If you are a special educator looking for Valentines Day activities, you have come to the right place! I am a strong believer that all ages in special education classrooms should celebrate holidays, but that the activities should still focus on their goals. So in this post I’m sharing some different Valentine’s Day activities that range in age from preschool to secondary. I’ve got some language resources, circle time, and life skills tools for you, plus there is a free download at the end for working on vocabulary!
Valentine’s Day Activities: Adapted Interactive Books
These 2 sets of interactive books are great for working on vocabulary. They also offer opportunities for students who are using speech generating devices or switches to participate meaningfully in reading.
Both sets of books have the same text and focus on Valentine’s Day activities like mailing a letter, making a meal, painting a picture. They differ in that one is illustrated with clip art and the other has photos. The photo book includes models of all ages.
These particular books focus on verbs related to Valentine’s Day like mailing a letter, painting a picture and cutting out Valentines. Unlike my other seasonal interactive books, this set includes 3 versions of each book.
- One has pictures to match picture to picture;
- One has a blank space where the students find the picture to match when the word is read;
- And one has a blank where students verbally or with AAC say the word based on the picture.
This format makes them great for differentiating for different student needs. They also work well for instruction, particularly ABA programs since they address:
Want to Know More About Valentine’s Interactive Books?
Read more details about the Valentine’s in this post about what is included.
You can also find them in my TPT Store. The clipart version is HERE and the photograph version is HERE.
Valentines Day Activities for Life Skills
Next up are these Life Skills Activities designed around a Valentine’s Day Theme. They are designed for older students and focus on money and grocery store / food category sorting.
They are available in 2 versions. One version just has the worksheets for a quick print-and-go activity with no prep. The other includes the same worksheets and file folder activities to create and use each year. So if your students are a bit more hands-on, the file folder tools might be helpful.
Life Skills Worksheets for Valentine’s Day
The worksheets include a variety of multiple choice and cut and paste activities with multiple versions for easy differentiation.
- 7 black-and-white cut-and-paste worksheets with 5 focusing on food sorting and 2 on identifying weather
- 5 worksheets for making buying decisions with set amounts of money
- 5 multiple choice worksheets matching coins to amounts (in black-and-white and color versions) PLUS 5 identical worksheets with write-in answers instead of multiple choice for differentiation
Life Skills Worksheets and File Folders
The file folders and worksheets version includes all of the above, plus file folders focused on time.It includes 4 full color file folder activities for time: whole hour, half hour, quarter hour and assorted times including folder labels.
Learn More About Life Skills Valentines Activities
Find the worksheets on TpT here.
Find the worksheets and file folders on TpT here.
Valentines Day Activities for Circle Time
Next up is a circle time set of activities for Valentine’s Day. hese circle time activities include 3 songs with visual supports and an interactive book about Valentine’s Day. They will help you liven up your circle time while keeping the focus on teaching a variety of skills from communication to literacy.
The visual supports for Valentine’s Day include:
- a video that walk you through how I use them
- Communication / Choice Visuals for choosing which song or story to sing or read next and
- Song and rhyme supports for 4 activities
The songs and rhymes are original and include the following:
*5 Red & White Valentines (song)
- A mailbox picture to mount on a shoebox for students to mail their Valentines.
- 5 Valentine Card Visuals for song
- Story Board of a desk holding Valentines to mail (to hold visuals)
- Words to the song to put on the back of the visuals board
- Visuals for 2 speech generating devices for the repetitive phrases
*How I Can Be Kind (song)
- Visuals for each verse of the song to print
- Story Board for holding visuals
- Words to the song to put on the back of the visuals board
*5 Pretty Valentines (chant)
- Visuals for Valentine cards
- Story board of store shelf for Valentine visuals to sit
- Words to the song to put on the back of the visuals board
*How to Send a Valentine (interactive book)
- Interactive book targeting on 9 vocabulary words
- Long back page for holding visuals
- Additional back page without the matching pictures
Want to learn more about the circle activities? Check out this post that shows everything included!
Grab a Free Valentine Activity File Folder
In keeping with the Valentine’s vocabulary theme, I created this free file folder. No sign up required...just download it here. It’s a file folder of hearts for matching associated items–shoe-sock, pencil-paper, etc. Click on the picture below to download it.
Bonus Free Download
Plus I have a bonus free download for those working on life skills. There is a free worksheet activity in my TpT store that corresponds to the Life Skills activities I talked about above.
