Print and Color Valentines for Kids

Whether you need a coloring page or several for the art area, or for kids to use when waiting for something else to happen, or you’re looking for semi-homemade valentines, these printable Valentine’s Day coloring pages and valentines are a great thing to have on hand this time of year.

If you’re the type of parent who likes the idea of homemade cards, but not the execution, these are a great way to have kids participate in making the cards without all the mess, time and effort that might go into more handmade greetings.

There are a lot of big collections of Valentine’s coloring pages for kids online, including this great collection from Skip to My Lou. There are heart mandalas, Valentine gnomes, hearts with sentiments you can cut out and color and use as valentines. To print any of them just click on the photo and a full size version will pop up.

Crayola also has some printable valentines, coloring pages and games link bingo. There are also printable tags you can add to crayons if you want to give a colorful valentine.

The Gingerbread House has cute (and food themed!) printable Valentine’s Day bookmarks you can print, color and give, or keep in the library area of the classroom. Taste of the Frontier has another set of printable bookmarks to check out.

Crafts on Sea has a couple of sets of valentine cards to print and color, including these cute ones (or should I say sweet?) and some adorable puppy themed valentines. So cute!

Crazy Little Projects has five cute coloring pages with a Valentine’s twist (the bee mine one is probably my favorite because I love a good pun).

And Kitchen Table Classroom has a collection of eight free printable Valentine’s Day cards, which would be great for kids to print, color and distribute to teachers and friends. They all have pretty simple designs so they should be quick to color even if you need to do a bunch for a whole classroom.

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Printable Valentine's Day Coloring and Activity Pages

The celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is important throughout Mexico and other parts of the world. Her feast day is Dec. 12, and the celebrations honoring her appearance to Juan Diego in 1531 begin a few days before that.

Whether you celebrate yourself or just want to share about the celebration at home or in your classroom, Las Mañanitas: The Beautiful Celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is a good place to start. The book, by Ernesto Joel Vega Rosales and Jeanette Gonzalez Seneviratne, with illustrations by Dana Sanmar, tells the story of a family’s celebration of the feast day in both English and Spanish.

They prepare with a novena, which is nine days of prayers and preparations. The children, Lucia and Pablo, are given special outfits made by their grandmother that look like what Juan Diego might have worn when he saw Our Lady. The book describes the prayers that are made each day, such as a prayer for respect for life, for families and for the indigenous people of the Americas, to name a few.

As told in the book, Juan Diego was a native Mexican born near modern day Mexico City. His given name was Cuaauhtlatoatzin, which means “He who speaks like an eagle.” When he converted to Christianity his name was changed to Juan Diego, and as he walked to church he passed a hill called Tepeyac. One day he heard the birds singing especially beautifully and a voice called him to go to the top of the hill.

There he saw Our Lady of Guadalupe, who asked him to tell the bishop she wanted a chapel built in her name at the foot of the hill. The bishop asked for a sign that Juan Diego really saw her, and later she had him collect flowers that she blessed and take them to the bishop. When Juan Diego dropped the flowers, an image of Our Lady could be seen on his cloak, which is still on display in her basilica to this day.

The feast day is celebrated as mañanitas, which includes singing, indigenous music and dancing, and children presenting flowers to Our Lady. Juan Diego is remembered today as being humble, brave and faithful, and was the first indigenous American made a saint.

The book is colorful and tells the story in a clear way, and it’s fun to have it both in English and Spanish if you teach Spanish or speak Spanish at home or in the classroom. It’s a great way to learn the basics of the celebration and the story of Juan Diego and why he is still remembered today.

About the book: 40 pages, paperback, published 2024 by Loyola Press. Suggested retail price $14.99.

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