What child doesn’t LOVE games? Give your children a Valentine’s Day they will remember by playing a few of these Heart Day games. It’s a great way to really show them how much you love them!

Valentine’s Day for the Young {at heart}

• Who’s Your Match?Divide your family into 2 teams and form two rows facing each other. The first player on one side begins by picking a card from the bowl and reading the first word. The players on the first team have 15 seconds to guess the word’s match that is written on the card. (the opposing team can be the time keeper and ring a bell or something at 15 seconds). If a member on the first team guesses correctly, they get a “M”. If they don’t guess, the other team gets time to discuss and share one answer. If they guess correctly, they get a “M”. Then it is the second team’s turn to pick a card and play. The game continues until one team is the first to spell “M-A-T-C-H”. In my family of many non-reading children, my husband and I are the captains of the team who always read the card…older children could take turns reading the cards if they want to.Some examples of “matching” words to put on the cards (ours are heart shaped):• Ernie and…Bert
  • Peanut Butter and…Jelly
  • Prince Charming and…Cinderella
  • Pigs in a…Blanket
  • Charlie and the…Chocolate Factory
  • Spaghetti and…Meatballs
  • Think of your own…we often include family members (Aunt Emily and…Uncle Collin, books or movies we have recently read and watched, foods we eat, etc.)

  A Valentine’s Day word game where players match two people or things that go together.

• VALENTINE’S DAY Word Hunt GameA Valentine’s Day word game where players find words from the letters in the word, VALENTINE’S DAY.Give each player a piece of pink paper with the word, VALENTINE’S DAY written on the top. Give them a certain amount of time to write as many words they can using those letters (rule: each letter can only be used the number of times it is found in VALENTINE’S DAY…the word can have 2 ‘e’s in it because there are 2 ‘e’s in VALENTINE’S DAY, but it can only have 1 ‘i’ because there is only 1 ‘i’ in VALENTINE’S DAY.) The winner is the player with the most words found. You could also give prizes for things like the longest word, most original word, Valentine-ish word, etc. Happy Hunting!Some examples of answers:

  At
  Net
  See
  Yes
  Dent
  Nest
  Steve
  Silent

• Heart PotatoA Valentine’s Day version of the game, “Hot Potato”.Find something to do with Valentine’s Day that can be used as the “potato”. (a heart pillow, bag of candy hearts, red ball, etc.) Have players sit in a circle with one person at the stereo. Start the item with one player and begin playing the music. The players must pass the item around the circle while the music plays. The person holding the item when the music stops (the stereo person should not look while they are playing and randomly stopping the music), is out. The circle tightens and play resumes. The winner is the last person in the circle. It would be cute to play songs about love for this game.
• Heart StealerA quick moving Valentine’s Game that will test players chopstick-using skills. Fill a bowl with conversation hearts. Each player finds a spot around the large bowl of hearts with their own empty smaller bowl and a set of chopsticks. Set a timer for a certain amount of time (2 – 5 minutes). Players must use their chopsticks to get as many hearts as they can from the larger bowl into their smaller bowls. The winner is the person with the most hearts in their small bowl.
• HEART BINGOA Valentine’s Day version of the game, “BINGO”.Make a game card with the letters, “H-E-A-R-T” on the top and 5 squares under each letter. Randomly put a number from 1-10 under each box under the “H”, a number from 11-20 under the “E”, a number from 21-30 under the “A”, a number from 31-40 under the “R”, and a number from 41-50 under the “T”. Make a different card for each player. Put the numbers 1-50 on slips of paper in a hat (include their letter as well…H5, E16, T43, etc). Each player gets a game card and a pile of conversation hearts to use as markers. The caller chooses a slip of paper from the hat and reads it aloud. If the player has that spot on his/her card, they put a heart over it. The winner is the first person who gets 5 in a row, horizontally, vertically or diagonally.

Do you play any games that would be good for Valentine’s Day fun?  Share your ideas!