5 Valentines Day Activities For Tweens

In my experience with tweens, there is a fantastic combination of energy and innovation, just waiting to be tapped into on any occasion.  When it comes to Valentine's Day, or any holiday or event, you can count on a tween to keep it interesting.  Of course, personality will play a role, and your shy tween won't suddenly burst forth in some crazy display.  However, you will find that if you take the time to get to know a tween, or to concern yourself with that young person's interests, that as a whole, tweens are some of the most fun kids to work with. 

Following are 5 Valentine's Day Activities for tweens, with creative liberties and individuality taken into account.  You may, of course, adapt these activities to any occasion, whether it be Christmas, Fourth of July, or groundhog's day.  Just change the colors, the supplies, the basic premise, and you are ready to go!

While you may consider this to be more of a girl oriented activity, it doesn't have to be. This can be done in any number of ways, but the basic beginnings involve the host of the party, or the parent of the tween, making a cake, many mini cakes, or cupcakes. There are molds for heart shaped cakes, and this is certainly an option. However, it's not a necessity.  The adult in charge of the activity provides the supplies, and some ground rules...the tweens supply the innovation.

If you are going to include boys, have some materials that will lend themselves to boys' interests, including non-valentines' colors.  While girls may go all out with cutesy hearts and flowers, your boys may not be as interested.  That doesn't make this a waste for the boys.  Challenge them to decorate their cakes as a realistic heart.  Or, as any character they have in mind.  If this is a class, or youth group project, have a cake challenge, with prizes or ribbons for the fanciest, the most unusual, the ugliest.  If your activity is focused more on girls, there may be more room for specialized instruction in cake decorating techniques. 

The activity can be tailored to the audience, with consideration made based on the dynamics of the group to participate.

T-Shirt painting, likewise, can be adjusted to suit  your group dynamic. It can be as directed, or free flowing as you wish.  Provide the materials, and whatever suggestions you desire, then let the tween creativity take over.  If you are working with tween girls, there shouldn't be much trouble.  Hearts will abound.  If tween boys are involved, go with a less fluffy theme for the activity. 

Again, your group, or individual dynamics will impact this event.  Make a science lesson or experiment out of creating lollipops, and provide different shapes of lollipop molds, including hearts, but also other figures.  This is a great opportunity to get a home economics lesson in.

For something fun, but a little less involved, try tempering chocolate, or almond bark, melts, and allowing your participants to pipe into chocolate molds, or to create freeform candies on parchment paper. 

Tie such a lesson into mathematics, with students creating a geometric pattern, drawn on one side of parchment paper, and allowing them to pipe their figures onto the other side.  At home, it may just be a fun way to interact with your tweens, doing something fun and tasty, regardless of whether they actually create heart shaped anything. 

This is going to be more suited to the tween girl, and can range from creating ribbon roses, to tissue paper posies, to Sculpey Clay flowers.  For the boy, it might be a paper folding challenge, which could include folding a dollar into various forms, and if possible, flowers, or hearts.  Your individual situation and need will determine what you do.  The tween boy won't be very drawn to hearts and flowers, but may be intrigued by the challenge of paper folding tricks.  The tween girl, you have more leeway to design an activity to suit.

A scavenger hunt is always a fun activity, and can easily be adapted to tweens, whether the mix is only boys, only girls, or both.  If you are looking to fill time at a V Day activity, this is something that can easily be adapted.  It may involve having the participants find as many things as they can of a certain color (red, purple, pink).  Or, it may involve their taking photos of certain people or items.  It can be restricted to a room (living room, classroom, etc.) or a neighborhood.  You can leave clues, and send them on a very directed scavenger hunt, or you can give a list of random items to collect from neighbors (toothpicks, icecream buckets, balloons, etc.).  You pick the theme, and expand.

Setting up activities for tweens, at Valentine's Day, or any other occasion, will depend on your relationship with the tweens, and the purpose of your activity.  Classroom activities for tweens, especially at Valentine's Day, will depend on some common classroom objective, whether fundraising, or studying a certain topic, or team building.  On the other hand, a party at your home will probably mean a more personal relationship between your child and the other tweens, meaning your activity will be designed to accomodate specific interests.  These are springboard ideas, meaning you can take these suggestions, and adapt to meet your particular needs.