Valentine’s Day “Heart Attack” Family Activity

Valentine’s Day family activity is simple and a meaningful way to remind our children what this holiday is really about!

Ever since I first dated my husband I would “Heart Attack” him on Valentine’s Day. I pretty much did this until a few years ago.  I absolutely loved plotting my mission to fill his office, car or desk full of cheese Valentine’s Day decor and stuff.

That was fun to do for my sweetheart but I also want my kids to know Valentine’s day is so much more than a romantic holiday. It’s about serving, smiling, calling and noticing the tired cashier at the grocery store. It’s about pausing in the busyness of your day to see the beauty that you’ve been given. It’s receiving God’s love and letting it overflow to others.

As a mom, I have the joy of planting these seeds of love in the hearts of my little ones. I want them to know love and service start at home by giving it to each other. My prayer is that God would grow those seeds of love for one another.

Valentine’s Day “Heart Attack” Family Activity

How to “Heart Attack”

This is the basic idea:

• We give each other notes of appreciation (our 3yr old used to scribble his love).
• We ponder God’s love for us by reading verses or sharing stories of His love.
• Everyone in the family receives an “Act of Love Coupon” (a gift of service or time) they can redeem later.

You can do it all on the day of V-day or throughout the week.

Valentine’s Day Heart Attack Details

Spread it out the week of Valentine’s Day:

Write about 3 notes for each child telling them what you love or appreciate about them. Then place them on their bedroom doors or bathroom mirrors the week of Valentine’s day. One year we inflated balloons and added the notes to the end of the balloons.

Love is contagious! So for the next few days leading to Valentine’s Day, the whole family is involved in writing notes of appreciation. Choose a member of the family to heart attack, each day it’s someone different. Then everyone in the family takes a few minutes at a meal to write notes of love and appreciation to the chosen person.
You can keep this as simple as you want by writing a sticky note instead of a heart. Do whatever works best for your family!

1 Day Heart Attack:

Give each child 1 heart for each family member and have them write something they appreciate about that person or something encouraging. Then surprise them with all the notes on their bedroom door, pillow on their bed or bathroom mirror.

As my kids have gotten older they have added suspense to it so they hide the notes in the chosen person room or work area. I have found notes on the car dashboard, on my window by my bed so when I opened it I was delightfully surprised. Then they collect them and tape them to their door.

Our boys really like this activity! They like it so much they have collected their hearts from previous years and keep them on their door.

Print out the above FREE Heart Attack printable HERE. Then cut out lots of hearts.

Print out the love coupons HERE.

Print out the Hearts about God’s love HERE or these HERE.

Or you can do this all on Valentine’s day instead of the week leading to Valentine’s day.

What to Write on the Heart

If you’re stuck on what to say here are a few prompts. Each person will write out a note for the family member on the back of the hearts. It can say,
I love you!
You’re _______. (strong, kind, determined, creative, huggable…)
You make me laugh when…
When I see you ________ it makes me happy.
You’re really good at _____________.
God made you ______________.
It makes me so proud to be your mom/sister/brother when you __________________.

The three things I want my children to remember about Valentine’s Day is:

• Love is verb. It’s is both spoken and shown.  It’s not just a feeling but it’s also an action.
• We love because God first loved us!
• Everything you do, do in love.