Valentine’s Day is fast approaching and after speaking with author Chris Tamasi about his educational book geared towards children’s intellectual development, we thought it was a great time to provide caregivers with a list of important love stories, songs, movies, and poems to celebrate Valentine’s Day with your children.

Valentine’s Day is a great way to teach growing kids about emotions and how to express emotions like love and affection. Kids get to celebrate Valentine’s Day in school by handing out cards, which helps them practice social skills like sharing, creativity, and the joy of giving. Make the holiday fun with these Valentine’s Day inspired activities!

1. Read the poem, Roses Are Red, Violets are Blue. This is a classic short and simple rhyming poem and an easy expression of affection to say throughout the day to your children. Roses and red are symbols of love, whereas violets and blue are associated with loyalty.  It is a simple and catchy way to express your feelings towards your children and introduce them to a classic Valentine’s Day poem. You can change the last two lines and make it more personalized or funny to keep the kids engaged. You can also encourage them to come up with their own sweet lines too. 
2. Watch Beauty and the Beast and discuss themes of true beauty and sacrifice for love. You can talk about relationships growing and developing over time, especially as you get to know someone better. There are important topics like learning to appreciate people’s qualities and inner beauty to find love in unexpected places. It is a perfect movie to watch at any age!
3. Read Romeo and Juliet for Kids by Lois Burdett. There’s a free version if you sign up for Open Library. This classic love story is one of the most famous of all time and is a good introduction to classic literature by Shakespeare. There is passion, heartbreak, and sacrifice all because of love. The story teaches children a valuable lesson about the nature of love and relationships, especially that they are not always perfect and it can look different for everybody.  
4. Listen to All You Need Is Love by The Beatles. This song teaches us that love is an important thing to have in our lives and it allows people to be happy. The song also encourages people to spread love and kindness and to focus on meaningful relationships as opposed to material possessions. 
5. Listen to the audiobook version of Oh, The Places You’ll Go by Dr. Seuss on Youtube. You can talk to your children about how love provides a foundation to have adventures and overcome challenges in life. Having faith in yourself and loving yourself will help you reach your goals and achieve happiness. This is a nice theme to close the Valentine Day holiday with because it teaches children that they don’t need to rely on others to feel good but can love themselves enough to be complete. 

While your kids are little you might still be figuring out their love languages. Making Valentine’s Day all balloons and chocolate might be a disservice to the full scope for expressing affection for those who are important to you. Spending quality time teaching them through stories and poems brings a nice balance to the holiday.

Christine Russell Janis writes about life as a mom of four kids, living abroad, and travel on her life & style website ashadeofrose.com. You can also follow on social media @a.shade.of.rose.