Pinterest and Oriental Trading Valentine's Day Ideas

I feel like I start every post with "Can you BELIEVE it's already (fill in with current date)?!" But for real... how is it almost Valentine's Day?

Disclaimer: This post contains sponsored content, affiliate links, and review products. Regardless, these are 100% my own opinions.





Valentine's Day is easily my favorite holiday of the year for classroom activities. I usually go all out with decorations and special centers and activities. In fact, last year, I did special February centers on rotation all month. February is crazy with Valentine's Day, Groundhog's Day, dental hygiene month, Black History month, President's Day, and sometimes Chinese New Year. That's a lot to cram into the shortest month of the year!

Oriental Trading has a ton of super cute and useful Valentine's Day materials for the classroom and teamed with my Pinterest finds... Valentine's Day is bound to be a blast. Take a look!

Here are some awesome Valentine's Day activities I found on Pinterest that use the materials I found on Oriental Trading's website. If you click the images, they will take you to the original post/site.

One of the things I grabbed from Oriental Trading was a set of Valentine's Day beads. I love using beads in my classroom. Currently I teach 2nd grade and we use lots of beads for number estimation, counting by 3s, 5s, 10s, etc. When I taught Kindergarten, beads were awesome to string on pipe cleaners and to practice fine motor. Here are some things I found on Pinterest to go with my set of Valentine's Day beads. (Remember, if you'd like to see the original post/site, click the image).

WAYS TO USE VALENTINE BEADS:

 

These are HUGE foam hearts. I saw them and originally thought of doing some sort of craft or presentation on them, which of course would be fine. However, Pinterest enlightened me on some other amazing ideas! Check it out!

WAYS TO USE GIANT FOAM HEARTS:

Can't step on the carpet game! LOVE this.

      

These doilies are so cute and I have always felt that doilies make great craft materials, especially for Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, and Christmas. I grabbed a set of the mini's from Oriental Trading and they come in packs of 100! I also decided to grab some colored card stock because the colors are pretty and the price was on point. I thought these would make nice Valentines for family members, but 100 is LOT... so I found some other ideas to use those leftovers.

WAYS TO USE HEART DOILIES:

 

 

I stock up on these every year because there are endless possibilities with them. They are also pretty tasty, so that's always a plus. Here are just a handful of activities for them.

WAYS TO USE CONVERSATION HEART CANDIES:

 

    

Another extremely useful staple for the classroom are straws. How adorable are these Valentine's Day polka dot ones! I especially love the idea of making friendship bracelets for Valentine's Day!

  

  

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST:

It's a classroom quilt!!! I can't express how much I love this idea. The pictures I snagged weren't great, so this is from the website. I also ordered a pack of Valentine's Day ribbon to go with this for students to have more to decorate with.

Still need more? How about some NO-PREP FREEBIES from my TpT store! 

Introducing The Crazy Daisies! Share the Love Giveaway and Blog Hop

You guys! I've been keeping a secret... for MONTHS. It's finally time to reveal the big news! My buddy Jodilyn of Daisy A Day Doodles and I are teaming up to bring you and your students (okay... and OUR students :P ) educational resources featuring Jodilyn's precious artwork. We'll be able to integrate art into our subject areas. And, really, two heads are better than one! We've been cooking up all kinds of great ideas and I can't wait to share them all with you.

But first... let's party!

Just in time for the TpT site-wide sale starting this week (WOOOOOO!), make sure you enter for your chance to win one of TWO $40 TpT gift cards!

Here's how the blog hop works:

1) Read through the post so you can learn about this new collaboration!

2) Read about the freebies and how to snag them.

3) Enter the giveaway.

4) Check out some Valentine's Day resources (some are free!!!).

5) Download your FREEBIE!

6) Click the "hop" button at the bottom to go to the next post and repeat! Each valentine is different so make sure you collect them all!

7) Share with your friends on social media so they can snag their valentines, too!

So, here we are! I'm Amanda, of course, and Jodilyn. The Crazy Daisies is part educational resources, part clip art! We’re putting our heads together to make learning fun for our students and YOURS. I am a 2nd Grade teacher in Florida. I also teache Musical Theater and Dance at a local theater. I'm passionate about reading and am a total dog-lover! In fact, Daisy is the name of my 5 pound chihuahua! I have a 5-month old son, Isaac, and if you've been following me for a while... you'll know that he is a total cutie! Jodilyn Blake @DaisyADayDoodles has been teaching for 8 years on the Indian Reservations of New Mexico. She has taught as a reading specialist, 2nd grade teacher on up to Middle school Language Arts. Her TPT shop has teaching resources along with her artwork. She has been doodling since she was 12 years old for fun. However, her doodles became digital creations in May 2015. She is relatively new to the clip art world, but she loves to share her joy.


By our powers combined, we wish you a Happy Valentine’s Day with free valentines featuring Jodilyn’s art and my witty puns!

To download the freebie, click the image at the bottom of the post and it will open in a new tab! Simply click the download button in the top right hand corner and it will download. Easy peasy! And don't forget to head to everyone else's blogs so you can collect them all! Aren't Jodilyn's doodles just PRECIOUS?! I'm obsessed with the typewriter.

And now for the fun part... THE GIVEAWAY!!!!!!

A special thanks to all of my fellow bloggers who are participating in this awesome event! Be sure to check out their TpT stores and blog hop posts... you might be able to snag a few more freebies and Valentine's Day resources! ;)


a Rafflecopter giveaway


Aw, I just love Valentine's Day. It is one of my favorite classroom celebrations with all the love and kindness just overflowing. I also love how easy it is to incorporate fun and engaging learning activities throughout our day! I have a couple of freebies in my store and a new item (on sale, by the way...), so while you're adding goodies to your cart for the sale, check them out!

Oh wait... looking for that freebie?! Okaaaaaay.... here it is! I LOVE THAT TYPEWRITER! <3 Again, just click the image below and it will direct you to the page to download from.

Thank you so much for stopping by! I hope you are as excited as we are with our new and exciting plans to provide awesome resources for you and your students. Make sure you are following us on Facebook and Instagram for updates on new collaboration projects and more freebies and giveaways.

And now, head over to Jodilyn's blog to snag her freebie! And leave a comment for her on her post. I mean, for real, her artwork is adorable.