Here’s how to celebrate a few National Days in February with your kids with this simple and easy guide!
One of the best things about celebrating National Days with your kids is that it doesn’t take a lot of effort.
Here at Jen Bradley|MOMs, we’re all about giving you SIMPLE solutions and ideas to make special memories with your kids.
We want to help you give your kids a reason to look back on their childhood and say, “My mom was always finding something special to celebrate.”
What an awesome lesson that will be for your kids to realize that because their mom was able to find something to celebrate about life, they can too!
That’s why National Days are so perfect: they give us an outline of small things to celebrate!
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What are National Days?
While the United States only recognizes 10 official national holidays and 44 national observances per year, National Days have been growing in prominence since 1984 when President Ronald Reagan created National Ice Cream Day (which was supposed to be a one-time thing!).
Today, thanks to websites such as National Day Calendar, self-proclaimed National Days have become very popular and widespread. Facebook and Instagram both promote National Days, so that is saying something!
Every day of the year has at least one unofficial National Day associated with it, and most days have three or four different National Days to celebrate.
We’ve picked the most kid-friendly National Days for all twenty-eight days in February right here for you!
February National Days for Kids Free Printable
To easily choose which National Days in February you want to celebrate with your kids, be sure to grab a copy of the FREE February National Days for Kids calendar below!
(And YES! You’ll get all of the National Fun Days calendars included in one easy download!)
Believe us, there’s definitely a lot more to celebrate in February than just Valentine’s Day and President’s Day.
Keep on reading to see which National Days in February are best for celebrating with your kids!
National Days in February to Celebrate with Kids
February 1 – National Dark Chocolate Day
Yum. Chocolate.
Celebrate this great day by picking up a few interesting bars of dark chocolate from your local grocery store. Then have a taste-testing with your kids!
Or you could get fancy with this awesome dark chocolate Passport Box from Trader Joe’s! You get 8 half-bars from different countries around the world.
February 2 – Groundhog Day
Did the Groundhog see his shadow? Will it be an early spring? Spend a few minutes together checking out the website for the Punxatawney Groundhog Club to get all the updates and info!
If you have some extra time, check out the hilarious 1993 movie, Groundhog Day, with Bill Murray! It’s rated PG, but we recommend it for kids who are 8 and up.
February 3 – Optimist Day
Regardless of whether or not the Punxatawney Phil predicted six more weeks of winter yesterday, this is still a great day to practice being an optimist.
Put some sticky notes with happy messages on their bathroom mirror, inside their lunchbox, or on their bedroom wall!
February 4 – Thank a Mail Carrier Day
Mail carriers do an amazing job while braving all types of weather throughout the year, so it’s a great idea to let them know they are appreciated!
Help your kids leave a little thank you note or color a picture for your mail carrier in your mailbox today!
February 5 – World Nutella Day
There will definitely be some kids out there who can get behind World Nutella Day.
Of course, you could celebrate with some Nutella and bananas on toast, or you could check out this awesome collection of thirty easy Nutella recipes and whip up a new creation with your kids.
February 6 – National Frozen Yogurt Day
The best way to celebrate National Frozen Yogurt Day is to take your kids on a fun trip to the local frozen yogurt place!
You may surprise them by picking them up from school and taking them straight there.
February 7 – National Periodic Table Day/ National Send a Card to a Friend Day
Depending on your kids’ preferences, there are two different days you might want to consider celebrating a National Day for February 7th.
If you have kids who love all things science, they’ll probably love to celebrate National Periodic Table Day.
Our kids have spent lots of time with this great pull-apart Periodic Table that’s available on Amazon!
And if you have kids who love to be artistic, they might want to celebrate National Send a Card to a Friend Day!
Snag this cute card-making kit, set out some glue sticks, and let your kids go to town! Envelopes are included, so how convenient is that?
February 8 – National Kite Flying Day
Although kite flying may seem like more of a spring or summer activity, there is usually plenty of wind for kite flying in the winter, too! Bundle up with your kids, grab a kite or two, and head to an open field for some fun kite flying today.
February 9 – National Pizza Day
Celebrating National Pizza Day is a no-brainer: Eat pizza. With your kids.
Perfect! You did it!
February 10 – National Umbrella Day
For National Umbrella Day, consider gifting your kids one of these adorable, unique, and super-functional kids’ umbrellas!
They’ve got a reverse opening design so that when you fold the umbrella closed, kids don’t get wet. Plus, the handle is a c-shape, so it can rest on your child’s wrist instead of being held in their hand. Genius!
February 11 – National Inventor’s Day
On National Inventor’s Day, you could take the opportunity to read about some well-known inventors in history with your kids.
We absolutely love the Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Inventors & Scientists picture book series by Mike Venezia.
Some of the inventors who are included are:
(The titles listed above are all available on Amazon. But if you’re looking for more well-known inventors, such as Alexander Graham Bell, Henry Ford, the Wright Brothers, and Steve Jobs, check to see if your local library has a copy from the Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Inventors & Scientists series! They’re worth it!)
Learning about these inventors may inspire your kids to develop their own growth mindset or even to invent something of their own!
February 12 – Global Movie Day
Global Movie Day occurs in February to correspond with Oscar season (which your kids probably care zero about!).
But Global Movie Day is a great reason to cuddle up on the couch with your kids, a soft blanket, and some popcorn, and watch a movie together!
February 13 – Galentine’s Day
To celebrate Galentine’s with your kids, think of a single woman your family knows who might appreciate a small gesture right before Valentine’s Day! This might be a babysitter or nanny, a teacher, a coach, or a family friend.
Drop off a small bouquet of flowers, a sweet treat, or a card from your kids telling them why she’s special to your family!
February 14 – Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day is typically celebrated as a romantic holiday for adults, but there are lots of simple things you can do to make Valentine’s Day special for your kids!
Check out this article here to see all of our best ideas for celebrating Valentine’s Day with your kids:
21 Easy Valentine’s Day Ideas to Make Your Kids Feel Special
February 15 – National Gumdrop Day
To celebrate National Gumdrop Day, pack a few gumdrops in your kids’ lunch with a note that says something like, “Thanks for being my sweet little gumdrop! Happy National Gumdrop Day!”
February 16 – National Pancake Day
Have pancakes on National Pancake Day! Whether they’re for breakfast or dinner, it doesn’t matter!
February 17 – National Random Acts of Kindness Day
To celebrate National Random Acts of Kindness Day, brainstorm about something you could do to serve others.
You could return someone’s shopping cart at the store, pick up litter in your neighborhood, or take a treat or a note to an elderly person.
For more wintertime service ideas, check out our Winter Bucket List for Kids and see the section on winter service opportunities!
February 18 – National Battery Day
Okay, Battery Day may not sound like the most exciting National Day in February, but it’s still a good opportunity to do something useful with your kids.
Spend some time checking the batteries in your smoke alarms together. Then see if your kids have any toys that need new batteries and replace them!
February 19 – National Chocolate Mint Day
For National Chocolate Mint Day, you could have anything that combines chocolate and mint.
Whether you go with the traditional after-dinner chocolate mints, eat some York Peppermint Patties, bake chocolate mint brownies, or eat mint chocolate chip ice cream is totally up to you!
February 20 – National Love Your Pet/National Comfy Day
If you have a family pet, today is the day to show it some serious love and attention! Take it for a special walk or go to the park. Give it a special treat or a new toy.
If you don’t have a family pet, you could celebrate National Comfy Day instead. It’s totally up to you to decide whether this means wearing lounging clothes or staying in your pajamas all day!
February 21 – President’s Day
It’s likely your kids will have President’s Day off of school, as this is one of the big ten official holidays recognized by the U.S. government.
It’s also likely that your kids have been making cute construction paper faces of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln at school recently.
To celebrate this day together, visit a local museum, fly the American flag at your home, or visit a National Park.
You could also read a few great books about George Washington or Abraham Lincoln at your local library.
February 22 – National Cook a Sweet Potato Day
We find National Cook a Sweet Potato Day to be very interesting. It’s not just National Sweet Potato Day, but Cook a Sweet Potato Day. Not that we know anyone who would eat an uncooked sweet potato.
Anyway, add some cooked sweet potatoes to your dinner meal this evening and celebrate National Cook a Sweet Potato Day!
February 23 – National Banana Bread Day
Use some super-ripe bananas to whip up a loaf of banana bread with your kids!
There are thousands of different banana bread recipes out there, but we especially like this one from Sally’s Baking Addiction.
February 24 – National Chili Day/National Toast Day
Well, we might as well just write your weekly menu for you with all of these food-related National Days in a row!
For February 24th, there are two easy options for celebrating a National Day: National Chili Day or National Toast Day.
Both are pretty straightforward, but as with so many things, making chili or toast seems way more fun all of a sudden when they’re a National Day!
(To check out our very favorite Paleo chili recipe, go right here – it’s beanless!)
February 25 – National Chocolate-Covered Nut Day
Okay, one more food-related day and it’s a good one: National Chocolate Covered Nut Day! Whether you choose chocolate-covered peanuts, almonds, or cashews is totally up to you.
(If your child has a nut-free policy in place at their school, be sure to keep these at home!)
February 26 – National Tell a Fairy Tale Day
National Tell a Fairy Tale Day is one of the best National Days in February to celebrate with your kids!
Pull a book of fairy tales off of your kids’ shelf or snag this inexpensive hardcover Fairy Tale book from Amazon! It has eight of the most classic fairy tales of all time: The Gingerbread Man, Cinderella, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Snow White, Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Hansel and Gretel, and The Three Little Pigs.
February 27 – National Polar Bear Day
For National Polar Bear Day, spend some time learning about polar bears with your kids!
Check out the Top 10 Facts about Polar Bears here. (Did you know polar bears have jet-black skin? Yep! They only look white because their translucent fur reflects the white snow.)
Or learn how to draw a polar bear here.
February 28 – National Tooth Fairy Day
Kids love the Tooth Fairy and will probably be happy to hear that she gets to have her own National Day!
To celebrate, have your kids write a short thank-you note or draw a picture for the Tooth Fairy.
Or if you have some extra time, watch the 2010 Tooth Fairy movie with Dwayne Johnson!
(Mom-to-mom warning: the movie starts off on the premise that the Tooth Fairy isn’t real. But by the end of the movie, the characters in the movie believe the exact opposite.)
Why Kids Love National Days
Kids are often pleased with the smallest things, which is why National Days seem to resonate so well with them!
In his beautiful essay, “Small Things Matter,” Kelly G. Wilson, Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Mississippi, wrote:
See if you can remember times, moments, activities, when you knew you were loved.
Did someone read to you? Snuggle with you a minute before bed? Did they let you help cook pancakes and let you stir? These are the landscapes of love. Not big things, rather these patterns of small moments.
While celebrating National Banana Bread Day may seem insignificant to you, it may be just the thing that will create a lifelong memory for your kids.
Final thoughts about February National Days
As with all things here at Jen Bradley|MOMs, we encourage you to keep your National Day celebrations super simple!
Tell yourself now: You DO NOT have to create a Pinterest-worthy event for any of these days! (Just buy some unique bagels on National Bagel Day and call it good!)
Even if you just picked one or two fun days to celebrate each month, that’d be a great opportunity to connect with your kids in ways that you might not otherwise.
If you want any more information about the National Days in this article or want to see what other National Days are happening in February, visit the National Day Calendar right here!
Finally, don’t forget to download and print out your February National Day printable calendar today!
Related articles about Winter Fun activities:
5 Fun and Free Printable Winter Scavenger Hunts for Kids
The Ultimate Winter Bucket List for Kids
Related articles about Family-Friendly National Days:
The Best January National Days to Celebrate with Your Kids
31 Awesome March National Days to Celebrate With Your Kids
The Best April National Days to Celebrate With Your Kids
31 Great National Days in May for Kids
30 Awesome Family-Friendly National Days in June
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Which national days in February are you excited to celebrate with your kids?
