Valentine’s Treasure Dig

This Valentine’s Treasure Dig is great for sensory play! The kids will love using their fine motor skills to find all the treasures that are hidden! 

My little guy N loves simple sensory activities! Rice is a particular favorite. He actually did his first activity with rice when he wasn’t even 6 months old yet!

This time, in preparation for Valentine’s Day, I set up a simple Valentine’s Treasure Dig in a box full of rice for him!

It’s a simple activity that just takes a few moments to set up. But the end result? Hours of fun playing that will have them being creative and excited! 

>> See more Valentine’s Day Activities for Kids

Don’t want to put your own Valentine’s day kit together yourself? Grab one of these ready to go Valentine’s sensory kit that will delight your kids.

This post may contain affiliate links meaning I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post. Read my disclosure policy here.

Valentine’s Treasure Dig

Keep in mind that this fun activity is great for early learners but it can also be used during other times of the year, too. All that it really comes down to is that you just change out the materials that you’re putting into the sensory bin.

I do this for pretty much all holidays and it’s always a huge hit with the kids! Anytime that they can dig around and have some messy play fun, they’re going to be all geared up and ready for it!

Materials for Valentine’s Treasure Dig:

Just gather up the list of simple materials needed for this sensory activity for kids. It’s just as simple as that! 

• Rice.
• Jumbo tweezers.
• Small Valentine’s themed items. We used foam heart stickers, Valentine’s erasers, gold coins, a paper straw, a hearts necklace, pipe cleaners, and more. Anything you have on hand and that you’re comfortable with giving to a toddler under supervision works great!
• Shoebox sized storage bin. {I like to keep the sensory bin smaller for young toddlers, and these shoe boxes are perfect for us.}
• Shower liner (optional).

It was very easy to set up this activity. It didn’t take N long to come over and take a look, either 😉 Once they see this fun activity, they’re going to have a blast digging right in.

To peak his interest, I’d placed some of the items on top of the rice and lightly covered the rest of them. This caused a ton of interest to come over and start playing! It was instant!

He really liked the tweezers! It was the first time I offered them to him, and he spent a lot of time exploring them. It wasn’t easy for him to actually pick up the items, but he kept trying.

I love that this worked his hand muscles and fine motor skills and showed his determination at the same time. It was great to see him try and succeed!

The heart necklace was another favorite! You can even have the kids find fun items that they want to put into the sensory box as well! This will have them being helpers in their own learning activities which is always a lot of fun! 

N took his time picking all of the items out of the rice and inspecting all of them. Most of them weren’t familiar to him yet.

I’d actually given N two sensory bins for this activity to encourage him not to dump the rice on the shower liner he was playing on. It didn’t really work out that way, but N did enjoy transferring items and rice from one box to the other and back 🙂

Sensory play is important for so many things. It helps kids with sensory play, motor skills, and the excitement of learning how to explore and create on their own.

As they get older, fine motor skills prove to be more and more important for keeping them active and engaging. Anytime that we can have an activity in the house that will work their hands and their minds, it’s a good thing to have.

Sensory play is one of those activities that they’ll always want to do as well. This is because it allows them to be independent and have a blast doing so. They can add things to it, dig in and do it, and just have so much fun!

If you’re looking for more sensory activities using rice, check out 10 Simple Sensory Bins with Rice! There are always so many fun ways that you can have the kids digging in and having a blast! You can easily create sensory bins from items that you have at home.

15 Valentine’s Day Toddler Activities includes many other awesome ideas for seasonal sensory play, crafts, and more!

Recommended Valentine’s Day Books

Make certain to check out these great Valentine’s Day books for kids. Working on their reading skills during this time is a great way to tie in another fun learning activity, too. 

Books are such a great learning tool that kids will love to use! These books are cute and adorable and are full of fun pictures and items. Let them look through the pages and then sit and read with them.

Reading is a great bonding idea as well!

V is for ValentineThe Valentine ExpressI Love You, Snugglesaurus! (Made with Love)The Perfect Hug

More Valentine’s Day Activities

If you’re looking for even more Valentine’s Day activities, these are some of our favorites as well. The kids always have a blast with these, too! 

Add these to your list of items and get ready to have several days of fun on hand! The more that you can add to the list, the better! These are great and will have them having so much fun!

Fizzy Heart Science Experiment

This is a fun experiment that they’ll enjoy! Super fun and fizzy, they’ll love it. Just be there to help them along the way!

Valentine’s Day Counting Cards and Puzzles

These counting cards are great for learning how to count. It will give them the chance to be a bit independent in what they do as well.

LEGO Heart Valentine by STEAMsational

Yay for LEGO’s! This is one activity that will challenge them, in a good way! They can easily create and then show it off proudly.