Baby Storytime at our library has helped me find some great board books I’d never heard of before. There are so many wonderful classics (Goodnight Moon, The Hungry Little Caterpillar, We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, every book by Sandra Boynton…), but after reading each one about 500 times I was ready for a little more variety.
The first new book we discovered was All Fall Down by Mary Brigid Barrett. It is full of fun, colorful pictures of kids, parents, and an adorable pup building things that eventually… all fall down. I loved this book because the pictures always made me smile. Bonus: ring around the rosie never got stuck in my head. Until now. Sorry.
Next we found Read to Your Bunny by Rosemary Wells. It was the sweetest book. Full of simple words paired with perfect pictures, Read to Your Bunny showed how books can take you to far off places and the joy of snuggling in to read at home. This one made me melt. Baby loved crawling all over it, too. Read to Your Bunny will definitely be a staple in our house when he’s just a little bit older. Look for the big board book version… the paperback just didn’t have the same effect.
Sitting next to us, our youth librarian recommended Ten Little Fingers by Annie Kubler. I was skeptical of this one because Baby isn’t really into counting yet. However, we quickly learned that Ten Little Fingers is not about counting, but rather all of the fun things Baby can do with his hands (open wide, close tight, reach high, hold low…). Perfect! Deliberately moving his fingers will be Baby’s next developmental leap (hello pincer grasp), and this book had lots of ways to make practicing moving his hands fun. Baby enjoyed the pictures, and Mama gained some new tricks to foster his motor development during playtime.
Of course, my husband’s favorite board book was Star Wars ABC. I spotted it on the bottom bookshelf in the children’s section and brought it home for Baby and Daddy to read together. At this point, I think my husband enjoyed it more than the little guy. If Baby is anything like my nephew, he’ll be obsessed with it in a couple years time.
Learning about new board books at the library has been an awesome way to find fresh material and introduce new words and pictures to Baby. When I find one that I can imagine reading again and again, I will buy it to add to our at collection at home. These four would definitely make the cut.
Which great board books do you love reading again and again?
I’ll have to check those out. It’s always nice to find books that aren’t too awful to read over and over.
I did a blog post a while back for our favorite books for our oldest son at 2 yr old… Mostly all board books because he’s a bit tough on books still. Feel free to check them out.
http://www.diydanielle.com/2013/12/gs-favorite-books-from-2013-2-years-old.html?m=1
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That’s an awesome list! We just read Little Blue Truck and loved it, so I will definitely check out next one. Dinosaur Roar looks adorable, too. Thank you for sharing!
We love library story time! I’m not familiar with these books (but do know ring around the rosey of course) but I’ll definitely check them out!
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Check out The Pout Pout Fish. We got it for her while we were on vacation and it’s her (and our) favorite!
Thank you for the recommendation! I will definitely check it out.
I can do Dinosaur’s Binket from memory, lol. We love Sandra Boynton. I also like the Biscuit books.
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I haven’t heard of Biscuit… another one to check out!
Okay, I want to find the Star Wars ABC – that looks awesome.
I have a 4 and 2-year-old. Both girls, but aside from the wonders of Sandra Boynton and the others you mentioned they’ve also loved Dear Zoo, Goodnight Gorilla, Baby Baluga (the song, illustrated) and then when a bit older The Gruffalo (honestly, anything from Julia Donaldson), and the Big Red Barn.
I’m a fan of all the “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!” books – you can get them board book style (A smidgeon of pidgeon), but my girls never took to them so I didn’t force my affection for those on them. Different strokes and all…
Lovely post! Glad I visited.
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The Pigeon books sound hilarious! Goodnight Gorilla is another one of our favorites, but I am excited to check the rest out. I also found Star Wars Villians for my nephew, and they have some more books in the series, too. It’s by Scholastic: http://www.scholastic.com/starwars/boardbooks.asp
Happy Reading!
Great post! I can’t wait to check out some of these board books for my little one. Your post is featured this week at the Manic Mondays blog hop! You can check it out (and link up) at http://mommyatozblog.com/Get-Linky/. Hope to see you there!
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What a great list! I love that you are reading and playing with books early on in baby’s development – and encouraging others to do so, as well!
My kids are a bit older now, but still love “Snuggle Puppy” by Sandra Boynton and “Dear Zoo,” by Rod Campbell.
For more great ideas, you could also check out the blog of Alex Hinrichs, a children’s book expert, all about what and how she reads with her little one – it’s www,puddlereader.wordpress.com I love her ideas!
I love it! Puddle Reader looks like it’s going to be my new favorite blog. We love Dear Zoo, too, but I haven’t read Snuggle Puppy before – thank you for the recommendation!
Star Wars ABC! yes! My boys love that book so much!!
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