Maisy Gibson, 8, right, and her Oakland Township Elementary School classmates decorate their Valentine's Day boxes with supplies they bought at school using $3 in play money and their math skills.

OAKLAND TWP — Making Valentine's Day boxes is not just fun and games in Tanya Lewis' classroom; the activity translates into a series of math problems for students.

Her Oakland Township Elementary third graders were each given $3 in play money to use at the “Heart Mart” store to decorate shoe boxes they brought from home.

A myriad of options were displayed, such as colored paper, tissue paper and glitter. Pipe cleaners were 10 cents each, toilet paper rolls were 75 cents apiece, feathers cost a quarter each, and so on.

It's a real-life application that uses adding, subtracting and other arithmetic skills, Lewis said.

Each student filled out a worksheet detailing what they were buying and how much each supply cost.

Many of the students strayed from the traditional Valentine's box, that might use doilies and other frills.

Alexis Summerville, 8, was designing her box to look like a panda.

Conner McTighe, 9, was making his into a cat, but to clarify, he said, it's not going to be like his pet tabby at home.

Saxon Stoner was making a model of his favorite planet: Uranus. “I'm going to tie a bunch of pipe cleaners together to make rings,” said Saxon, 9. “The rings go up and down, not side to side like Saturn.”

He even knew who discovered the planet. His name was William Herschel, Saxon said matter-of-factly.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the classroom, Maisy Gibson covered her shoe box with red tissue paper. She began gluing black pipe cleaners on the top.

“I'm making a grill that's going to have sausages on it,” said Maisy, 8.She used the pipe cleaners to create the grill, bought a couple toilet paper rolls for sausages and used cotton swabs to make tongs. She used $2.50 in play money to get all the supplies.Students also will make Valentine's cards for the Children's Hospital Heart Health Center, and they will learn about the heart, particularly about how it works and how to keep it healthy.Lewis' son was born with a congenital heart defect, so it's an issue that close to her heart, pun intended.Maisy said Valentine's Day makes of her think of her grandfather because he died from a heart attack. Valentine's Day is a time to remember him, and she said she appreciates learning more about how the heart works.

Oakland Township Elementary School teacher Tanya Lewis makes sure the supplies for decorating Valentine's Day boxes are all displayed for her students.