(However, 3, 4, 5 year olds still think these books are super fun! Especially if they’ve read them with parents or grandparents from 0-2 and onward!)
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1. Blue Hat, Green Hat by Sandra Boynton
All the Sandra Boynton board books are fun for kids, but our family favorites are these first two books. Red Hat, Blue Hat elicits loads of giggles and the text is so simple that kids start “reading” it on their own. It’s also great for bilingual parents because the simple text is easy to translate into another language.
2. Moo, Baa, La La La! by Sandra Boynton
Yet another silly Sandra Boynton favorite. We also love the ABC board book by Sandra Boynton. This one has a great rhyme and rhythm and kids just love it.
3. A Wild Day with Dad by Sean Callahan
I got this book when I was in college in a children’s literature class because my teacher was often sent boxes of books that were yet to be published and still under edit. Honestly, I don’t know what it is about this board book: the animals, colors, rhymes or just the pace of having lots of page turns? I’m not sure, however they always ask for this one over and over and over when they’re babies and toddlers.
4. Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
At first I didn’t think this book was anything special per se, but I’ve learned to adore it so much. My kiddos love finding the mouse on each page, guessing the next rhyme, seeing the colors change between color and black and white and the rhymes. It’s a classic for a reason! We have a super large as well as a smaller board book version of this because it’s so cute we had to have one upstairs and one down.
5. Good Night, Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann
Good Night, Gorilla is different than most others on this list because there’s very little text in this book. The fun comes because you can flip pages as quickly or slowly as your child wants (or attention and interest permits) and focus on the illustrations (which is where the storyline really resides!)
6. Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb by Al Perkins
We recently found almost all the Dr. Seuss board books at a second hand store and this was one that seemed to match the set, (even though it’s not by Dr. Seuss) and it quickly became a favorite. We love all the Dr. Seuss books as well – especially the shortened board book versions for when the kids are little, but I digress. This book has pages that move quickly, rhythm, silliness, fun images, and easy to repeat text.
7. First 100 Books – Animals, Colors, Words
I personally love story and rhyme books much more than just point and label the photo books, but these type of books with images and single words are great for the youngest baby crowd. They love the colors and you can buy a book specific to their interest such as 100 animals or 100 transportation words, etc. I have a million of these kind of books and they’re great for parent child connections and learning to point and identify words.
8. From Head to Toe by Eric Carle
This book was another that I was only okay with at first, but when you and your kids start doing the actions on each page together it’s an absolute hit! Then later you find your kids looking at the images and saying or doing the actions on their own. That’s when I really feel like I’ve done a good job as mom 🙂
9. Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell
There are lots of books that I love that are similar to this one. I guess this book represents all simple “life the flap” animal board books. I mean lift-the-flap is always a hit, but kids are so amazed by animals and animal sounds so books like this always captivate the little ones.
10. Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney
I was lucky to find this book at a thrift store when my first was still so little because it was read thousands of times as she grew! The rhymes and silliness are so engaging for moms and kiddos alike. I have this book memorized now and have a bunch of silly ways I read each part. So fun.
11. The Napping House by Audrey and Don Wood
The Napping House is a fun way to see a pattern and repetition as more characters are added and you can continue to point out vocabulary to the littles. Also, the story ends in an exciting and silly way the kids love.
