I really love the idea of kids handing out printable bilingual Valentine’s cards to their classmates. These days, knowing a second language is de rigeuer. (See what I did there?) Lots of our kids are growing up in bilingual households, they have grandparents or aunts or uncles who speak another language, or they live in communities and go to schools where other languages are widely spoken. It’s part of what makes our country so cool. And lucky me, I get to hear dozens of languages every day, thanks to my proximity to the Statue of Liberty.
If your child wants to share their own heritage with their classmates this Valentine’s Day, or just honor another language that they are learning (or want to learn), I think these bilingual Valentine’s printables are such a fun idea.
Also, they’re all free!
Oh, and I’m sorry I couldn’t find one in Italian. From what I can tell, La Festa Degli Innamorati is truly a celebration of romantic love and not something for kids. Which isn’t to say you can’t enjoy a heart-shaped pizza on Valentine’s Day in the US, but you can’t call it Italian.
The more you know.
Bilingual Valentines Printables:
Swahili, Amharic, and 7 other African languages
Leave it to One.org to create a Valentine expressing “love” in 9 different African languages. While there are estimated to be as many as 2000 languages spoken across the continent, this includes some of the most common. If your family hails from Tanzania, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Uganda, Kenya, Somalia, South Africa…this might be a very cool Valentine to hand out.
Bilingual Valentines Printables: French
These French-English printable Valentine’s cards from Lady Deeig are so simple and sweet. Makes me want to spread out a picnic blanket and eat cornichons! She also has a link to the same cards in Spanish, if you like the design. Only then I guess you’ll have to be craving…aicetunas? You can print out both the French and the English versions and glue-stick them together or just hand out both.
Bilingual Valentines Printables: Spanish
I think this bilingual color-your-own Valentine’s card in Spanish and English is so sweet! It comes from our friends at Spanglish Baby, created by Kimberly of Bebe Bilingual on Etsy. Kids can color in the whole thing, or just the hearts or the bear, saving the rest for their friends. And if you don’t want the hassle of cutting out the shape, no worries — it’s great as a standard rectangular Valentine too. (Just note the site is no longer operational, but you can still download this printable.)
Bilingual Valentines Printables: Chinese and Korean
While not free, for just $5.50, you can download this simple Korean Valentine’s Day Print from Chae Chae designs on Etsy, which has lovely calligraphy on it. It easily can become a printable Valentine to hand out to classmates — so divide that $5.50 cost and suddenly it’s just pennies.
Find a series of adorable Printable Chinese-English valentines cards on the lovely site, Spot of Sunshine. With words like hugs, love you, and sweetie, they can even be printed two-sided.
The site Chinese4Kids also offers several Chinese language Valentines that you can print for free.
Bilingual Valentines Printables: ASL
Parents online has a video tutorial for a ASL Valentine’s Cards that you can DIY pretty easily. If your child doesn’t have 29 of these to make (here’s to small pre-k classes!) this could be a really special project. If your child learns one phrase in American Sign Language, it might as well be I Love You.
Top image:Element5 Digital on Unsplash
