12 Valentine's Day STEM Activities
Originally Posted February 4, 2020
Updated January 2024
It’s February and Valentine’s Day is fast approaching. Seize the opportunity to turn this candy-filled holiday of hearts into STEM activity love. We’ve compiled some of our favorite Valentine’s Day themed STEM activities for kids that are perfect for the classroom or to do at home!
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Icebreakers
Don’t forget to regularly practice those Stage 1 STEM skills of communication, teamwork, and grit with some icebreaker challenges.
Valentine’s Day Icebreaker activities by Vivify STEM
Paper heart tower - Cut out hearts out of cardstock or buy large paper hearts like these and challenge students to build the tallest tower with them. Group students into partner teams, provide them with 20-25 hearts and scissors but no tape. Give them 3 minutes to discuss a plan with their partners and then 7 minutes to build the tallest tower! Students may cut slits into the hearts to help link them together but don’t give them this hint; they should figure it out on their own!
Candy heart supports- Provide student teams of 2-3 kids with one small box of candy conversation hearts. Give them 10 minutes to use the candy hearts to support a textbook as high as possible above the surface of a table. Calculate how much weight is supported by each candy heart touching the book. What is the psi or kPa that a candy heart can hold?
Science activities with a Valentine’s Day theme by Vivify STEM
Science
Who doesn’t love a good science experiment? Don’t forget your lab safety as you dive into these.
DNA extraction - If you haven’t tried extracting DNA from fruit, now is the time. As you gather strawberries to dip into chocolate, save a few extras for this classic experiment. Get the instructions here! Or watch this creative video. Here are a few facts to discuss as you conduct this experiment.
Strawberries have eight copies of each chromosome inside each cell, unlike humans which have 2 copies, so there is a lot of DNA available to extract.
Strawberry DNA looks similar to human DNA. All cell-based life on Earth has the same structure-- a double-helix shaped molecule that forms into chromosomes within the cells.
Extracted DNA can be used for sequencing, fingerprinting, and cloning.
Valentine’s Day Genes - Did you know that the genes that are coded into our DNA can determine what foods we love (or hate)? Poll your class or family with the free activity located in our free resource library to see if any of your beloved peers are “super-tasters”. See if you may have the gene that makes your extra sensitive to bitter foods. Grab the freebie here! Sign up for your free membership to The STEM Space here!
Valentine’s Day technology activities by Vivify STEM
Technology
Code a message to your Valentine! Use binary, beads, and pipecleaners to create a chain of hearts with a coded message. Grab our free binary reference sheet in The STEM Space library that includes many more activities to do with binary. The Valentine hearts message pictured says “I Love u”.
Robot Valentine Delivery - Speaking of coding, use this holiday opportunity to program a robot to deliver your Valentine’s Day message. If you have a robot, like Dash that can speak customized messages, program it to navigate through a maze then speak the words of affirmation to a classmate! If you have other robots, like our favorite Sphero SPRK, use the engineering design process to first create a mail carrier device that fits over the robot, then program the robot to deliver the physical message with the device. For more ideas on how to use Sphero robots, read our post here.
Call your love on a string phone - Attach two paper cups by poking a hole in each bottom and threading an inelastic string through. Tie a knot to a paperclip on the inside of each cup so that the string does not pull through the cup. Have two people walk away from each other while each holding one cup until the string is taut. These cups can be used to communicate over distances of up to 100 feet! Sound requires a source to vibrate at an audible frequency (generally between 20 Hz and 20 kHz). These vibrations travel as longitudinal waves. Though sound waves can travel through gases like air, solids and liquids transmit sound more effectively due to their greater density. Discuss the technology advancements in communication! Can you improve upon your string phone design by changing the materials or location? Can you pass a message with Morse Code using the string phone?
Engineering activities for Valentine’s Day by Vivify STEM.
Engineering
The engineering design process is a must for engaging challenges that equip your students to become expert problem solvers. Our students LOVE these activities and so will you!
Design a Valentine Box- Do your students pass out Valentine’s? Take the Valentine’s box assignment up a notch by turning into an engineering problem. Give them a value for the average volume of a Valentine. Have them calculate the volume of their box needed to contain the Valentine’s from the whole class. Give them a maximum perimeter and height for their Valentine’s box and have them use the engineering design process to create their box! Need some blank engineering design process sheets to walk them through the process? Grab our free template here in The STEM Space library!
Frog Delivery Challenge- Create origami frogs then use the engineering design process to design a carrier for your frog to deliver a special Valentine’s message (candy heart)! This is so much fun and a great way to introduce the Engineering Design Process. Read more about it in our post here. You can also find this activity in our Teachers Pay Teachers store or on the products page of our website.
Catapult Challenge - hearts flying through the air and cupids arrows hitting the target -- this is what Valentine’s Day dreams are made of and a catapult STEM challenge makes it happen! This STEM challenge involves engineering, geometry, ratios, critical thinking, and teamwork! Using the engineering design process along with math skills, teams of students build two catapult designs from common materials. Each team then tests at three stations: Distance, Accuracy, and Power. Read more about this activity on TPT or in our website store.
Candy Grabber Challenge- What better to do with the mound of Valentine’s Day candy then use it for a STEM project! Kids must design and build a device that uses the power of levers to pick up candy from a distance. Find out how creative your kids can be with this exciting challenge. Find it on TPT and in our website store.
Heart Rate Math by Vivify STEM. Perfect for Valentine’s Day.
Math
Although there are many opportunities for math practice listed above, we must highlight one of our favorite heart-themed activities that focuses on Heart Rate! In this activity, students solve problems based on their own collected data and connect the concepts to cool careers!
Get your kids up and moving with this one! Students learn about heart rate and the importance of this number in sports medicine. They compute their own heart rate after various activities and graph the results. They then calculate their target heart rate and answer critical thinking questions. Most of all, they are having so much fun that they forget they are doing math! Find it in our TpT and website stores.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Valentine’s Day STEM activities for kids by Vivify STEM.
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