Top Books For Toddlers

The top books for toddlers recommended in this article include lift the flap books, story books, educational books, potty training books and picture books.

Toddlers love books which stimulate the senses. Bright colors and pictures are great to engage and attract toddlers. Toddlers like to interact with the book you're reading so any books which are interactive make a great choice, including touch and feel books and lift the flap books. Its good to engage the child with the story as much as possible while reading, asking questions, doing silly voices and actions all make stories extra fun for toddlers. Story books are great for introducing simple narrative and characters. All books are great for improving vocabulary.

Read on for suggestions of top books for toddlers.

Toddlers just love to lift the flaps and see what's underneath. These used to be some of my son's top books when he was a toddler. When choosing lift the flap books for toddlers its a good idea to look out for books with chunky, sturdy flaps as they are less likely to be torn off or damaged. However, the likelihood is they will get torn off at some point so sometimes if a book is dearly loved you may have to buy more than one copy.

Some of the classic lift the flap books include, Where's Spot, and Dear Zoo shown opposite. Dear Zoo can provide great interactive fun with toddlers. As they lift the flap you can encourage them to make the noise of the animal. Or you can act out how the animal moves and then get your toddler to copy you.

Open the Barn door is another lift the flap book but this time with farmyard animals. Its a small book with small flaps but this makes it a good choice for putting it in your bag and taking it to entertain toddlers when your out and about.

Peek-a-who is a lovely book for toddlers. They can turn the pages themselves. The words "Peek a" are repeated, opposite an illustrated page with a cut hole, behind which you will find a cow (peek a moo)a green ghost (peek-a-boo) and lots more. The last page has a surprise, a mirror (peek a you)! Good fun.

You can't go wrong if you choose a character lift the flap book like Thomas the tank engine and Elmo. Great if its a character from one of their favorite TV shows.

There are lots of classic story books for toddlers that have stood the test of time so you can't really go wrong. When choosing story books the best one have simple and repetitive language which will help improve vocabulary. The top story books for toddlers are also accompanied by large colorful illustrations.

One of my favorites to read to my toddler son was the Hungry Caterpillar. He loved this simple tale from when he was a baby to when he went to preschool.

Another classic is we're going on a bear hunt. "We're going on a bear hunt. / We're going to catch a big one. / What a beautiful day! / We're not scared". The journey takes the family through all kinds of different terrain, across a river - "Splash splosh! Splash splosh! Splash splosh!" But when they find the bear they do get scared and have to run back home as fast as they can.

Another classic tale you may remember from your own toddler childhood include Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See (featured opposite).

Goodnight moon is the perfect bedtime book for toddlers. It tells the story of a young rabbit getting ready for (or trying to postpone) sleep by saying goodnight to every object in sight and within earshot. The story is in the format of a poem and the illustrations are simple but illustrate the story well.

Toddlers love the silliness which is introduced by Sandra Boynton in boo la la. Good reviews on amazon.com

Finally, Goodnight Gorilla tells the story of a naughty gorilla who steals the zoo keepers keys and lets all the animals out of their cages who follow the zookeeper home at night. Great colorful pictures, simple vocabulary - a great beginner story book for toddlers.

As parents of toddlers know they love to explore everything with their hands so why should books be any different. There are lots of touch and feel books for toddlers and these particularly appeal to the younger age group. Check out some of the best touch and feel books below.

There are lots of great potty training books for toddlers.These were great for explaining and reinforcing ot my son what he should be doing. They are perfect to look through when toddlers are sitting on the potty to keep the engaged and occupied. They help make potty training fun too.

 Of course most of the top books for toddlers have a lot of educational value such as increasing vocabulary. However, some books teach toddlers other skills such as manners, numbers, the alphabet and more. Check out some books with extra educational value for toddlers.