Valentine’s Day is traditionally associated with romantic love and desire, and so we can often overlook sharing the sentiment of this day with our kids. Now I don’t mean we should encourage our tweenies to send anonymous heart-shaped cards to all of the school mates they like and we certainly don’t think they should be out kissing on their crush.
Valentine’s Day can mean so much more for parents and kids than making heart-shaped arts and crafts. It’s the perfect opportunity to teach your kids all about love, kindness, friendship and sharing and one of the best things to share with your kids is a good old storybook. I decided to put together a list of some of the best Valentine storybooks to share with your kids to help them spread the love.
The Dinosaurs Valentine’s Day by Jessica Brady
This one is great for boys and girls and follows Logan the dinosaur as he creates handcrafted cards for all of his friends. He uses the cards to tell his friends what he likes best about each one. Dinosaurs Valentine’s Day is a great little book for spreading the love, it gets your kids thinking about the best qualities in each of their friends, and you can do your card crafting activity afterwards.
How Do I Love Thee by Jennifer Adams
This cute little book is a child-friendly re-imagining of Elizabeth Barret Browning’s classic sonnet. What a great way to share some classical literature and poetry with your kids and make them feel special. I love this book; the illustrations are just too cute.
Hugs and Kisses for the Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle
Letting your kids know that it’s okay to be grouchy, without telling them to be grouchy is no easy task. This book by Eric Carle, helps kids understand that everyone deserves love even when they’re grumpy. It encourages kids to spread kindness around to one friend at a time.
Valentine’s Day Jokes for Kids by Chrissy Voeg
Okay, so many of the books on this list appeal to younger kids but what about our pre-teens who are starting to crush but are waaaayyy too uber-cool to ask mum or dad for advice? Don’t worry, we gotcha covered ;). This joke book maybe isn’t bedtime reading, but it’s a fun way to joke about Valentine’s Day with older kids and may even help you to lighten the day up for them. Jokes are a fun way to help kids process difficult emotions and who knows you might even give them a corny pickup line they can use.
Love Monster and the Last Chocolate by Rachel Bright
Oh, no … love monster faces a dilemma. Someone has gone and left a box of chocolates on his doorstep, and now he’s torn between sharing them with his friends and keeping them for himself. This book is great to teach kids the joy of sharing because let’s face it – I’m not going to lead by example on this one and share my chocolates. Luckily, love monster is a better role model than me.
Love From The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Eric has made it onto my list twice but what can I say, I love him. The classic story of the very hungry caterpillar has had a makeover, and in this edition, the caterpillar munches his way through all the ways he can tell his loved ones he loves them. This book is an excellent way to inspire the kids and possibly yourself and shows how little things make all the difference.
This Is Not a Valentine by Carter Higgins
I love this book, it’s not pink and frilly, there are no hearts in sight, and yet it is so unabashedly honest in its portrayal of love. This book celebrates the simple things like collecting rocks and gumball machine treasures. It shows all the ways you show people how much you care for them even when you don’t realise you care so much. I’m sure there’s a message in there for the adults too.
However you choose to celebrate Valentine’s Day with your kiddos, these bedtime books are sure to have them feel super-loved and pay it forward with kindness.
