Need some FUN Valentine's Day activities for teenagers (that they won't roll their eyes at)? I've got killer ideas for teens at home or teen groups & classes.
Sooo…Valentine’s Day is coming up and you’re wondering what makes a good Valentine’s Day Activity for teens?
You want any Valentine’s Day activity to be inclusive of everyone.
Not only that, but parental approval and/or classroom appropriateness is paramount – and each parent has their own version of what’s “appropriate” when it comes to boyfriends/girlfriends and dating.
Keeping all that in mind, you want to choose activities that:
- Are about friends and people
- Stay away from focusing on couple-love relationships
- Serve as a nice icebreaker to get teens talking to teens outside of their normal “circle”
- Focus on other details of the day, like chocolates and candies
I’ve got some really fun, inclusive, teen-friendly activities below that you can use both with just your own teenager at home, OR, a group of teens (classroom-friendly ideas, too!).
Let’s dive in!
1. Speed Conver-sating Teen Activity
Forget about speed dating – instead, pick out some teen-friendly conversation starters, put them at each place (face down), and set a timer for your teen group.
Every 5 minutes, each teen switches seats to their right and starts up a new conversation (using the prompts) with that teenager.
Repeat until you get around to everyone having spoken with everyone in the group or class. A great way to break the ice and coax teens out of their “usual” social circles!
You can check out my article with over 1,000 free family conversation starters pdf.
2. Grow Your Own Gems
Some people give jewelry to others on Valentine’s Day. In the spirit of that, have your teens make their own gemstones!
You can grow fake rubies, amethysts, emeralds, and more. Hint: click through the gem you’re interested in in that article to find out tips for where to find the ingredients you’ll need.
Hint: these take a surprisingly small amount of time – like overnight – to create.
3. Teen Group Conversation Starter Game
Pre-fill Chinese take-out boxes with a conversation starter or two, and give each to a teen as they enter the room/activity area.
Allow them to take a peek, and swap just one time with someone else (in case they absolutely don't want to answer the question).
Then, take turns having teens read their questions and give an answer.
4. Grandparent’s Love Story Interview
This is a day all about love…and it doesn’t have to focus on teen love!
What a wonderful time to have your teen(s) interview one of their grandparents (or parents/aunt/uncle – whoever they can access) to learn about their love story.
Questions can include:
- How did they meet their spouse all those years ago?
- What obstacles did they have to overcome to be together?
- How were things different “back then” with dating compared to today?
Hint: if you’re in a classroom, you can tie this in with genealogy work!
5. Valentine’s Minute-to-Win-It Games
Set up a few Valentine’s Day-themed, minute-to-win-it games at various stations, and have teens go through them as mini-groups.
A few to get you started:
Here are a bunch more teen-friendly Valentine’s minute-to-win-it games.
6. Research Valentine’s Day-Type Holidays Around the World
Open your teen’s eyes to cultural differences and ideas by having each teen in charge of researching one Valentine’s Day-like holiday from another country.
For example, in Argentina, they celebrate love through a week of sweetness in July. And in Denmark? They exchange cards with pressed white flowers inside to both beaus and friends.
Pssst: wondering what should I get my teen for Valentine’s Day? I’ve got a great article on 27 cheap valentine’s day gift ideas for teenage guys.
7. Host a Candy Tower Competition
Set up three or so stations and break teens up into mini-groups. Have each group go through the three candy towers for a specific amount of time, then move on to the next one.
Candy-building competitions include:
Include a ruler or tape measure and score sheet at each station so that the groups can record their tower’s height before moving on to the next one.
Whichever group can build the tallest one, wins!
8. Bake a Giant Hershey’s Kiss
A fun way to spend some time in the kitchen with your teens is by helping them build and bake a gigantic Hershey’s Kiss.
She’s also got videos for how to make other, giant candy bars!
9. Play Chocolate Pudding Pictionary
Looking for Valentine's Day games for teens? This one is so much fun.
Make chocolate pudding – the instant kind or even the pudding cups will work. Then, print out a stack of free Pictionary cards.
Break teens up into small groups, and have each person take a turn drawing a card, then draw that item on the card with their finger, in a pile of chocolate pudding.
Psst: Here are 20 Valentine’s Day date ideas for teenage couples.
10. Create a Compliments Tree
Print out a list of each student’s or teen’s name in your group and hand this out to everyone. Have them cut each name into a strip.
Create a big tree outline on a bulletin board or poster, and write in compliments.
Task your teen group with finding a place for every single person on that tree – according to something nice they think about them (you can give them a week or so to do this, and put a deadline on it, as well).
Tree compliments can include:
- Is kind
- Writes well
- Creates beautiful art
- Helps others out
- Is fun to be around
- Etc.
11. Create Your Own Candy Bar Challenge
Challenge your teenager(s) to create their own chocolate candy bar!
Get them started by sharing a few of these DIY candy bar recipes for famous ones:
You could pair this with an entrepreneur lesson plan, or even have them read entrepreneur books for teens, to get them thinking about how inventors and small business owners start out.
12. Plan and Run a Heart-A-Thon
Refocus the holiday’s activities around raising money for a charitable cause.
Get teens involved in planning and running a school-wide or community-wide heart-a-thon fundraiser.
They’ll need to decide:
- When to hold it
- What cause to donate the money to
- What activity the participants will have to complete to raise the funds (is it running around an indoor track? Laps in an indoor pool? A dance-a-thon in the gym?)
- Etc.
Pssst: here’s 28 things to do with teenage friends when bored. Also, 11 teen party games you might want to check out, and 26 Christmas activities for teenagers.
13. Send a Valentine’s Card to Soldiers
Help teens focus on being of service to others, and help soldiers keep up their morale by working as a group to create Valentine’s.
You can send cards through Hugs for Soldiers.
14. Set up Two-Player Card Game Stations
Help your teens mix and mingle by setting up 3-5 (or however many you need, according to the number in your group) 2-player card game stations.
Pick out the card games, include a deck of cards, and print out a set of instructions for how to play. Then, sit back and let your teens get to know each other better by working together on something fun.
Which of these Valentine’s Day activities for teenagers are you most excited to try?
Amanda L. Grossman
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