Toddlers loves books, but it can be hard to find books that are fun for parents to read over and over AND interesting for toddlers! Today I’m featuring ten great pictures books for toddlers that my family loves!
Great Picture Books for Toddlers
These ten books have kept my toddlers happy for hours on end – and I never get tired of reading them with them! You will notice that most of them are board books – in fact, I have linked to the board book editions of these wherever possible. I love board books! They are virtually indestructible! They are also nearly always less expensive than hardcover books – and sometimes even paperbacks! This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.
Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See? is the adorable baby themed to Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? The animals the baby bear sees are not babies – and they are animals you would see in the wild (no blue horses here, for better or for worse).
When we moved back to the US from Scotland, We inherited a box of board books from Mike’s much-younger cousin for Emma. She immediately picked every single book by Sandra Boynton out of the box to read. There is something about this author’s illustrations that really appeal to toddlers! Blue Hat, Green Hat has consistently been a favorite with all four of my kids!
I didn’t grow up reading Goodnight Moon, and the first few times I read it I didn’t love it. It’s a book that is better the more you read it, though, and it is now one of my favorites! The gentle rhyme and calm pictures make this the perfect bedtime story for toddlers.
I love books with few or no words for toddlers, and Hug is one of my favorites in this category! My children love following this little monkey on his quest for a hug. He nearly despairs before all of the animals join together to help him find his mom.
Owl Babies is adorable in no small part because babies owls are irresistably cute! I love this story about three owl babies who worry when their mother is gone. She comes back at the end of the book, because that’s what parents do – we always come back.
If you haven’t yet read Press Here, get a copy! This book creates the type of magic children expect from tablets through a printed page. I love the way this book turns reading with your child into a game!
I love all of the books from the That’s Not My… series, but picked That’s Not My Puppy because two-year-old Anna loves dogs (even if she calls them “meows”) and I love the cover. These Usborne board books are great for reading with kids! Sadly, Usborne and Amazon do not get along, so you get a link to my Usborne store for this book.
Time for Bed is another wonderful bedtime story for toddlers, from another one of my favorite authors. I love the nature theme of this story, as animals everywhere get ready to fall asleep at the end of the day.
We’re Going on a Bear Hunt is a wonderful adventure story full of delightful onomatopoeias. Since this book features a dad in a central role (sometimes hard to find in books for this age range), it’s a great book for fathers to read with their kids!
Yoo-Hoo, Ladybug! is Anna’s favorite book! She loves the simple rhymes, and finding the hidden ladybug on each page!
What books do your toddlers love? Or, if your kids have already outgrown this stage, what books do you remember them loving when they were toddlers?
MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.
I can’t believe I missed this list in the fall — such wonderful choices! Just seeing the cover of Blue Hat, Green Hat makes me smile (not sure what it is about that book that makes the kids laugh so much — but their laughter is contagious). I haven’t read Yoo Hoo Lady Bug yet so adding it to my list.
Yoo Hoo Ladybug is a great book!
My little 2y/o girl just started reading the first words. I am really happy and will try my best helping her out to become a good reader pre-school. It helped me alot to make a good start…
http://www.mykidreads.net/children-learning-reading-review/
We have Goodnight Moon!
Such a classic book :)
This round up is filled with old favorites and some fun new books to look for.
I love all your picks but haven’t seen the Mem Fox one, we’ll have to check it out!
We love Blue Hat, Green Hat, which we got for participating in a Stanford language study when J was 1. He still thinks it’s a very silly book and pulls it out to read to his baby sister.
Thanks for these suggestions! My toddler still prefers picture books over story books.
Blue Hat Green Hat elicits the belly laughs every time! We had to move it from the bedtime bookshelf to the morning time bookshelf because my littles laugh and get all fired up :)
I love this list!! We have a few of these already (Press Here is one of my all-time faves) but now I want to get the rest!
We LOVE Yoo-Hoo Ladybug (Full disclosure: I have to hide it to get a break…) and so many others of these, including Owl Babies. Great choices!
I agree the Sandra Boyton books are just so adorable.
Great list of many of our favorites!
Those are all wonderful books! My toddler especially loves Owl Babies at the moment. I love the look of joy combined with relief on her face when the mother returns. We’very read it dozens of times, but she still has the same reaction to that page every time.
I have Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? on my blog today but I’ve never seen the baby bear version. It sounds very cute :)
We also love Owl Babies, Press Here and We’re Going on a Bear Hunt. Dear Zoo is a great book for toddlers too.
This is such a great list, and we’re so grateful you introduced us to Owl Babies. We absolutely love it. This list is perfect for parents looking for great books for toddlers or family members and friends wanting to give a gift to a family with a toddler.
Four of those are new to me, and they all sound wonderful! The illustration on the front of “Hug” makes me want to scoop that little monkey up!! :)