The month of February is all about heart. We see them dotted on classroom windows and decorating the shelves at our local convenience store. It all sends a very pointed message – Valentine’s Day is fast approaching! For the most part, it’s easy to let Valentine’s Day run its course without incorporating it into our classrooms, but why waste the opportunity? With a little creativity, this rosy holiday can become the perfect framework for some engaging, hands-on STEAM lessons.
While passing out candy and notes is a fun activity for any classroom, Valentine’s Day has more potential than that. Consider this, do your students understand the function of blood in the human body, or how our hearts work to keep us healthy? Would they enjoy learning about great poets who spent decades capturing emotions in creative and moving ways? And what does the rest of the world, what do they think about this sugar-coated holiday? Here are just a few activities you can implement in your classroom to answer these questions while having a little fun in the process:
- Poetry Power: Poems are a powerful way to share emotions and ideas. Introduce your students to the work of great poets like William Shakespeare, Maya Angelou, Walt Whitman, and many more. This will give students an opportunity to explore elements of language like vocabulary, rhythm, imagery, and rhyming. You could even complete the lesson by introducing them to different styles of poetry such as haikus and sonnets. Finally, let them use what they’ve learned to share a positive message with someone they appreciate.
- Love Around the World: Discover how cultures around the world share their love! Just give students or student groups a copy of the Fact Collector, then share the interactive Love Around the World Thinglink. Give them ten minutes to explore the resource. Then, have them rank the facts they’ve collected based on how interesting they are. Share your most fascinating facts, and vote on the one your students think is the most interesting. Then, discuss what students learned or found most surprising!
- Animal Hearts Can’t Be Beat: Humans aren’t the only creatures with hearts. From hummingbirds to blue whales, the animal kingdom is full of fascinating hearts. First, give your students the Animal Hearts Scavenger Hunt. Then, share an interactive Thinglink, and give your students ten minutes to explore. Finally, review their work using the Scavenger Hunt Answer Key.
- Create Your Own Candy: What better way to celebrate Valentine’s Day then by letting students indulge their sweet tooth? Creating your own rock candy is an excellent way to get students practicing math and science while also introducing them to chemical solutions and scientific investigations. If you have extra time, you could even follow up the lesson by teaching students about the effect of sugar on their teeth!
If you found these lessons to be helpful, be sure to check out the updated Blue Apple Timely Topic, Valentine’s Day STEAM. In these four free lessons, students learn all about nutrition, biology, and more, all while wrapped up in a little Valentine’s Day flare! So, take advantage of the month of February and introduce your students to some activities that are memorable, meaningful, and fun. There’s never been a better time to put some heart into STEAM learning.
*Today’s image courtesy of Pallavi Acharya via Wikimedia Commons.