PENN TWP — The tradition of making Valentine's Day boxes to hold cards and notes shared between classmates is continuing at Penn Christian Academy.

Some kindergartners and students from second, fourth and fifth grades shared their style sense in the lead up to this heart-y holiday.

Several students in Amy Woodside's kindergarten classroom presented their boxes recently, including Jesslyn Thompson, who said hers is a classic Valentine's box affixed with foam hearts and stickers she likes. Annabelle Hahn's Valentine box has a Minnie Mouse theme complete with ears and a polka dot bow.

The princess-themed box by Addy Hoffer sports a tiny tiara, wings, sparkly skirt, necklace and a star shape for a wand. Addy said, “I love princesses. They are pretty.”

Liam Johnson's box features an “angry birds” motif and makes noise with a crank handle on the side. The cards can fit in the mouth of the bird named Chuck.

Logan Wise chose the Minecraft game as the theme for his treasure chest-shaped box. He said he used markers, cardboard and a small piece of wood (for the latch) to complete his box.

In Julie Grove's classroom, many of the second graders are primed to exchange Valentine greetings, their receptacles ready and waiting.

Natalia Mealy went all out affixing images of things she really likes on her Valentine box, as in cats, galaxies and doughnuts.

Grace Machak made hers a mermaid box “because they can breathe underwater and I love their tails. It took super long to color all those scales,” she said.

Braylin Steele said it took her about an hour to make her unicorn box with stickers, markers and lots of ribbon. Her twin, Lexi Steele, created a fox box. She said foxes are her third favorite animals, after puppies and dolphins.

The pink box made by Kaylee Collins features perfectly symmetrical hearts made the tried and true way: fold a piece of paper in half and cut out half a heart shape with the fold on one edge, then unfold the paper and voila!

Connor McGee said he made his Valentine box to resemble a dune buggy “because my father did that when he was younger. He's kind of my role model … he did that for his Valentine box before.”

Matthew Bauer is very excited about his Valentine box, for which he used a paper bucket as the base, not a box, “because it's supposed to be round like a Pokemon ball and then it's decorated with stickers,” he said.

Alissa Johanson said she crafted her winged box herself with a few instructions from her mom. Alissa finds many parts interesting, including the arms holding the medium-sized heart.

“Let's dance” is the theme of Jocelyn Ward's Valentine box, which resembles tiny theater with little characters. “My mom and dad said I needed something specific,” Jocelyn said. The six tiny figures are not glued down, so they can move across the stage.

Leah Clyde's fifth graders made Valentine boxes such as Kyleigh Spink's giraffe, Grace Steele's hearts and sparkles box, and Andrew Bocci's yellow minion from the “Despicable Me” movie and its sequels.

The “Swim Your Heart Out” box created by Jackson Morgus, who swims on a couple teams himself, looks like “a swimming pool that you use for a swim meet,” he said. The diving blocks are made from the cubes from the game Don't Break the Ice with numbers affixed for the lanes.

Sam Elston fashioned a box to look like an old fashioned TV, with antenna and dials. And Evan Palmiero's box “Race for Valentine's Day” looks like a small truck with big wheels. Evan said the mini tires came from the ear wear he got when he attended his first monster truck event.

Among the boxes fourth graders in Liz Campbell's class created for Valentine's Day, many have sports-centered themes, lots of colored paper and some props. They wrote out the following descriptions of their boxes:

“My Valentine's box is a hockey puck because I like playing hockey and watching the Penguins.”

— Eli Hahn

“I picked a trophy because I love to play sports like basketball, football, soccer, and basketball is my favorite. That's why there's a basketball on it.”

— Sheldon Walters

“I picked my box because I like basketball. Also because I love playing basketball.”

— Emily Hoffer

“I made a Valentine's day cat box with 3 legs because I have a cat with 3 legs. He is black and his name is Shadow. I used white paper, then forgot to color it black. I love animals and cats.”

— Faith Stuebgen

“I chose a TIE-fighter because Star Wars is my favorite movie.”

— James Shibata

“I chose to do my box like I did because it was simple and I didn't have to buy the tape and sharpies.”

— Jason Wick

“The reason I decorated my box like a birthday cake is because my 10th birthday is coming up 2 days before Valentine's Day.”

— Grace Crawford

“I chose my box because I love the Pittsburgh Penguins.”

— Caleb Vorel

“I chose a bunny because bunnies are one of my favorite animals and bunnies are pretty and they are also part of the holiday.”

— Morgan Headley

“I chose the Bible because I believe every day is holy. I also think that everyone forgets this verse: For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that anyone that believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16”

— Johnny Ward

“I made my Valentine box out of bowls because I had no other material.”

— Mylee Toner

“I did an owl mailbox because I like the Harry Potter books and movies. In them, owls deliver the mail. Harry Potter has a white owl named Hedwig.”

— Meghan McGee

“I picked the basketball court because I had a basketball victory and it's my way of expressing my happiness. I care for basketball a lot. My whole class likes basketball. It's fun versing them at games.”

— Sarah Myers

“I made an X-wing fighter because I love Star Wars. It is cool and funny. Star Wars is my favorite movie.”

— D.J. Wippenbeck

“I chose wrestling because I like to wrestle, and watch it too.”

— Zac Frederick