February is a busy time full of several holidays and celebrations to work into the short month. Valentine’s Day is such a fun holiday to celebrate with kindergarten students. One of the best things is incorporating themes of kindness, fairness, and friendship into your Valentine’s Day discussions. What better way to do this than with read alouds? These Valentine’s books for kindergarten will be a must on your read aloud list this month.
Valentine’s Books for Kindergarten
When it comes to choosing Valentine’s read-aloud books for kindergarten, there are so many themes you can tie in. These books can help teach important social skills, empathy, kindness, and love. Use these Valentine’s books to start conversations and help teach these important life skills to your students.
When choosing Valentine’s read-alouds for kindergarten, I like to choose a mix of fun and silly stories, stories about friendship, and slightly deeper stories about love and our unique differences. Offering a variety of literature is a great way to expose your students to different writing styles and storylines. I’m excited to share my Valentine-themed list of the best books for kindergarten.
The Biggest Valentine Ever
Your kindergarteners will love this silly story featuring their favorite characters, Clayton and Desmond. These 2 mice always seem to compete when it comes to making the biggest, and best things. In this story, they learn that working together to make the biggest, best Valentine for their teacher is the best choice after all.
Click, Clack, Moo, I Love You!
Duck is back for another fun adventure in this festive story. Duck prepares a giant Valentine’s Day party, complete with streamers, balloons, sparkling lights, hearts galore, and special valentines for all of her friends. When the not-so-welcome fox hears the commotion, he runs to join the party. Just when Duck thinks the party is ruined and all of her friends are scared away, she realizes the fox may be just the friend they all needed to complete the party.
A Crankenstein Valentine
This hilarious story follows an ordinary kid who does NOT like Valentine’s Day. The cards, flowers, and hearts drive him crazy. Crazy enough to turn into a monster on Valentine’s Day. As the day goes on, he finds love in his heart, turning his attitude around to have a sweet day. This story is a great lesson on positivity and finding the good in every situation.
Happy Valentine’s Day Mouse!
Your students will love this installment of the “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” series. Mouse goes on an adventure to make valentine’s cards for each of his friends that celebrate what he loves most about them. This is a sweet story that will help students understand how everyone has unique talents that make them special and that they should all be celebrated.
Hugs & Kisses for the Grouchy Ladybug
Eric Carle brings this story to life with his popular, bright illustrations. This story follows a grouchy ladybug whose day is turned around by hugs, kisses, and love from his friends. This story teaches students that everyone deserves love, even if they are grouchy or having a bad day and that being a good friend makes the world a kinder place.
Love From the Crayons
From the author of the book “The Day the Crayons Quit” comes a story that takes students on a journey to learn about all the colors and shades of love. Valentine’s Day isn’t just for the colors red and pink. They’ll soon see how love can be represented in so many different ways.
Love Is
This touching story features amazing illustrations that tell the story of a girl who finds a lost duckling and raises it up on her own. She learns all about the responsibility of caring for someone else. When the duck grows up and goes back to the pond, she misses it and wonders if the duck will remember her. She gets her answer one day when the duck comes back to find her with 6 ducklings of her own. This story offers a deeper storyline about love, caring for others, and responsibility.
Pete the Cat: Valentine’s Day is Cool
The final Valentine’s book for kindergarten is sure to be a kid-favorite. It features a key character, Pete the Cat! Pete the Cat starts off thinking that Valentine’s Day isn’t cool at all. Once he thinks about all of the special friends and family in his life, he turns his attitude around and decides to show them all how much he loves them by making cards for them. This story helps students understand the importance of friendship and showing others how much you care.
I hope these Valentine’s books for kindergarten are a hit in your classroom this year. I can’t wait to hear which ones are your students’ favorites and how these books spark conversations about friendship, kindness, love, and celebrating everyone’s uniqueness.
Check out some Valentine’s Day art projects I love doing with my class to accompany these books as well!
Are you loving these suggestions for read-aloud books for kindergarten? You can find more of my roundups of the best books for kindergarten below!
- Chapter Books for Kindergarten
- Back to School Read Alouds
- Apple Books and Videos
- Pumpkin Books and Videos
- Social Studies Books
- Science Books
Are you in need of some Valentine-themed centers or worksheets? Check out the resources below:
