Valentine's Day
Feel the love, hot-air chocolate balloons, and all!
Just like we have our go-to romance flicks, there are also Valentine’s Day episodes for kids to tune into on Feb. 14. Of course, most kids aren’t overly fond of the mushy romance that comes with the holiday. And while adults worry about the chaos of booking restaurants and babysitters, little ones may be more concerned with those cheesy, character-themed cards for their classmates and heart-shaped candy. Even so, many children's shows have celebrated Valentine's Day, or the overall love subject, with cute themed episodes.
Most of the episodes featured on this list deal with school crushes, family love, and platonic friendships. After all, how many best friends do you know that will make you a giant, edible chocolate balloon or bake you a massive cookie? There are also valuable lessons to learn such as the ultimate cure to a broken heart and the dos and don'ts of finding your dog a valentine. Also, who knew Arnold Shortman from Hey Arnold! could be such a Casanova? And no matter how mean the world could seem, there are some good people out there, lovely faces and all.
Read on for our list of the best, lovey-dovey kids’ TV episodes for Valentine’s Day.
Peppa Pig: “Valentine's Day”
In Season 6, Episode 27, it’s Valentine's Day and Daddy Pig gives Mummy Pig a card but Daddy Pig’s card is missing from Mummy? That’s only because she had to put in the mail, but will it arrive on time for the big day?
Watch Peppa Pig on Hulu, Amazon Prime, and AppleTV+.
Madeline: “Madeline’s Valentine”
Who remembers Madeline? The story is about a French orphan growing up in a Catholic boarding school in Paris under the care of the nun Miss Clavel. Well, there’s a Valentine’s Day special too! In “Madeline’s Valentine,” Madeline and the girls get jealous when their dog Genevieve falls in love with a neighborhood poodle named Popo. But in the end, the girls learn that Genevieve has a lot of love to go around.
Watch Madeline on AppleTV+ and YouTube. There’s also a 1998 live-action Madeline movie you can watch on Amazon Prime and YouTube.
Doc McStuffins: “My Huggy Valentine/Huggy Bear”
In the Season 1 episode, Doc’s parents give her a new toy for Valentine’s Day that she names Val, who she brings to life with her magic stethoscope. Lambie gets jealous of the new toy and Doc diagnoses her with “splitheartitis,” which means she suffers from a broken heart. Lambie goes on to tell Doc that before Val, she was her number one cuddler and her best friend and that Valentine's Day was her day. Doc reassures her that despite having Val, no one could ever take her place.
Watch Doc McStuffins on Disney+, Disney Now, Hulu, and YouTube.
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: “A Surprise for Minnie”
Just a sweet reminder of the important ladies in Mickey’s and Donald Duck’s lives. In this delightful, Season 1 episode, Mickey Mouse needs help to make and deliver a Valentine's Day card to Minnie Mouse after Goofy reminds him to do it! Instead of buying something, he decides to make her a card. In return, Minnie gives him a bouquet of flowers. Meanwhile, Donald Duck forgets a Valentine’s Day gift for Daisy, which makes her upset. Mickey and the Mouseketools help him and gifts Daisy with a brand new baby blue bow.
Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood: “It's Love Day/Daniel's Love Day Surprise”
The neighborhood of Make Believe is celebrating “Love Day” in this Season 2 episode. Daniel and his friends come up with special ways to show their love and care. One fun tactic is dancing, singing and telling jokes. In the second part of the episode titled, “Daniel's Love Day Surprise,” grandpere comes to visit for Love Day. To show his grandpere how much he loves him, Daniel puts on a treasure hunt and hides little hearts around the house for him to find.
If You Give A Mouse A Cookie: “If You Give a Mouse a Valentines Day Cookie”
To show how big his feelings are for his best human friend Oliver, Mouse creates a giant Valentine's Day Cookie for him. Mouse and his friends go to the cookie factory to create his masterpiece. But getting it through the door is the catch! There’s even a Valentine’s Day song that the little ones can sing along to with Mouse. The animated series is based on the children’s book, Happy Valentine's Day, Mouse! by Laura Numeroff.
Watch If You Could Give A Mouse A Cookie on Amazon Prime.
Curious George: “Happy Valentine's Day, George!/Oh Deer”
In this Season 9 episode, George wants to make the best homemade Valentine's Day card ever for his friends using sponge shapes, red paint, and a waffle iron. He even ends up creating his own monkey Valentine's Printing Press! This is a two-part episode, the second part is about George’s attempts to keep a hungry deer from eating all of his flowers.
Watch Curious George on YouTube, PBS Kids, Peacock TV, and Hulu.
SpongeBob Squarepants: “Valentine's Day”
This is more of a platonic Valentine's Day-themed episode, between SpongeBob and Patrick of course! In the Season 1 episode, SpongeBob and Sandy get together to give Patrick the best Valentine's Day gift. While Sandy works on the gift SpongeBob keeps Patrick distracted with activities. The two end up going to the carnival. But Patrick grows more and more impatient and chaos follows which includes an attack of chocolate-eating scallops and wreaking havoc at the carnival when he thinks SpongeBob didn’t give him anything. Before he really loses, Sandy appears with his chocolate hot-air balloon.
Watch SpongeBob Squarepants on Hulu, Nick, and Paramount+.
Rugrats: “Be My Valentine”
This may be one of a few Rugrats episodes where you will see Susie and Angelica in the same clip together with genuine smiles. But it has nothing to do with their arguably complicated friendship. In the two-part episode, the girls are battling out over their crush. Angelica dresses up as a cupid, while Tommy, Chucky, and the other babies look for a valentine for their dog, Spike and the adults dress up in some pretty wild costumes for the Valentine's Day "Love through the Ages" dance. Sounds like a way to keep the love going.
Watch Rugrats on Paramount+.
The Proud Family: “The Legend of Johnny Lovely”
This particular episode is not necessarily characterized as a Valentine’s Day special, but the charisma of the one-time guest character makes it one. It’s also one of the few episodes you will hear Papi sing. In the Season 2 episode, a guy named Johnny Lovely comes to town and Penny and her friends are immediately enticed by him. But Penny thinks Johnny is too good to be true. After all, nobody is perfect and could possibly look good and be good on the inside too. But it turned out, he really was a genuinely nice person. And it didn’t hurt that he wasn’t too bad to look at either!
Watch The Proud Family on Disney+.
Recess: “My Funny Valentine”
An underrated Disney Channel animated series that the millennial generation loved and little ones can appreciate. In this classic Season 3 Valentine’s Day episode, T.J. is not in a cheesy, loving mood and decides to make his classmates funny cards instead by turning the holiday messages into jokes. But his plan to be a jokester backfires when all of the girls in the class end up liking his cards, including the Ashleys, which earns him a place on their wall of “acceptable boys” in their clubhouse. This is arguably the first Recess episode in which the Ashleys and other girls crush on T.J. Before that, no other girl than Spinelli showed interest.
Watch Recess on Disney+.
Hey Arnold: “Arnold’s Valentine”
Arnold finds out that he has not one but two Valentines in this Season 8 episode. Both girls want to treat to dinner, which Arnold agrees to after being convinced by his friend Gerald. The plan will be to take them both to French restaurants, across the street from one another. We know, smart right? But here’s the kicker- neither of the girls knows about the other. And one of his dates, a pen pal named Cecile, turns out to be Helga. This episode is a great lesson in why you shouldn’t bite off more than you can chew.
Watch Hey Arnold on Amazon Prime, Hulu, and Paramount+.
No matter which episode, or how many, you choose to stream on Valentine’s Day, don’t forget to pair it with some heart-shaped candy.
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