Valentine Activities with Kids - Food and Drink

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As a homeschooler, I am always on the lookout to make holidays special without breaking the bank. In fact, we opt for experiences such as a nice dinner out or Chick-fil-A and a movie. Another thing we like to do instead of buying “presents” is some fun activity at home. Try these Valentine Activities with Kids involving food and drink this year. Involve the kids and everyone has fun!

For this Valentine’s Day, I have opted to do a simple candy board, decorating cupcakes and cookies, and some board games and movies at home.

One of the best things about the following activities is that since they involve food, once they are eaten you do not have to worry about saving your children’s projects.

Candy Board or Candy Charcuterie

The First Activity is a Candy Board or Charcuterie: The candy board is a nod to the charcuterie board. The word charcuterie literally means cooked flesh and was used for butcher shops. Today we use it to mean a collection of meats. However, I have seen people using this word to mean a board of something such as candy, cookies, chocolates, cupcakes, vegetables, fruits, etc.

Instead of arranging all the candy in a strategic manner, have your kids help you arrange them. For my first board, I used a ceramic decorative “cutting board.” I personally do not like the look of a board with absolutely no space in between candies or meats and cheeses. This is just a personal preference and there is no right or wrong method for arranging aboard. I also do not like sour candies touching sweet candies or cookies.

Valentine Activities with Kids: Cupcake Decorating

My second activity is cupcake decorating. I added Valentine jimmies to the cake batter to give them a festive look.

Since I have grandchildren who don’t like any icing, and children that just like a little icing, and some who like lots of icing, I allowed everyone to ice their own cupcakes. (Just don’t tell them that I saved myself time and effort).

I placed the icing in two decorating bags with different tips to give a choice of effects. For the youngest kids, we helped them ice their cupcakes. Put out a tray of candies, jimmies, sprinkles, colored sugars, and gummy lips or hearts. Let the kids decorate to their heart’s content.

Everyone had fun with this activity. It was a blast and took me way less time than if I was icing the cupcakes myself. Everyone was happy with the amount of icing on their cupcakes and the decorations!

Cookie Decorating with Kids

Prebake sugar cookies. Make hearts or just round cookies. Make the icing in different colors – red, pink, white, and place the icing in bowls larger in diameter than your cookies. Allow the kids to dunk the cookies in the icing.

Decorate with colored sugar, small candies, or sprinkles.

Chocolate Fondue with Your Kids

We have done fondue for years. I mix Sephora chocolate with a little half & half, and any flavorings that the family might like such as caramel and pecans, or marshmallow fluff and crushed graham crackers.

Dippable foods include Strawberries, bananas, pineapple chunks, orange slices, Oreos, Graham crackers, pound cake pieces, brownie pieces, potato chips, pretzels, frozen cheesecake bites.

Have fondue forks for fruits and marshmallows. If the children are very small, have ramekins with minimal amounts of chocolate and refill as necessary.

Valentine Dipped and Decorated Pretzels

I absolutely love the taste of the sweet chocolate with the salty pretzels. Having your kids help you make the pretzels is fun for everyone. They might not be “Pinterest” worthy, but your kids will remember the fun they had with you. Furthermore, even the littlest children can participate in dipping and decorating pretzels.

Valentine Activities with Candy Hearts

There are a host of fun things to do with candy hearts besides eating them.

Try stacking them and see who can create the highest tower.

Sort them by color or sort them by sayings. Make piles with 2 hearts. Make piles of 3, 4, 5, etc. Depending on the age of the child, you can do math such as 1 + 1 = 2. Or you can do multiplication problems with these candy hearts.

One of my favorite activities is to line them up like Dominos and then knock them over. Jack-Jack loves lining up dominos or candies or anything else he can find and knocking them over.

The best part of playing with candy hearts is eating them when you are done.

Valentine S’More Mix

Young children often say they are making a recipe when they are just mixing things together. The Valentine S’more mix is an easy “recipe” for your kids to make. Place Teddy Grahams, Miniature Marshmallows and Valentine M&M’s in little paper cups. Have the children add the ingredients to a bowl and mix with a spoon.

Additional Valentine Mix-In Ideas

Pretzels, Chex Cereal, Hershey Kisses, Miniature Reese Cups, Miniature Oreos, Peanuts, Peanut M&Ms, Pecans.

MORE VALENTINE ACTIVITIES WITH KIDS: Valentine Popcorn Mix

In a similar fashion, the Valentine Popcorn Mix can be made easily. Have the popcorn in individual bowls, and allow children to add in their favorite items.

Valentine Floats

This is a very flexible idea. You can either use light pop or a red pop such as cherry or strawberry. If you want to use a red pop, I recommend vanilla ice cream. If you use a light pop such as Sprite, 7-Up or Sierra Mist, you can use a pink ice cream such as strawberry.

Make sure to take plenty of photos.