Happy Valentine’s Day, Turning Pointe family! This month, our littlest students are studying love as a Fruit of the Spirit, and memorized Matthew 22:37, “love the Lord with all your heart.” As we spend this holiday surrounded by love and candy hearts, check out some suggestions below for additional activities you can do to celebrate God’s love with your dancers!
1. Make a God’s Love Craft
Start by making a cross with whatever you have at home—this can be popsicle sticks, construction paper, cardboard, etc. Then find a heart to stick in the center, like a sticker, a construction paper cutout or even a candy heart. Attach your heart, then draw arrows at the ends of all four points of your cross, pointing outward in each direction to remind your students how high, how long, how deep, and how wide the love of God is. Read Ephesians 3:18 together and talk about it! Then find a place to display your cross to be reminded of God’s love all month long.
2. Make a Heart Wall
Start by making a big pile of paper hearts, then talk about all the ways God loves us (by forgiving our sins, by bringing us into His family, by making us new, etc.), or how you’ve seen God’s love in your life lately. Write each one down on a heart, then stick each one up on a wall to see just how much He loves us. Stuck on what to write? What does the Bible say about love?
3. Dance it Out
Alternate singing the lines of some classic songs like “Jesus Loves Me,” “Jesus Loves the Little Children” or “I’ve Got the Joy Joy Joy Joy Down in my Heart.” Talk about the words and what you’re singing about, then look up the scriptures that inspired each lyric. Make up a dance to go along with each sentiment, show off what you’ve been working on in class and perform your verse and song together with family or friends!
4. Find God’s Love at Snack Time
Start by finding a snack or meal that has a hole in the middle, like a bagel, a donut, Fruit Loops or Cheerios, dried apple rings or pineapple rings. Then find a complimentary food like strawberries, and cut them into heart shapes. Talk about how on our own, there’s something missing! Cover the hole with a heart and talk about how God’s love makes us whole, and when we’re filled with His love, we’re not missing anything! You can even go a step farther (if your snack permits) and discuss how “the Holy Spirit spreads God’s love over us” with cream cheese, icing, peanut butter, etc.
5. Spread the Love
When we really understand God’s love, it overflows through us! But we’re not called to keep all that love for ourselves—we’re called to show God’s love by serving others! Valentine’s Day is a great time to spread love. Take some time this week to make little goodie bags filled with treats, scripture passages, notes of encouragement, etc., and hand them out to neighbors, teachers, bus drivers, cowerkers, strangers… really anyone you see throughout your days! Short on supplies? Start small and fill out a card or heart for your teacher or TA the next time you’re at Turning Pointe. The front desk staff will provide the materials, hang them on your classroom door and even make sure your teachers get all of their love at the end of the month!