As Valentine’s Day approaches, you might be looking build a love for math with some fun and festive math activities to do with your students. If so, you’re in luck! I’ve compiled a list of 5 Valentine’s Day-themed math activities that your 3rd and 4th grade students are sure to love. From Valentine’s messages to Valentine’s games, these activities are both educational and fun. So without further ado, let’s get started!
Valentine’s Day Math Activity #1: Secret Messages
This activity is a great way to review fractions with your students. Start by passing out slips of paper and asking each student to write a secret “love” note to the class (just something kind!). Once everyone has finished writing their notes, collect the papers, cut them into thirds, and thoroughly mix them up. Then, randomly give each student three pieces (or three-thirds) of the notes. Let the students interact and trade pieces as they try to piece all the notes back together with the matching two-thirds. Once they’ve successfully reassembled their notes, they can read them aloud! This activity can be adapted for older or younger students by increasing or decreasing the number of pieces that the notes are cut into. I’m also including a free download of Write and Color Kindness Cards that can be used for this activity.
Activity #2: Valentine’s Day Task and Treat
Here’s another great way to review a variety of math concepts with your students. Start by prepping a set of Valentine’s Day-themed math task cards for whatever concept your students need to review this time of year. You can choose from this wide variety of 3rd and 4th-grade level task cards (everything from basic multiplication facts to adding and subtracting mixed numbers). Place a few cards around the room in various treat stations. Once students have worked the problems at a certain station and verified that their answers are correct, they can collect that treat. Need ideas for inexpensive treats? How about pencils, heart stickers, school-approved candy, skip-an-assignment pass. You get the idea! If you plan ahead you can also have parents donate treats! Check out this blog for even more ways to use task cards.
Valentine’s Day Math Activity #3: 4. Love Match Multiplication Game
This interactive game is great for reinforcing multiplication skills and makes a great station for Valentine’s Day party. For practicing 2-digit multiplication, write two-digit numbers on 2 cards, grab a heart-shaped stress-relief squishy (or any ball, really), and 2 red plastic cups. Hang the two cards next to each other on the wall. Place two red cups on the floor underneath. Write the correct product of those two numbers on one cup and an incorrect number on the other.
During their turn, students will solve the math problem and try to toss the squishy heart into the cup with the correct answer to make a love match! If you are comfortable with your whole class being active at the same time, you can pair students up with these supplies and let them generate the math problems for each other. Doubling the multiplication practice! You can differentiate by doing this with any math concept, but I’m giving you a free multiplication version as my Valentine’s Day gift to you.
Valentine’s Day Math Activity #4: Sweet Friends Survey
This survey is a fun way for students to get to know their classmates better and practice representing data at the same time. They will ask each person they survey 5 questions about their favorite sweets and then tally up the results using tally marks. After they’ve tabulated the results, they can create bar graphs to visualize the data. These would be great to display in the hallway for Valentine’s Day!
Activity #5: Valentine’s Day Glyphs and Boxes
More great activities for reviewing any number of 3rd thru 4th-grade math topics are these fun Valentine’s glyphs that turn into Valentine exchange boxes for the classroom party. This cute activity will have your students practicing a much-needed math concept and creating an adorable Valentine’s Day box craft at the same time. Students will choose an answer to class-building questions such as “Would you rather get candy or a stuffed animal as a Valentine’s gift?” and then solve a math problem. The answer to the math problem will provide students with directions for adding certain types and numbers of decorations to their Valentine exchange box. In the end, they will have more math practice under their belts and a decorated box ready for receiving sweet Valentines!
These five Valentine’s Day-themed math activities are sure to be a hit with your 3rd and 4th-grade students! They are perfect for celebrating the holiday in class and helping your students fall in love with math. And best of all, they’re all aligned with 3rd and 4th-grade math standards so you can feel good about incorporating them into your lesson plans.
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