Is it just me or is it hard to squeeze Valentine’s Day lessons in?
I find that the timing is difficult. I start a new lesson with students when they return to school after the new year. Typically I do a winter lesson with most of my groups (I have K-5th) and then start weaving with my 3rd graders. Some of my groups don’t finish their winter lessons in time to do a Valentine’s project without the finish falling AFTER Valentine’s. In the grand scheme of things, THIS DOES NOT MATTER. I think we put a lot of pressure on ourselves as teachers that is unnecessary. Our students don’t care about these things nearly as much as we think they do.
That being said, I am really trying to squeeze in some heart-inspired lessons this year. I have so many lessons I want to teach before we get a student-teacher in March. (Yeah, we are getting a student-teacher. And while I am SO excited, I also had some new projects on the curriculum map that I really wanted to try out!). Our student teacher will take over lesson planning for about 6 weeks.
Let’s go through my line-up this year!
All of these lessons available in my Valentine’s Art Bundle 1
Kindergarten: Abstract Heart
This will be my first year trying out this exact lesson. I have done some of the techniques with Kindergarteners in the past but I am looking forward to seeing how it all comes together. This lesson should take about 2 days (40 min classes). I expect the first day to be focused on abstract art and using techniques such as painting more expressively and stamping. Day two will be a focus on drawing, cutting, and adding details with black paint.
This lesson gives students experience with abstract art and different painting techniques. The end result should be a gorgeous, colorful, unique heart artwork that you will have to display!!
First Grade: Bouquet of Hearts
This is a twist on a lesson I usually do with first grade. Same skill: making symmetrical hearts. This is another 2-day project. Day one will be teaching students how to fold and cut hearts in a variety of colors. Day two will be putting the artwork together. The key to this lesson will be to have a good color scheme of colors for the students to choose from for their hearts.
I think as art teachers we downplay skills like making symmetrical hearts by folding the paper in half. But if you really think about what skills are involved, they are important fundamentals. For example, visualizing and then drawing and cutting half of a shape. Even folding paper in half. Projects don’t have to be over-complicated to be great.
(This lesson would also be great for subs with any age group!)
Second Grade: Heart Characters
I have already had several of my second grade classes get through day one of this project. They really took advantage of the time I gave them to explore watercolor techniques. Let’s not downplay this either. Sometimes when our students get really into something, we should follow their lead. I am glad I didn’t have any other expectations for day one because some of them used the entire 30-35 minutes of work time playing around with mixing colors and doing the oil pastel resist.
Day two is a completely different skill- cartooning. I find 2nd and 3rd grade is my favorite age for this activity.
This would be another great one for a sub for any age group! If painting with a sub is too much, they could always make the hearts with colored pencil or crayon.
Third Grade: Means Love
I am so excited to be adding this to my curriculum this year! I think this lesson could evolve from year-to-year, allowing me to experiment with adding different techniques in with the sign for love.
We don’t have any deaf students at our school this year but I have had students in the past who are deaf and it was so important to teach peers several signs so they could communicate with their friend. I want my students to know that art can be both meaningful and made just for the sake of making. This is such a meaningful artwork and I am excited to see where it goes!
Fourth Grade: Disco Heart
Wow. This one is a stunner. It will also be a bit challenging for some of my students. This lesson requires skills in value, mixing paint, drawing, and craftsmanship. Some of my students struggle with having good craftsmanship while painting. This will be great practice for them.
My students were so excited to start this project. We will see if they keep that enthusiasm as the project goes on. I planned this lesson to last 4 days. You could definitely extend it to 5 if you cut it out and made a background.
Fifth Grade: Peter Max Heart
If you have never heard of the artist Peter Max, I highly suggest you do some research! His artwork is very inspirational for kids art projects. The expressive paintings and graphic, colorful images are so fun!
This art project pulls inspiration from his work. It’s a fairly quick lesson, especially for 5th graders. It is only planned as 2 days, although depending on your schedule, may bleed into 3 days.
This colorful artwork is a good opportunity to challenge your students to work more expressively- something I find difficult for this age group. Expressive painting seems to move faster and that is why this ends up being such a short project. If you have a good painting set-up, you could even leave this as a sub plan.
If you like these projects, why reinvent the wheel? Head over to my TPT and get every lesson I featured bundled together. Each complete with a materials list, daily schedule, “I can” statements, and tips!
****All of these lessons available in my Valentine’s Art Bundle 1****
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Happy Valentine’s Day! Love, Mal
Mal's Art Room 
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