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Monkey Picture Books Kids Love!

MONKEY picture books kids love - perfect for celebrating the Year of the Monkey!

Chinese New Year is coming up on February 8th! 2016 is the Year of the Monkey, and  I decided it would be fun to celebrate by featuring monkey picture books kids love. Playful monkeys are often the most popular attraction in zoos, and they make for fun stories, as well! I have always been partial to monkeys, maybe because I was born in the year of the monkey?

Monkey Picture Books Kids Love!

Our landlord lent us a copy of Hug when Emma was a baby, and I fell in love. This was one of the first picture books I purchased for our home library, and it remains a favorite with me and the kids. This book makes an excellent baby present, as even very young readers will enjoy it.

Caps for Sale has the rare honor of staying in print for 75 years! This story of a peddler and a troop of mischievous monkeys is sure to engage any child.

Julia Donaldson is a brilliant rhyming storyteller, and Where’s My Mom? is no exception, particularly with Axel Scheffler’s illustrations. Little monkey has lots his mother, but butterfly is there to help.

In My Jungle features an adorable finger puppet monkey who travels through the pages of the book. My kids love this series – we also have In My Tree, which features an owl.

Where Is Curious George?: A Look and Find Book is a fun way to play with Curious George, who has to be the most well-known monkey for children.

monkey

We love the entire “That’s Not My…” series, and That’s Not My Monkey is no exception. This would make a really fun baby present for any babies born this year!

Young children often find it very difficult to calm down when they get upset. Little Monkey Calms Down is a wonderful way to teach kids coping techniques, as well as helping them learn to label emotions. The illustrations are delightful!

Everyone knows the song Little Monkeys Jumping on a Bed. The Five Little Monkeys Storybook Treasury includes this story as well as four others: Five Little Monkeys Bake a Cake, Five Little Monkeys Sitting in a Tree, Five Little Monkeys with Nothing to Do, and Five Little Monkeys Wash the Car. Even more exciting, the book includes stickers and a lesson on how to draw your own monkeys. If you want to extend the fun even more, there is also a Five Little Monkeys Super Sticker Activity Book.

In Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb, highly entertaining monkeys teach kids the difference between hands, fingers, and thumbs. Your child will be so busy giggling that they won’t notice they are perfecting their English language appendage vocabulary.

The Year of the Monkey: Tales from the Chinese Zodiac completes this book celebration for the Year of the Monkey. This bilingual Chinese-English book is part of the Tales from the Chinese Zodiac series.

Reading books to celebrate Chinese New Year - fun picture book recommendations in this post!

Do you know of a book that I should add to our list? Here are some more fun ways to celebrate the Year of the Monkey with your kids this year:

Chinese New Year paper plate monkey from the gingerbread house
Dragon colouring pages from KiddyCharts
Red Monkey Mask from Peakle Pie
Chinese New Year Lucky Fish from Witty Hoots
Monkey Paper Bag Puppet from Kidz Activities
Chinese New Year Shaker Craft from In The Playroom
Chinese New Year Mini Lanterns from Play & Learn Everyday
Year of the Monkey Door Hanger from Creative World of Varya
Chinese New Year I Spy Game from Simple Fun for Kids

Do you have a fun Chinese New Year for kids activity? How about a monkey craft for us to try in celebration of the year of the monkey?


MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.

9 thoughts on “Monkey Picture Books Kids Love!”

  1. What a great way to tie in the year of the monkey! I love Where’s My Mommy and pretty much any book by Julia Donaldson :)

  2. This is so fun!! We love Caps for Sale, as well as one not on your list: Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb, which has a great rhythm for reading aloud and fun illustrations. That Hug book looks adorable – I can’t believe I haven’t seen it before! Need to track down a copy if possible.

    1. We have that one and I forgot about it! Will have to add it to the list!

      Hug is a great one to buy as a board book – the text is very simple (and I love the durability of board books).

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