Great Books for Babies, Toddlers, and Preschoolers

I had the pleasure of attending the Delaware Valley Association for the Education of Young Children (DVAEYC) conference a few weeks ago. One of the workshops I attended was on best new books for preschoolers, and I thought I would share a few of the recommendations from Isabel Baker of BookVine.com.

Here were a few of her selections for good literature for children, as well as ones that I thought really stood out as exceptional books. While the workshop was aimed at preschoolers, I think babies and toddlers would enjoy and benefit from all of these selections.

green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

 

Full of AMAZING paintings and simple, yet creative text - this book was the inspiration of my last post that featured an art project we completed to go with green.
 

Alphabet Everywhere by Elliot Kauffman

 

Photographer Elliott Kauffman shows us how letters can be found everywhere with this fun alphabet book. Pair this book with a walk in the woods, park, or neighborhood to encourage children to find literacy in their everyday environment. Check out how we've searched for hidden letters while out on a nature walk.

 

Rah Rah Radishes: A Vegetable Chant by April Pulley Sayre 

 

A bunch of words immediately come to mind when I think about this book: fun, interactive, sing songy, colorful, educational, rhyming! Babies, toddlers, and preschoolers will enjoy echoing the fun words in this "vegetable chant" all the while learning about healthy vegetables (and colors too). For more information on this topic, check out my post on teaching kids about healthful eating and foods.

Z is for Moose by Kelly Bingham and Paul O. Zelinsky
 

 

An alphabet book that teaches letter knowledge while telling a story that makes children giggle. This creative book deserves to be on your bookshelf! If you are looking for other ways to teach your young child A to Z, check out my post on simple ways to help children learn the alphabet.

 

Press Here by Herve Tullet

  

 

A unique book that feels like a computer game without the electronics - it encourages children to "press here" on the different colored dots. Just see what fun unravels! You could make this book a movement activity by moving your body like the dots, or if you have a whole group/classroom of kids, put dots on them and act it out. For more ideas on books and movement, check out this post on how to build gross motor skills with active books.

Celebrating St. Patrick's Day with an Art Project inspired by green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger is a book full of vibrant pictures, and unique hues of green. It's no wonder that Green is a 2013 Caldecott Honor Book.

Green provides a great opportunity to celebrate this one color, and talk about how many different shades a color can come in....there's "pea green", or "khaki green", or "wacky green"...

Both of my baby bookworms (ages 3 and 2 months) enjoyed this book. Its simplicity and incredibly beautiful illustrations had them begging for me to read it again.

But, at the conclusion of the book I had to ask my 3-year old....are there any other types of green? And so, here you have it. The missing green from Seeger's book - "Icy Green".

If you are tired of all the shamrock and rainbow crafts to celebrate St. Patty's Day (although terribly fun and cute, too) - try an art project inspired by the book Green instead. Have your child use his imagination...and I bet he'll come up with a green you couldn't have even dreamed of.

I, of course, had to join in the fun and add my own green to the story too....can you guess it?

 

Hands Green!

 

 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Sharing at: Teach Beside Me, Weekly Kid's Co-Op, the Sunday Showcase, and Link & Learn.