With the Kids

Valentines Count Down + Free Printable

We’re counting down to Valentine’s Day with these heart shaped love notes! Download this free Valentines Count Down printable with 14 ways you can show love and kindness to everyone around you!Valentine 14 Acts of Love Printable

Valentines seems to come and go so quickly. Once February starts, I’m only thinking of what candy to buy and cards to make for my children’s classmates. I thought it would be fun to do more as a family with these Valentines count down, and turning it into a holiday of service. We’re going to participate in a 14 Acts of Love activity, leading up to Valentines Day!

I’ve asked design ninja, Juliann of PB J&J, to see what she could come up with for a Valentine’s day printable to go along with my 14 Acts of Love. It turned out perfect! Look at these lovely heart designs. There is also a fun black and white version of the printable so you and your kiddos can color them in, making them your own.

Valentines Count Down +Free Printable

For the project to work, having a lovely heart on one side and the “act” on the other, you will need to print out 2 pages double-sided or simply glue the the words on the back. It’s also possible to just print out the hearts and come up with your own “acts of love” to add to the back. I’m sure your kids could help come up with some fun ways to love and serve one another!

You can really display these fun paper hearts any way you’d like, but I thought it would be fun to make them a centerpiece in our home. They are placed right where everyone can see and pick one for each day. We’re doing them as a family. One member of the family picks out a heart and we all do the service for each other. For example: if someone chooses  “write someone a note” then we all will write a note to someone that day. I’m hoping it all works itself out and everyone gets a chance to serve and love one another.

Valentine's Day Countdown Printable

Here’s how we made our display with a jar and colored rice.

Valentine’s Count Down

Supplies:

Valentine's Day Free Printable and Activity

1. Color your rice red, pink, purple, or you can even leave it white. Click here for the how-to on coloring rice. I think I did about 20-25 drops of red food coloring to give it that rich red look. And I actually don’t have any rubbing alcohol in my house at the moment, so I just omitted it and it still came out fine. 

Coloring Rice Red

2. Find a clear vase or jar and make sure it’s dry inside. Pour your rice into the jar. You could layer your colored rice with different colors and it would look so cute!

Coloring Rice Red for Valentines

3. Download and print out your hearts and “acts of love” printable.

4. Cut out your hearts and sayings.

Free Valentine's Day Printable

5. Glue or tape a straw or stick or pencil or pixie stick to each of the 14 hearts, to use as the stick. I glued my saying right around my straws, helping hold them in place.

Gluing Valentine's Day Cards

Heart Printable for Valentine's Day

6. Add a decorative ribbon around the mouth of the jar. I also added the 14 Acts of Love words of the printable to the bottom of the jar to help us remember what this project is all about.

Coloring Rice Red for a Valentine's Day Craft

7. Place each heart stick into the jar full of rice.

Now it’s ready to display and enjoy for the 14 days leading up to Valentines. Choose one for each day starting on February 1st, counting down to Valentine’s Day on February 14th.

Valentine's Day Craft Printable

14 Acts for Love Valentine's Day

Pin this for later…

Countdown to Valentine's Day

Originally posted 1/24/12

31 comments

  1. Idea for act: offer to read to a younger sibling. Offer to put someone else’s dishes in the sink. Offer to rub someone’s back.

  2. Very sweet. Doing this with my 4yo. Unfortunately when I printed it double-sided the text did not print on the back of the hearts. :(

  3. This is just fantastic…thanks for the idea, tutorial and printables. One stop shopping = Love!

  4. I love this Marie! It goes along perfectly with the 100 Acts of Kindness challenge we are doing over on our blog this month. I am pinning this on pinterest and will be sharing it on my kindness challenge round up on Sunday! Thanks for the great idea!

  5. I think this would translate nicely into 14 Acts of Friendship for my classroom. Thank you for the great idea!!

    1. Yes, that’s perfect for a classroom. Some kids may not like the word “love”, so I think “friendship” is a great way to say it!! Have fun with your kids.

  6. What a great idea! it looks pretty and also reminds us to do something kind. I saw a picture of your piano at Christmas time on Pinterest. It inspired me to decorate my piano for V’tines Day. I hope you don’t mind that I posted a picture of your piano (with a link back to your blog) on my blog. Please let me know if it’s a problem, and I’ll remove it. Thanks for the inspiration! laurie

  7. LOVE!!! We do similar activities at Thanksgiving and Christmas. I never thought about doing it for Valentine’s Day! I am so adding this to our family’s Valentine’s traditions.

  8. How cute is this idea??? I absolutely LOVE it and can’t wait to do it with my house full of boys <3 Thank you so much!

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