keeping it simple! ♥FAVES Littles love!

Our Grand Lives
7 hours ago
9 min read

Monday, January 26, 2026

VALENTINE'S DAY IS ON THE WAY!

The season of hearts and glitter is certainly upon us!

We see it everywhere we go!

The colors of red and pink, the beautiful bouquets of flowers

and the heart shaped treats and chocolate goodies

are all reminders that Valentine’s Day will soon be here!

It's easy to feel pressured to create “perfect” Pinterest-worthy moments

for those we love, especially our sweet Littles!

Yet, Valentine’s Day doesn’t need to be fancy to feel full of love!

Keeping it simple lets the fun stay front and center

with easy games, quick activities, and fun treats

that feel special without feeling stressful!

We looked back at our past Valentine’s Day posts

and found a collection of ideas that were engaging

but also low on stress while filled with lots of heart!

WIN! WIN!

The Littles in our lives and yours

❤️ our own children, those we teach or care for or our grandkids ❤️

will simply love them!

In today’s post, we’re keeping it simple by sharing 5 of our favorite ideas,

Then, as an added bonus, we’ve got a few extra FAVES

for you to check out!

So, scroll through our post…

you’ll find our no stress, simple and easy ideas for you and your Littles,

making this post a real winner!

We're kicking things off with an easy breakfast treat!

Laura used refrigerator biscuits as the basis for these air fryer treats!!

Little L and I cut a small circle from the center of each biscuit. We used the top of a spice bottle since we didn’t have a biscuit or cookie cutter to do so! Be sure to save the centers... they make yummy donut holes!

I preheated the air fryer for 3-4 minutes at 350 degrees. To prevent sticking, I lightly spray the inside of the air fryer basket with coconut oil (or cooking spray) and then I placed a single layer of donuts and donut holes in the basket. These baked for 3 minutes and then I turned each over and baked them for three additional minutes. You would need to repeat these steps with any additional batches.

When cooled, we frosted our donuts but I also think it would be a delicious option to brush the warm donuts with melted butter and then roll them in a mixture of cinnamon and sugar. Of course, Little L had to add her favorite sprinkles, too!

NOTE: We really loved the donut holes! The size was perfect and they were easy for Littles to eat!

Laurie’s daughter and Little D had fun with this simple Valentine (or anytime) game and all they needed was a package of stickers! It will make everyone involved smile and will fill every heart with joy!

This is the perfect time of year to stock up on heart shaped stickers!

They come in handy throughout the year!

(We got ours at Target!)

Take turns putting stickers on each other (while heart stickers are fun this time of year, you can certainly replay the game with other stickers throughout the year!). Every time you stick a sticker on the person you are playing with, say “I love you!” ❤️

Be sure to take a few photos along the way!

DISTANT GRANDS… Send a care package to your Littles and include a package of stickers as well as a few of the other items described in this post. Then, when you FaceTime, your Little can choose a sticker to put on themself (or their siblings or parents) while you tell them a reason they are loved!

This large movement activity, compliments of Laurie,

will help your own Littles get the winter wiggles out!

Cut out a variety of paper hearts. I made about 12 out of different colored paper. Write different “challenges” on each heart. These can vary depending on the age of your Little(s).

Some examples I wrote for 3 year old (at the time), Little D:

Spread the hearts over the floor and turn on some jazzy music for your Little (and you) to move to. Have your Little(s) skip, run, walk, leap, etc. around the hearts.

Turn the music off and yell “FREEZE!” Each Little stands on the closest heart and does the action written on it. (For older Littles, another option, as outlined above, is to have them name the letter, sound, word, math equation, etc written on each heart.)

Repeat until your Littles are tired!

❤️ Or until they decide that playing with the hearts is just as much fun! ❤️

Valentine’s Day is a great time of the year to teach your Littles this classic and simple game! As you can tell, we created a simple board (each one on a construction paper heart to make things festive) and then used Valentine fruit chews to play the game!

You can also use Valentine M & M’s or buttons or any other set of small objects that you can find.

This is a fun project to do with Littles

AND

a special way to decorate their bedrooms with Valentine love!

During a visit last February, Little L and Laura had fun turning sheets of paper towels into beautiful watercolor masterpieces!

THE PROJECT! I filled plastic cups with water and we added food coloring to each. We put a sheet of white paper towel on a tray (it will get wet underneath) and added an eyedropper to each cup of colored water. (You could also use paint brushes, but eye droppers were a fun option!)

When LIttle L was done creating, we’d move her finished artwork to another space to dry (also on a tray, a newspaper or other paper towels. We repeated this process multiple times as well as on other days during my visit! It was a FAVE!

THE SURPRISE! I found a secret way to use these beautiful pieces of art once they had dried! I cut them into a variety of hearts of different sizes. Using a permanent marker, I wrote messages to both my Littles, describing things they were good at or that I loved about them.

The next day, before I headed home from my visit and while the Littles were playing with their parents in another room, I taped these hearts to their closet doors! The Littles found these secret messages after I had said our goodbyes!

The hearts stayed up for several months

and proved to be such a special way to celebrate the holiday!

ANOTHER OPTION! Instead of doing the art project ahead of time, simply cut out hearts from colored construction paper. You can cover your Little’s bedroom or closet door with them. You can do this the night before, while your Little is at school or before he/she arrives at your house for the day! SURPRISE!

NOTE: Do the first two ideas sound overwhelming or will they take too much time to pull together? Simply cut out the hearts (with or without compliments) and toss them all over your Little’s bedroom floor while they are sleeping or at school OR all over your living room floor during a visit!!

If you are a DISTANT GRAND, send a large manilla envelope filled with compliment hearts to your Little, via US Mail! You could even include a roll of tape in your package, if you’d like!

To wrap up this post, we’ve included a few extra ideas,

just for fun!

❣️ Valentine Puzzles! Hide and Seek!

Take some of those extra valentines you have from your Littles’ packs and cut them in half. (You could also pick up a pack at the dollar store OR you could search "valentine" on google and print out a few!) Hide both pieces from the different valentine cards around the house and see how quickly your Littles can collect them all and put them together!

❣️ Valentine Freeze!

This activity is for your up and coming engineers and it’s one that will especially challenge older Littles! We used small plastic cups we already had (about 5 oz each) and then we cut long strips of construction paper, about 1-inch wide. Challenge your Littles to build a standing heart, using only the cups and the strips of paper!

BE CAREFUL! It’s harder than it looks!

As an added challenge, you can make a giant heart by using strips of cardboard and red Solo cups! Good luck!

❣️ Match the Hearts!

Littles loves searching for things so Laura put together this simple activity for Little L and sent her on a hunt for colorful hearts! She did a great job matching colors!

Ahead of time, I cut out six colorful hearts (choose any six colors) and then I hid them around the room. I also used markers of the same colors and drew an outline of each heart on a big piece of paper and taped that to the wall (the dull side of freezer paper works well.) Finally, I put a piece of rolled tape in the middle of each heart on the wall.

Then it was Little L’s turn to go hunting!

When Little L found a colorful heart she brought it to the big piece of paper,

found the matching color and put it on that heart!

What a girl!

Once Little L figured out what to do, she didn’t want to stop!

In fact, once she’d matched all the hearts,

she took them off the big paper, then back on… and off… you get the idea!

If you’d like to see Little L in action, check out this Instagram post!

❣️ Pizza Hearts!

Making pizzas with pizza dough would certainly be a fun option but Laura went with a much simpler version with Little L last year. Instead of using dough for the crust, we used naan. Little L used a heart cookie cutter to create our pizza crusts! (Pita bread would work well, too!)

She spooned on pizza sauce and cheese and topped each pizza heart with a pepperoni.

We baked them in a 350 degree preheated oven until the cheese melted, about 8-10 minutes. EASY PEASY and definitely a FAVE!

Hearts, hugs, and giggles…

Valentine’s Day with Littles is all about the simple moments that matter most!

DON'T YOU AGREE?

Do you have any special ways that you do to keep Valentine’s Day

simple with your Littles?

We’d LOVE to hear from you!

Feel free to comment at the end of this post!

THANK YOU!

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We’ll be back later this week with more ♥️♥️♥️ content to share!

We hope you’ll join us!

Valentine’s Day with Littles doesn’t need glitter explosions,

intricate projects, or a shopping cart full of pricey pink things!

You’ll find your Littles to be just as content with moments that are simple and sweet!

This quote reminds us that the things that matter most are often not big, loud, or complicated. Small moments, simple joys, and quiet acts of love—like a hug, a kind word, or time spent together—can leave the deepest impression on our hearts.

It’s a gentle reminder that meaning isn’t measured by size or scale, but by love, presence, and the way something makes us feel.