Welcome back to my 5-day series: Our Ultimate List of Favorite Books! Today, we’re sharing our favorite board books for babies and toddlers. Between my four kiddos, I’ve had a baby or toddler in the house for more than 9 years. During that time, I may have gone a little board book happy for them. Today, I’m sharing some of our favorites. Be sure to share your favorites with us in the comments!
*This post contains affiliate links.
Some of these books may be familiar ones. The thing I look for when picking out board books for babies and toddlers is books that foster interaction. Maybe they have a refrain that repeats throughout. They might have to make noises or look for certain things on each page. These are the books my toddlers, especially, have asked for again and again and most are memorized!
First up: The Big Dog and Little Dog series. We have read a few of these, but Going for a Walk seems to be the favorite. I love how simple the text and pictures are, but how much you can ask kids to infer based off the pictures, especially. I like to ask questions like, “Why do you think the lady is mad?” or “What is going to happen now that she’s filling up the bathtub?” There’s enough information left out that kids have to fill in the gaps with their own thinking. Love it!
My kids have all asked for Guess How Much I Love You, especially NSis (age 2.5). She loves to play out the story, stretching her arms up so high and jumping as high as she can. And I tear up almost every time I read the last page. A winning combination!
If your child loves Brown Bear, Brown Bear, he will love this one, too. There’s a lot of repetition in I Went Walking. The thing I like about it is that the illustrator gives the child a sneak peek as to what the next animal will be, great for predicting!
My tots have all been train lovers, especially my older three. Freight Train I could say forward and backward in my sleep and they could too! There’s something addictive about Donald Crew’s text and the images are so simple. If you have a train lover, this is a great book for teaching colors (or ordinal numbers, too.)
Touch and Feel books were always a hit. I seemed that when we read/felt these, even the older preschoolers would gather around to feel that teddy bear just one more time!
Oh, if I had a dime for every time I’ve read What Do You Say? My kids thoroughly loved this one, as it asked kids to make the animals noises by talking to them. I’m sad to see it is out of print (although you can still purchase it on amazon) at this time. We also have another of her companion books, What Do you Do? and my kids love to rock out at the end. 🙂
If you have a baby or toddler, you just HAVE to experience Sandra Boynton. We have almost all her books, but Blue Hat, Green Hat takes the cake. It has a way of turning over that tickle box…and I love the way it sneaks in colors and vocabulary. It was also one of the first books that NJoy {currently age 6} was able to read completely on his own.
I call books like Good Night, Gorilla “layered books”. There are so many layers of things going on that each time you read it, you’ll discover something new (watch for the balloon). It is not a completely wordless book, but pretty close and it requires lots of thinking and inferring on the part of the reader. Plus, kids will enjoy watching the mischievous gorilla again and again.
Any list of board books for babies and tots must include Goodnight Moon, right? 🙂 {I almost included Big, Red Barn in this spot, as it came in as a close 2nd!} This is one I enjoyed as a child and still enjoy to read to my kids. The rhyming patterns have a way of calming kids. The old lady whispering “hush” was the favorite part of my toddlers. This book also has lots of layers as kids can watch the moon rise or watch for the mouse on each page. When my kids were younger toddlers, we’d take a flashlight before bedtime and they would say “goodnight” to the things in their own room…a great way to make a book come alive!
In my home, The Carrot Seed has been renamed as It Won’t Come Up. “Mommy, read It Won’t Come Up.” Love it! This book teaches kids to be persistent and sticking with it, even when others say you can’t do it. It also teaches the basic needs of a plant. All of this teaching is tucked right in without kids realizing it. The repeated phrase, “It won’t come up” is a favorite of my kids.
Cheerios are a favorite snack of most babies and toddlers. And The Cheerios Play Book has been well-loved at our house. It’s actually falling apart. I love how interactive this book is and promotes fine motor play, too. There are other Cheerios play books, including The Cheerios Animal Play Book as well as a Halloween Play Book and Christmas Play Book.
What board books would you include on your favorite list?
Visit all the book lists in this series by clicking here or on the image above.
Read Aloud Ideas for ANY Age:
Follow This Reading Mama’s board Read Aloud Resources on Pinterest.
Enjoy!
~Becky
Leave a Reply