Valentine's Day Books for Preschoolers: Say I Love You with Books

Parents have so many ways that they show their children how much they love them. They take care of them, laugh at their silly jokes, take them to their favorite places, teach them to have fun, make them special meals, listen to music with them, cuddle with them, give them lots of hugs and kisses, etc.

Why not give them a special gift on Valentine’s Day?

My kids love when my husband and I read books with them, so for them, great little, inexpensive gifts would be books that say “I Love You!”. It’s a gift of love that instills the love of reading. Bonus points!

Hugaboo is one of my favorite books to read to my kids. As you read, you come across a variety of adorably illustrated animals in their habitats. Each page starts with the phrase “If you were a little [animal]…” while on the opposite side, there is a flap to lift. Once you lift the flap (or have the kids lift the flap—they love to do it!) there is a picture of the young animal hugged by a parent animal and the words “…you would get a [adjective] hugaboo!”. For example, if the animal was a dog, it might read: If you were a little puppy, you would get a furry hugaboo!”.

At the end of the book, there is a bear with two arm flaps going across the pages looking at the reader. As you lift the first arm, it reads, “How about you?”, and as you lift the second flap it reads “Here’s a hugaboo for you!”.

This is another one of my favorite books. Inside of How Do Dinosaurs Say I Love You you will find awesome illustrations of dinosaurs that are representative of active, trouble making toddlers and their human parents.

As the book unfolds, the dinosaurs engage in a variety of behaviors—not listening, whining, hitting, running away, etc.—that toddlers do on a daily basis. After mentioning a few of these things, the parents are sure to mention the good that the dinosaur does—cleaning up, holding hands in the store, giving hugs—and tell the dinosaurs how much they love them.

As an added bonus, this book offers a teaching opportunity. Each of the dinosaurs in this book (and others in the series) are labeled with their actual scientific name. You can easily look up these dinosaurs online and teach your kids about them.

There’s a neovenator, a tapejara, an ouranosaurus, a chasmosaurus and a few more. If your child likes dinosaurs like mine does, How Do Dinosaurs Say I Love You is a great book to buy!

[Other books in the series include: How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight, How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food, How Do Dinosaurs Get Well Soon and more!]

Who could resist this book? My copy, a giant version of the book Guess How Much I Love You , was given to me by my husband when we were dating many moons ago (you know, before kids, when we were still lovey dovey).

Now, it is a pretty popular book to give to new parents or at baby showers.

I now share that book with my kids. They love to see little nut brown hare follow big nut brown hare as they both try to explain the limitlessness of their love, which reaches “ right up to the moon, and back”.

This book comes in all sizes, including the incredibly large one I have, and is a great bedtime story book!

When my brother was a baby, my mom was given the book Love You Forever. I can still recite the line that is repeated throughout the book without even looking at the book: “I’ll love you forever, I’ll like you for always, as long as you’re living, my baby you’ll be”.

This classic follows a mom as she watches her son grow from an infant to an adult. The first page is the mom holding her infant son in a rocking chair.

One of the last pages is a tear jerker, so be ready with tissues! It shows the adult son holding his elderly mom in the rocking chair, cooing to her the words she said to him all his life: “I’ll love you forever, I’ll like you for always…” The book ends as the son sings the same words to his baby daughter.

[Note: Some people really dislike this book, saying it's weird that the mom is there for her son all through his adult life. Others think it's endearing. I think the message that repeats throughout the book is what makes the book special. If you have ever loved a child with all of your heart, you'll understand!]

If you like Precious Moments, you'll like Mommy Loves Me . It's a really adorable book written from the perspective of a little girl as she tells of all the ways her mommy shows her love.

The illustrations are from Sam Butcher, the artist and creator of the Precious Moments figurines. At the end of the book, there is a little girl holding a paper that says, "Mommy, I love you too!" How cute is that!

If you're going to give a small gift to your child this Valentine's Day, consider one of these books. Not only are you showing them how much you love them, you're also instilling a love of reading in them!

Happy Valentine's Day!