WORLD is God’s Love? – Read Psalm 119:64 and briefly discuss what it means for the earth to be full of the Lord’s steadfast love. Show the kids a map of the world and have them take turns working in pairs to locate different countries as you call them out. After each nation is found, remind the children that God’s love is for the people in that country too. His love is big and strong enough to love people all over the world. Ask for a volunteer to pray for many people in that country to know how much God loves them. You can give this activity a missions focus by having them locate specific nations or areas where you or your church have a missionary/ministry serving. Then you can share briefly about that missionary and pray for them too.
6. Bonus: Don’t forget to equip families to celebrate at home too! Whether it’s a Scripture Scratch-off, Love Notes to God, or any of these family resources, we can encourage families to be intentional with this lovely holiday at home.

Find even more ideas from Nathan Hamilton and Kids Enjoying Jesus here, and explore all of Deeper KidMin’s Valentine resources here!

More about Nathan: Nathan Hamilton has served kids in children’s ministry for 20+ years as a missionary, author, and speaker. He is the creator of KidsEnjoyingJesus.com, an online hub that provides free discipleship tips and tools to families and churches worldwide. He and his wife Audrey have 5 kids who enjoy catching toads, eating tacos, dancing in the kitchen, and reading good books almost as much as their daddy does.