7 Valentine's Day Books and Activities for Little Learners
EEEEEEP! It’s almost Valentine’s Day! Isn’t “Love Day” just such a happy holiday? I love that we get a specific day each year to refocus our hearts and minds on showing love and kindness to those around us. AND, I LOVE getting to teach little ones what love is all about and that it’s not just the mushy, kissy kind, ya know? You say “love” and so many little faces scrunch up in an “ewwww” face. Haha! So, Valentine’s day is the perfect day to teach what love REALLY is and how it can be shown each day in normal life.
So, to help you cultivate all kinds of love and kindness in your classroom, here are my current favorite Valentine’s Day picture books with a few ideas for how to use each one to teach some reading, writing, or phonics skills. I chose a couple of books about kindness too since I feel like celebrating love is celebrating kindness too!
Also…SPOILER ALERT: I’ll give a quick synopsis of what each book is about and the literacy skills I think you could easily teach and practice using each book. So, just so I don’t spoil the ending of the stories for you if you wanted to be surprised, you’ve been fairly warned. Haha! :)
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This one is just the sweetest little book. It goes through the alphabet and names an aspect of kindness or positivity that relates to each letter. The illustrations are simple and soft, but super classic and perfect for young learners.
ABC’s of Kindness is super perfect for practicing inferring because it shows a picture of something that relates to that kind action, but students need to infer what’s actually happening in each picture since the text doesn’t explain it exactly. Perfect for inferring and alphabet practice too! :)
Haha, THIS BOOK. :) I totally love it! This little story is super unique and different from your “normal” Valentine’s Day books. The story is all about how Cat is not a fan of Valentine’s Day and is super cranky about it coming around. But, by the end of the book, his little perspective changes and he makes a loving choice for a new friend.
Again, this book couldn’t be more perfect for practicing inferring! It’s written as the author talking to the cat, but the cat only responds with actions and facial expressions. This cute cat makes a boatload of fun faces and obvious actions that students can use to make inferences about what’s happening next all day long. I totally love this book as a springboard for student writing as well. Your students could make connections, discuss the main idea and details, and even compare and contrast the two characters in the book. I just love love LOVE this book.
3. Bird Hugs
Bird Hugs is the story of Bernard, a bird who isn’t like everyone else. He can’t fly because his wings are so long. He tries everything to be able to fly, even changing himself, but finally gives up until he hears someone crying. He finds the orangutan who’s crying and gives him a big hug with his long wings. The orangutan feels better and soon, ALL the animals line up each morning to get hugs from Bernard. Bernard learns very quickly that he’s not good at flying, but he’s good at hugging, and THAT has made him a bunch of new friends. And it turns out that having a bunch of friends is even better than flying.
This is such a good story for encouraging kids to be who they’re made to be. There are a bunch of feelings to identify with, connections to be made, and great inspiration for writing topics and ideas. Students could write about one thing about themselves that they don’t think it like everyone else, but then find a reason that that thing actually makes them special and unique!
4. Love Is
Love Is is written in poem form and tells the story about a little girl who finds and loves a duckling. Each page tells another part of the story, relating all the challenging and sweet parts of raising an baby animal as a part of what love is. The pictures show the girl and duckling learning hard lessons, trying new things, making memories and messes together, and finally the duckling is grown up. The poem then relates love to being that feeling of missing something, but knowing it’s for the best. In the end, the duck comes back to visit and remembers the little girl, making them both super happy.
This book is great for practicing inferring, making connections, and noticing important parts of poetry, like rhythm, rhyming, and word choice. It would also be a GREAT springboard for creating your own class book about what love is! Students can practice thinking abstractly, describing thoughts and feelings through their writing, and illustrating what their writing means to them.
5. Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch
This is a super well known book for Valentine’s Day, but it’s one of my favorites, so I had to include it! This book is the story of Mr. Hatch, a lonely and routined man who receives an unexpected package on his porch one day. Inside the package is a note that says “Somebody loves you!” He is so overjoyed by this news that his whole world starts to look brighter. He interacts with his neighbors, makes new friends, and steps out of his normal routine enough to enjoy small things that make him and others happy. But, soon after, the postman comes back to Mr. Hatch’s house to tell him that he delivered that package there on accident and that it wasn’t actually intended for Mr. Hatch. Mr. Hatch is really disappointed by this news and soon goes back to his old, lonely self. His new friends and neighbors decide that they can’t let him feel that way, so they throw him a big surprise get-together in his yard and tell him that EVERYBODY loves him! He feels so loved by his friends and they celebrate the day together.
This book is really great for covering a bunch of literacy concepts, like comprehension, cause and effect, main idea and details. BUT, two of my favorite resources to use with this book are HERE and HERE. There are comprehension activities, crafts, interactive notebooks, and writing ideas that are perfect for elementary students!
6. The Sandwich Swap
The Sandwich Swap is the story of two young girls who are best friends. They did everything together, including eating lunch. Each girl brought the same thing for lunch each day and both of them secretly thought the other girl’s sandwich always looked super gross. But one day, they couldn't keep their thoughts to themselves and got in a big argument over whose sandwich was more disgusting. Pretty soon, the whole class had heard the story and started being really rude to everyone else, resulting in a food fight! Both girls felt badly that they had started all this drama and, after a talk with the principal, sat together at lunch again. Only this time, they offered a bite of their sandwiches to the other girl and they both tried and loved the new sandwich. So, they started an event at school where everyone could bring something unique that they ate to share with everyone!
This book is a wonderful example of how a little kindness (or a little rudeness) can go a LONG way! It’s perfect for starting hard conversations about kindness, accepting others, and being a good friend. It would be great to inspire some writing or school community event, is great for practicing sequencing and comprehension, and would be helpful to practice making connections as well.
This book is about a dog named Plum. She loves a LOT of things, but love is her favorite thing. But, one morning, she doesn’t listen to her owner and jumps into a huge pond with another dog. Her owner tells her “BAD GIRL” and she questions if her family will still love her. Plum goes on to make a lot of other mistakes too, like ripping a pillow during tug-of-war, and stealing ice cream too! She feels sad and alone and wonders if her family will still love her, and of course, they tell her they do. And then Plum feels happy again because even when she makes mistakes, her family still loves her…and that’s why love is her favorite thing!
This story is just dang cute. Haha! It’s a great way to encourage little learners to take risks and to remind them that even when they make mistakes, they are still loved. It’s also a really great mentor text when teaching about writing to include dialogue! There are lots examples of people speaking throughout the book and students would have many opportunities to learn about proper conventions for writing this way.
I hope you found a few books that you can use for the next few weeks with your little learners to cultivate and encourage all kinds of love and kindness in your classroom! I’m so thankful for you, friend, and I love sharing this life journey with you. Remember that you’re loved. Happy Valentine’s Day!
Cheering you on and sending all the love!
