Valentine’s Day Activities for Middle School Language Arts

Spread the love with these Valentine’s Day activities for middle school language arts.

Sometimes I think that my middle school students love holidays even more than elementary-aged kids. 

You give them a chance to dress up or do a themed activity and many of these teenagers will jump at the chance to wear silly clothes, go on an egg hunt, or make pink and red Valentine’s Day chains to hang all over the classroom.

Personally, I’ll take any opportunity to dress up or decorate my classroom, so you better believe that this coming Valentine’s Day I’ll be wearing my heart socks and distributing candy hearts every chance I get!

I think my love of the big, loud, and proud is what makes holiday’s so much fun for my students and me. We are able to be a little silly while also working on some skills. 

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Let’s be honest, one of the greatest parts about being an ELA teacher (second only to getting to go to the library on a regular basis) is that ELA skills can be applied to any content.

That means that when I flip over the calendar and see a holiday coming up, I immediately start looking for some themed activities to make that season a little extra special. If they align with my standards or our classroom goals…even better!

Here are some of my favorites for Valentine’s Day!

Valentine’s Day Escape Rooms for Middle School ELA

Sometimes I forget that my middle school students are just big kids in disguise. In addition to playing on their phones or dancing to the latest TikTok craze, they also really enjoy being challenged and competing even if it is just to see who can solve a pickle-themed Valentine’s Day message the fastest.

And that is exactly why they love these Valentine’s Day Escape Rooms. Each of the Valentine’s Escape Rooms requires students to practice their ELA skills in a unique Valentine’s Day way. They are also fully digital and require no prep, which never hurts!

Whether they are reading a funny story about a cupid getting lost or trying to figure out what one pickle wrote in her Valentine to another pickle, your students will get a lot of joy from these puzzles. I know I do!

We have two different Valentine’s Day Escape Rooms to choose from.

Valentine’s Day Fill-in-the-Blank Story for Middle School ELA

Another fun Valentine’s Day activity for middle school language arts classes is to have students create Valentine-themed fill-in-the-blank stories.

For this activity, pair students up, and have them create a story. Then tell them to take out some of the words, leaving blanks, so they can be replaced by another student.

This activity gets students thinking about parts of speech and the pieces of a good story.

In a Valentine’s twist, students will write a blank into their story for a MYSTERY candy heart message to appear.

Check out the example below.

Before working on our stories, I like to have students work through this Valentine’s Day Parts of Speech Word Sort activity. It is great for reviewing parts of speech and giving students ideas for their stories.

Figurative Language Valentine’s Day Challenge for Middle School

To create your own Figurative Language Valentine’s Day Challenge with your students, separate your students into groups of 2-3. 

Then give them a certain time limit to come up with as many figurative language examples as possible. The only rule, they have to be something you could see on a Valentine.

Before the time is up, students will transfer each message onto a heart-shaped piece of cardstock. The messages will then be displayed in the hallway.

You can add a little extra something something to this challenge by challenging your students to make a Valentine for each of their teachers.

Want a little more competition? Use the chart below to give out points.

• Students earn one point for each type of figurative language they used in their valentines.
• Students earn a half point for each valentine they create.
• Students earn 5 points for creating a rhyming Valentine’s Day poem with at least two examples of figurative language in it. Plus one point for each additional figurative language example.
• Students earn 2 points for each of their valentines that is chosen as a teacher’s favorite when they are voted on by the teachers.
• Students lose a half point for each valentine that is the same as someone else’s in the same class.

Note: If you want to do a little brushing up before digging into this Figurative Language Valentine’s Day Challenge, this Valentine’s Day Figurative Language Color-by-Number is a quick way to review!

There are so many awesome Valentine’s Day activities for middle school language arts, but these are some of my favorites. If you do each of these over the course of the week leading up to Valentine’s Day, your students will get some extra writing practice, some ELA skill review, and an extra special Figurative Language review that they will be sure to remember.

To read a little more about our Valentine’s Day resources, take a peek at this post!

Happy Valentine’s Day!