Valentine’s Day Storytime
Valentine’s Day Storytime
Created by: Laura Baas
Age Group: Preschool
Time: 30 minutes (you can add or subtract items as necessary to suit your purposes)
Introduction: It’s lovely to see you all here today on this day that’s all about love. I hope you’ll love the stories and songs that are a part of today’s storytime.
Books:
1. Who Wants a Valentine? by Linda Lowery
In this playful rhyming text, a boy does not want a Valentine until a girl arrives and convinces him otherwise.
2. If You’ll Be My Valentine by Cynthia Rylant
In this rhyming tale, a little boy creates and bestows Valentines upon all of the important ones in his life.
3. Waking Beauty by Leah Wilcox and Lydia Monks
Amusingly, Prince Charming tries to come up with other options for waking Sleeping Beauty–anything other than a kiss (with 100 years of morning breath he figures it could be the kiss of death).
4. Falling for Rapunzel by Leah Wilcox and Lydia Monks
In a story told via rhyming couplets, Rapunzel repeatedly misunderstands her rescuer prince much to his ongoing exasperation. Fortuitously, Rapunzel’s atrocious hearing serves as the impetus through which the prince eventually encounters his true love.
Song: Pass the Heart (to the tune of: Row, Row, Row Your Boat) Note: Use a laminated heart for this and vary the speed each time around, pick it up and begin passing again
Pass, pass, pass the heart
Pass it round and round,
Pass, pass, pass the heart
Now place it on the ground.
OR
Heart Hokey Pokey (hand out paper hearts; could use heart nametags)
You put your heart in.
You put your heart out.
You put your heart in,
And you shake it all about.
You make your heart go jumping,
And you turn yourself around.
That’s what it’s all about!
More Read Aloud Books
1. Love, Ruby Valentine by Laurie B. Friedman and Lynne Woodcock Cravath
Ruby Valentine and her pet cockatoo labor so hard to prepare for Valentine’s Day that when the day arrives, they sleep right through it. Fortunately, Ruby soon realizes that every day is a good day to let others know they are loved.
2. Guess How Much I Love You By Sam McBratney or I Love You Because You’re You by Liza Baker
Both of these stories reassure little ones of parental love. In the first, Little Nutbrown Hare receives multiple reassurances of Big Nutbrown Hare’s unconditional love. In the latter, mother fox maintains her love for her little fox regardless of changing moods and behavior.
Note: another book with a similar message that works well even with younger lapsit audiences is Kiss Kiss by Margaret Wild: baby hippo is in such a hurry to play that he forgets to give his mama a kiss; he runs home to find his “Kiss, kiss” waiting for him.
Song and Conclusion:
Song: A Hug from you (to the tune of: Mary had a little lamb)
It’s nice to get to a hug from you,
Hug from you, Hug from you.
It’s nice to get a hug from you,
So, let’s give one right now.
(Hug a friend)
OR
On Valentine’s Day (to the tune of: Did you ever see a lassie?)
Everybody be a friend,
A friend, A friend.
Everybody be a friend
On Valentine’s Day.
Departing Song (optional): It’s time to go home, It’s time to go, home, Wave good-bye to everyone, It’s time to go home.
Additional Verses: We had a happy day, We’ll see you next time
Conclusion: Thanks for coming in today. I’d love to see you again next week.
Time Fillers/Substitutions:
Jokes and Riddles: Tell some of the Valentine’s Day Jokes for Kids that can be found at numerous sites across the web. For example:
- What did the boy elephant say to the girl elephant on Valentine’s Day? I love you a ton.
- What did the boy pickle say to the girl pickle on Valentine’s Day? You mean a great dill to me.
- What did the boy light bulb say to the girl light bulb on Valentine’s Day? I love you watts and watts
- What did the boy octopus say to the girl octopus on Valentine’s Day? I want to hold your hand, hand, hand, hand, hand, hand, hand, hand!
- Is it better to write a love note on an empty stomach or on a full stomach? It’s better to write it on paper
These really could go on and on for as long as the kids seem to be enjoying it. Good for lots of fun and a few groans!
OR
Craft Options: Search the web for simple Valentine’s Crafts such as those found at DLTK’s Valentine’s Day Crafts for Kids (broken into craft categories such as animal, heart, educational, religious) or those at Activities, Crafts, and Cards at Enchanted Learning (scroll down past the ads and site membership to get to the craft suggestions).
OR
Activities: Many sites offer ideas for Valentine’s Day party activities. Some of these could prove useful in storytime; for instance, check out Kaboose’s Valentine’s Day Party Games for Kids which includes such sections as pen and paper activities, games with food, and word games.
OR
Technology Links: Many sites also offer online interactive Valentine’s Day related activities such as word searches, puzzles, crosswords, or trivia. Show kids some of the offerings at KidsTurnCentral Valentine’s Day Resources such as the heart puzzle and provide a handout with the URLs that they can take with them either to use at a library computer or at home.
Additional Love-Related Books to Display:
Arthur’s Valentine by Marc Brown
Baby Loves by Michael Lawrence
The Ballad of Valentine by Alison Jackson
Be Mine, Be Mine, Sweet Valentine by Sarah Weeks
Weeks book is full of rhyming, lift-the flap, guessing fun.
Be My Valentine, Amelia Bedelia by Herman Parish and Lynn Sweat
The Berenstain Bears Funny Valentine by Stan Berenstain and Jan Berenstain
The Best Thing About Valentines by Eleanor Hudson and Mary Melcher
The Biggest Valentine Ever by Steven Kroll
A Circle is not a Valentine by Zimmerman
The Day it Rained Hearts by Felicia Bond
Froggy’s First Kiss by Jonathan London and Frank Remkiewicz
Happy Valentine’s Day Dolores by Barbara Samuels
Happy Valentine’s Day Little Critter by Mercer Mayer
I Kissed the Baby! By Mary Murphy
I Like You by Sandol Stoddard and Jacqueline Chwast
Its Valentine’s Day by Jack Prelutsky
Junie B. Jones and the Mushy Gushy Valentine by Barbara Park and Denise Brunkus
Lilly’s Chocolate Heart by Kevin Henkes
Max’s Valentine by Rosemary Wells
Nate the Great and the Mushy Valentine by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat and Marc Simont
The Night Before Valentine’s Day by Natasha Wing
Olive You!: And Other Valentine Knock-Knock Jokes You’ll A-Door (Lift-the-Flap Knock-Knock Book) by Katy Hall, Lisa Eisenberg, and Stephen Carpenter
Roses are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink by Diane DeGroat
Saint Valentine by Robert Sabuda
Slugs in Love by Susan Pearson and Kevin O’Malley (includes poems)
Somebody Loves You Mr. Hatch by Eileen Spinelli and Paul Yalowitz
The Story of Valentine’s Day by Nancy Skarmeas
Super-Secret Valentine (Ready Freddy) by Abby Klein
Valentines are For Saying I Love You by Margaret Sutherland and Amy Wummer
The Valentine Bears by Eve Bunting
Valentine’s Day at the Zoo (pop-up book) by Nadine Bernard Westcott
Valentine Mice by Bethany Roberts
Valentine Surprise by Corinne Demas
As an aside, the Librarian’s Internet Index has selected some top-notch sites related to Valentine’s Day, leading to possibly everything you ever wanted to know about Valentine’s Day (and perhaps more than you wanted to know). The graphic used in this post was found at Graphix by SnoGirl.
Note: 02/13/08 I added Mashable’s 25 Great Resources For Valentine’s Day, because they’re grrreat!
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