25 Best Board Books for Babies with Fun Ideas for Story Time
As a new parent who loves books and reading, it was important to me to introduce books to our children when they were tiny. I started a baby storytime with each of our babies before they were three months old. Many of the first books we read together were board books as they provide a nice sturdy option for a little person who obviously isn’t yet ready to understand how precious books can be. A well chosen board book can expose your child to all sorts of wonderful language and early learning concepts which was the motivation for developing this list of 25 of the best board books for babies.
Reading with Babies
As babies can often be squirmy and restless, I often attempted to make reading time more interactive than passive when my children were tiny. This is easy to do with careful book selection, and by adding simple, related activities like singing or sharing finger plays at reading time – anything to help you and your little person bond over books. Below you’ll find a list of 25 of our top picks for best board books alongside simple activities to help you develop a regular, fun reading time with your baby.
RELATED: For more tips for reading with babies and toddlers visit this article – Growing Kids Who Read
25 Best Board Books for Babies
Each title below is linked to Amazon for more information and reviews. These are affiliate links and I may earn a small commission on qualifying purchases, at no cost to you.
Fun Alphabet Board Books
A to Z by Sandra Boynton: We love Sandra Boynton and her A to Z book is full of cute critters combined with letters and clever alliterative prose. |
TouchThinkLearn ABC by Xavier Deneux: With cool cut outs and raised page elements, alongside bold colors and patterns, this is an ABC board book unlike any other. Super engaging for older babies. |
Chicka Chicka ABC by Bill Martin, Jr.: This classic alphabet story sees all of the letters on an adventure to climb a coconut tree. The fun rhyme and bright colourful letters featured in the illustrations offer a wonderful opportunity to revise alphabet learning. |
Dr. Seuss’s ABC by Dr. Seuss: With Dr Seuss’s signature playful style children will enjoy this fun romp though the alphabet with a host of crazy creatures. |
Alphablock by Christoper Franceshelli: The specially shaped pages of Alphablock allow children to explore the physical shape of each letter as well as enjoy a fun peek through guessing game. |
Booklist continues below.
For more alphabet fun, you can also:
- Sing the alphabet song with your little one
- Emphasize the letter sounds or words that start with each letter with your mouth so that baby can see and begin to learn how to form the sounds themselves.
Fun Baby Board Books About the Body
My First Body Board Book by D.K. Publishing: An informational board book introducing parts of the body through simple, bold images. |
Wriggle Your Toes by Karen Katz: Babies will love pointing to their nose and wiggling their toes as they follow along this clever board book filled with engaging movable parts, soft touch-and-feel patches, and fun flaps. |
From Head to Toe by Eric Carle: An energetic, interactive book inviting little ones to imitate the movements of a parade of interesting animals. |
Hello World! My Body by Jill McDonald: With bright, colorful illustrations and engaging prose, young children will be guided through a sensory exploration of their body in the world. |
Hello Head to Toe by John Townsend: Babies learn about body parts through bold, high contrast images of cute animals. |
Toes, Ears and Nose by Marion Dane Bauer: Baby is bundled in a mountain of clothes and as little ones lift the sturdy flaps they’ll discover what’s underneath each piece of clothing. |
Booklist continues below.
Activities for further play and exploration;
- Sing the song, “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” with your child, touching their hands to each part of the body named in the song as you sing.
- Provide a mirror for your baby and point out her eyes, ears, mouth, nose, etc.
- Use a small stuffed beanie animal and place it on baby’s head, arm, knee, and other body parts to “sit” while naming the part.
Nursery Rhyme Board Books for Babies
Hickory Dickory Dock by Charles Reasoner: Diecut pages and clever speech bubbles add a touch of whimsy to this traditional rhyme. |
Humpty Dumpty by Salina Yoon: The popular classic nursery rhyme is given a fresh twist that answers is the question – what if Humpty could be put together again? Bright, bold illustrations are perfect for little book lovers. |
Itsy Bitsy Spider by Cottage Door Press: Play along to this classic nursery rhyme with the adorable, built in spider puppet. |
The Wheels on the Bus by Silver Dolphin Books: Hop on the bus with a parade of animal friends in this fun version of the catchy classic with sliders and tabs to pull, wheels to turn, and adorable illustrations. |
Booklist continues below.
Ideas for nursery rhyme story time;
- Talk to your baby as you go about daily tasks, pointing out the names of the things around you.
- Recite nursery rhymes to your child while rocking them, changing them, bathing them, etc.
Board Books about Emotions
Happy Hippo, Angry Duck by Sandra Boynton: Boynton’s hilarious animals are back to help children learn all about emotions. |
Baby Happy, Baby Sad by Leslie Patricelli: A simple exploration contrasting feeling happy and feeling sad that is perfect for storytime with your littlest readers. |
Making Faces: A First Book of Emotions by Abrams Appleseed: Find the happy baby! Find the sad baby! A wonderful way to explore expressions with interactive prompts and bright baby face photographs. |
The Feelings Book by Todd Parr: We are big fans of Todd Parr’s books! Outlining feelings in simple, relatable ways, The Feelings Book is a gorgeous first book of feelings to share with little ones. |
The Pout Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen: Older babies will love swimming along with the pout-pout fish as he discovers that being glum and spreading the dreary wearies isn’t so fun. |
Grumpy Monkey by Suzanne Lang: A funny story about a grumpy monkey (who doesn’t actually think he’s grumpy) and his friends’ attempts to cheer him up. |
Booklist continues below.
Read a story and then try one of these:
- Sit alongside your baby facing a mirror and have fun making a range of facial expressions for them to observe.
- For more books about feelings, be sure to check out our list of 15 Toddler Books About Feelings.
Board Books about Colors
Color Zoo by Lois Ehlert: Shapes and colors magically form animals that fascinate young children. |
Blue Hat, Green Hat by Sandra Boynton: A delightful story of animals, colors, and clothes that is sure to elicit giggles from your little one. |
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr.: Familiar animals, bold colors and a rhyming question-and-response text delight young readers. |
Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert: Little ones learn all about the colors of the rainbow as a beautiful garden blossoms from bulbs to blooms. |
Mix It Up by Herve Tullet: A wonderfully fun interactive board book that involves children in making colors appear, mix, splatter and more! |
RELATED: For more about the incredible books of Herve Tullet, check out our review of each of his books with matching activities.
Read about colors and then;
- Gather up groups of toys that are the same colors. Mix them up and talk with your baby as you sort them together.
- Make vanilla pudding, add food coloring in different shades to it and let older babies finger paint, mixing the colors to see what happens.
- Sing about colors. Check out our collection of color finger plays and action songs.
For more baby play inspiration, check out the Zero to Two ebook…