Ok, time for another set of books to suggest! I pulled out some of our favorite toddler books that all of my boys have enjoyed. We have SO many books – and have loved so many – that it’s hard for me to decide my absolute favorites, but I tried to pick a good mix of some of our most well-loved books. I’m holding out on a couple good ones that I’ll share with you in a post dedicated to construction trucks – because I have a lot of cute “truck” books that I’ll share soon. But, these are pretty solid staples in our house that you could use to add to your collection or give as gifts! I hope you find some new ones to enjoy!
All Through My Town / Bear Snores On / Chugga-Chugga Choo-Choo / Dear Zoo / Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb / Jamberry / My First Read and Learn Bible / Sheep In A Jeep / The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear / The Pout-Pout Fish / Tugga-Tugga Tugboat
All Through My Town – This is an upbeat book that has a good cadence and interesting pictures. My boys love to pick out all of the fun things happening in the pictures – you can spend twice as long reading this book if you talk about the pictures (though on some nights, that’s why I hide this book – ha).
Bear Snores On – I loved reading this book out loud to my boys because it felt a little more complicated to read than some of the other books at this age and my oldest was enthralled with the rhythm of the words. The pictures are beautiful and the story is sweet. Look for other “Bear” books if you like this – there are many and they’re all good.
Chugga-Chugga Choo-Choo – This is one of my all-time favorite toddler books. We’ve had three of these books because it’s been so well loved and worn, that both the board book and the picture book have been boy-ified (i.e. ruined with love) but we still needed a version to keep on hand. Again, the pictures are interesting to the littles – and a little different – and the rhyming words (which I’ve basically memorized by now) are easy and soothing. Plus, I like that it ends with the little boy in bed…RIGHT where mine need to be after the book is finished 😉
Dear Zoo – This lift-the-flap book is cute, fun, and just easy. It’s great for practicing animal noises and is easy for the kiddos to “guess” what’s under the flap once they’ve read it a few times. It’s an easy classic and great to throw in your purse for when you need a quick distraction…although if your kids don’t tear off flaps like mine, you’re lucky 😉
Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb – I like the cadence of this book and we always tap along with it when we read. My boys like to bang on anything, so banging on the book as we read is different and entertaining and helps us learn the difference between our hand, fingers, and thumbs. Maybe we’re just weird book readers, but it seems fun to us 😉
Jamberry – This is an old classic and I didn’t think I’d like this book for a long time, but it actually holds my kiddos’ attention well. The pictures have hidden treats, so my dessert-loving boys like finding the cinnamon roll flowers and pancake lily pads in the pictures. And, I like that the book has a slightly old-timey feel to balance out some of the more modern books we seem to be drawn to.
My First Read and Learn Bible – This easy board book bible is perfect for toddlers. My boys have all loved this book; it’s shocked me how many times they’ve picked this as their night-time book. We gave it to my oldest baby as part of his baptism gift and I love gifting it for other baptisms – it’s sweet, age appropriate, and a good introduction to the basic bible stories.
Sheep in a Jeep – I could have put this in my construction book list because my boys basically like it because it’s about a Jeep. But there other Sheep books that are good too – and this is a little different that the other books in my list. The words are short and sweet rhymes, a little cheeky, and the pictures are a little simpler than in other books.
The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear – This book is entertaining and funny and causes debate in our house (clearly between my husband and I because the 2 year-olds over here only talk to us about food and bodily functions…we do have all boys). The pictures are engaging and the story is cute. You’ll have to read it and settle the debate – who is the other character in the end?
The Pout-Pout Fish – This book is a silly rhyming, good message, staple. We do funny little voices when we read the pouty words and try to get the boys to join in the “chorus” as we go through the book. Eventually, they seem to grow old enough to be annoyed at our antics but isn’t that what parents are for? 😉 and the 2-4 year-olds seem to eat it up.
Tugga-Tugga Tugboat – This is from the same author as Chugga-Chugga Choo-Choo and the pictures and cadence are very similar. If you like one, you’ll like the other and both have been staples for all three of the boys so I couldn’t resist listing it here.
Let me know your favorite toddler books – I’d love to find new ones to add to our collection for my youngest!
-Anne-