Valentine’s Day Fine Motor Activities
February is the perfect time to add Valentine’s Day fine motor activities to your preschool classroom!
Kids are naturally excited about hearts, pink and red colors, and everything Valentine-themed. This excitement makes them more motivated to work on important fine motor skills like cutting, hole punching, tearing paper, and using tools like tongs and tweezers.
Let’s take a look at some hands-on Valentine’s Day fine motor activities that your kids will love!
February Fine Motor Activity Ideas
Rotating fine motor tasks throughout February keeps kids interested and engaged. A variety of activities also ensures you’re targeting different skills and supporting different developmental levels.
The next first 6 featured activities are included in the February Fine Motor Set.
Hole Punch & Cut Strips
Valentine-themed hole punch and cut strips are perfect for building hand strength. Kids punch holes in the images (hearts, mailboxes, candy) and then practice snipping them apart.
Your kids will develop hand strength, bilateral coordination, scissor control
Paper Tearing Images
Paper tearing activities feature Valentine’s Day images like hearts, mailboxes, and candy. Kids tear colorful paper into small pieces and glue them onto the images.
Paper tearing activities like this help kids develop hand strength and bilateral coordination.
Simple Cut-and-Paste Pages
These February-themed pages include mailboxes and Valentine’s Day conversation hearts candy jars. Kids cut out pieces and paste them onto the page to complete the picture.
The simple cut and paste activity helps kids work on straight-line practice.
Playdough Counting Mats
Valentine playdough mats combine fine motor work with early math skills. Kids roll playdough to to form objects on their mats.
These mats will help your kids develop hand strength, counting, & one-to-one correspondence
Fold-and-Cut Activities
Kids cut along lines on folded printables, and then open them to reveal Valentine hearts. You can even print a pattern on the back for a fun coloring activity.
In addition to a variety of hearts, the set includes some lips.
Pre-Writing Mazes and Image Matching Sheets
Valentine-themed mazes and matching activities help kids practice pencil grip and control.
Additional Valentine’s Day Activities
Here are some additional fine motor activities that are perfect for the month of February.
Heart Dot Sticker Strips
Use the dot sticker strips to work on pincer grasp and hand-eye coordination. You can also work on math skills like patterning and counting.
Valentine’s Day Dot Sticker Task Cards
These fine motor task cards include cards with both small and large dots. Use them with dot stickers, dot markers, q-tip painting, and more.
Valentine Dot Marker Activity Pages
If your kids love to use dot markers, these Valentine’s Day dot marker activity pages also include line tracing on every page.
Valentine Coloring Pages
Looking for Valentine’s Day name activities? These easy-to-customize name coloring pages include options to use dot stickers, markers, or hole punches.
Heart Hole Cutting Circles
Kids LOVE hole punch activities, and they are great for building hand strength. Use these heart hole punch circles for fun holiday decor or for Valentine’s Day party activities.
String Beads
Beading activities are a fun fine motor activity any time of year. Use red, white, and pink pony beads and pipe cleaners. After beading, help kids shape them into hearts for an easy February craft.
Valentine Cut and Paste Puzzles
These Valentine-themed cut and paste puzzles include lots of options for different levels of cutters, and give you a fun cutting practice activity with a Valentine twist.
Love Bug Fine Motor Craft
This cute cut and paste love bug craft includes cutting practice, tracing, and hole punching options. I love adding big googly eyes to the printable Valentine craft for extra cuteness.
Valentine Hole Punch & Trace Task Cards
These task cards have hole punching to build hand strength, and tracing to build pencil control. Plus, kids can color them with crayons, markers, or colored pencils.
Valentine’s Day Crowns
Here is a fun Valentine’s Day fine motor activity that kids can wear. Kids can color their headbands, trace on the dotted lines, and finish them off with hole punching or dot markers.
Candy-Themed Fine Motor Play
Conversation hearts candy (the kind with messages) are perfect for Valentine fine motor activities. They’re small, colorful, and kids love them!
Heart Sorting with Tongs
Provide conversation hearts and small containers, ice cube tray, or muffin tin. Kids use tongs to sort hearts by color. This builds hand strength and precision.
Color Sorting
They can sort the hearts by color into the containers, or you can turn the fine motor activity into a math activity by sorting them on a printable heart sorting graph.
Ten Frame Counting
Kids can also use tongs to place hearts onto a ten frame, counting as they go. If you don’t want to use food, use foam hearts, heart erasers, or pom-poms instead
Valentine-themed Fine Motor Alphabet Activities
Connect letter learning with Valentine fine motor practice with these engaging activities!
Dot Letter Pages
Using a letter V dot printable, kids can learn that V is for Valentine’s Day. Or….you can use a letter H page to learn that H is for hearts. Kids can:
- Place heart mini-erasers, conversation hearts, or heart vase fillers in the dots. Use tweezers or tongs for an extra challenge.
- Use dot markers to fill in the dots.
- Place heart stickers in the dots.
H is for Heart Craft
Use one of the “H is for heart” alphabet skill-rich craft pages. Kids can tear pieces of red or pink paper and glue them onto the heart to fill it in. They can also trace the letter…and there is even an option with a hole punch border.
Letter Collage Pages
Customize printable letter collage pages to make a fun Valentine’s Day letter craft. Here, we used silk rose petals on an “R is for rose” page, and foam heart stickers on an “H is for heart” page. These collage crafts will help kids learn letter recognition and letter sounds.
How to Use These Activities in Your Classroom
Valentine fine motor activities fit naturally into your daily routine. Here’s how to incorporate them throughout the day:
Rotate Activities Through Centers – Change your fine motor center weekly with new Valentine activities. This keeps things fresh and exciting. Set up 2-3 activities at a time so kids have choices.
Morning Work – Place Valentine fine motor pages or tasks at tables when kids arrive. This provides a calm, focused start to the day and gives you time to check in with families.
Fast Finisher Bins – Keep a basket of Valentine fine motor activities for kids who finish work early. Include hole punch strips, sticker pages, or simple coloring sheets.
Small Group Support – Work with small groups who need extra fine motor practice. Valentine themes make the targeted practice feel fun instead of like “extra work.”
Valentine’s Day Party-Day Stations – Set up Valentine fine motor stations during your party. While one group plays games or has snacks, another group can work on crafts or fine motor activities. This keeps everyone engaged and manages the chaos!
Are You Ready to Add Valentine Fine Motor Activities to Your Classroom?
Valentine’s Day is an ideal time for fine motor activities in your preschool, Pre-K, or kindergarten classroom. These hands-on learning activities support skill development while fitting naturally into your February routine.
Your kids will love practicing fine motor skills with hearts and Valentine themes—and you’ll love how these activities fit easily into your busy February schedule! Click on the image below to pick up these printable Valentine’s Day fine motor activities in my store.
