6 Fun things to do with the Kids this Valentine's Day

This post is for those who will be surrounded by the love and joy of little ones and the kiddos on Valentine's Day weekend. Valentine's Day can be an extra special, fun filled, family time. Children love big and unconditionally and they mostly love special occasions. Valentine's Day is great fun for the kiddos too, with its fun little cards, red and pink gummy candies and chocolates, icing mounded sugar cookies with heart-shaped sprinkles and extra love and hugs they receive and can give out. It's all about the love or family and friends for them. So, who better to spend the V-day weekend with then your little loves.

If you are stumped with things to do with your kids this Valentine's Day here are some great activities to try out.

Heart Garland. For this activity you will need some cardboard, scissors, yarn and pencil. Draw various sized hearts on the cardboard and cut them out with the scissors. Wrap the heart shapes in the yarn and leave long strings to hang them by. Use another piece of yarn, a stick or a string of beads and hang the hearts at various levels. You can also use wire add some beads to it. String the garland somewhere in the house, like a fireplace mantel. This also makes a lovely gift for a family member.

Heart themed Snowflakes. This is one my 6 year old nephew and I did recently. He actually showed me how to do them. You will need various coloured paper and scissors and just like regular snowflakes, fold the paper but cut a heart shape out along the folds. Then make more cuts for decoration. Dress up a window with these Valentine's themed snowflakes, perfect for those in the Northern Hemisphere.

Create Kindness Jars. Get some mason jars and scraps of different coloured paper. Get the kids to write compliments and nice things they like about a family member, siblings or friends. Once the jar is filled or they run out things to write, they can gift them to their brothers and sisters, parents, grandparents, or bffs.

Heart Attack. This idea comes from Dream Home Makeover on Netflix. You need various colours of paper, glitter, glue, markers and scissors for this one. Cut the paper into heart shapes. Write nice, loving messages and compliments on the hearts, decorate them with markers and glitter. Cover someone's door (mom, dad, brother, sister, baby). It doesn't have to be a bedroom, either, it can also be the outside door of a friend or family member's house. Decorate the door and wait for them to find the attack of lovely hearts left for them.

Heart Shaped Rice Crispy Treats. Rice Crispy Squares are a fun quick and easy recipe that kids can participate in. They are also incredibly yummy and easy to decorate. You will need a heart shaped cookie cutter, marshmallows, vanilla extract, butter and rice crispy cereal. You cook them up into rice crispy treats mold them into the heart shaped cookie cutter and them let the kids decorate them any which way. Dip them in chocolate, cover them in red and pink sprinkles, use red food colouring in the marshmallow mix, add chocolate chips. The possibilities are endless and delish.

If you are needing a recipe Eighteen25 has a great recipe for heart shaped chocolate dipped rice crispy treats that look lovely and taste divine.

Make Valentine's Day themed Popcorn Balls. Much like rice crispy treats, popcorn balls are fun and easy to make with the kids and they are extra delicious. They are made the same way as rice crispy treats, except you use air popped popcorn instead of rice crispy cereal. Then, you form them into balls with your hands and a bit of oil. You can decorate them with chocolate drizzle, add chocolate chips into the mix, add red food colouring to them (while the marshmallows are melting of course), add sprinkles to them, anything you like and you can even put them on cake pop or candy apple sticks for an extra fun bonus. Because who doesn't want to eat popcorn on a stick? It's delicious.

I plan on doing a popcorn ball recipe on the House of Gabrielle Blog soon but in the meantime, here is a xmas themed one from My Baking Addiction.

Whatever you plan to do, Valentine's can be an extra special day with the kids. They just love to spend the day with you sharing some love, fun and quality time so really it doesn't matter what you do as long as you do it together. Enjoy Valentine's with your littles and kiddos and soak up the love.

Happy Valentine's Day, all!

Got any fun ideas to do with the kids this Valentine's Day weekend? Share in the comments below.