I try to do a round-up of our favorite children’s books every six months or so, so I wanted to share our current favorite books now that Arlo is two years old! In true two-year-old form, a bunch of these have a behavior focus as, well, that’s our biggest struggle at the moment! But there’s also just some really fun and cute ones, too. =) Here we go!
Graphic by Meagan Knight for Studio DIY
1. Allie All Along by Sarah Lynne Reul: Bought this one per my friend Chelsea’s recommendation and I love how it visually and simply talks about expressing and coping with big emotions.
2. Llama Llama Misses Mama by Anna Dewdney: We tired out a drop-in daycare for a few days before Arlo started preschool and he absolutely LOST his mind. Several people then recommended this book and I immediately bought it. He totally understood the book, because he got SO sad when Mama Llama left. I swear, we read it about 100 times that first day and the next day he was SO MUCH BETTER!
3. We Don’t Eat Our Classmates by Ryan T Higgins: This is a book we got in our book box subscription and it’s cute and funny! All about a dinosaur named Penelope Rex as she starts school and learns (subtly) about boundaries and treating others how you want to be treated!
4. Hello Hello by Brendan Wenzel: Never has a book stayed at the #1 spot in Arlo’s mind as long as this one. It is HANDS DOWN his favorite, for about 6 months now. It’s a really sweet and simple book all about the diverse array of animals on this earth, and how they’re subtly connected through things like shapes, colors, size and patterns. The last page of the book shows ALL the animals and then there’s an index with each of their names at the back. Every time we read the book, we pick a few animals to identify and talk about. HE LIVES FOR IT!!! We both have the book memorized at this point.
5. Where Is/Donde Esta El Chavo by Patty Rodriguez & Ariana Stein: We’ve always loved Lil’ Libros which are bi-lingual board books that combine Latin American culture and simple children educational concepts like colors, shapes and basic vocabulary. This is the newest one in our collection!
6. Ha Visto A Mi Gato? / Where Is My Cat? by Eric Carle: Such a sweet bilingual book about a boy and his missing cat, as he travels all over the world asking everyone he meets if they know where his cat is! I love that this book is SUPER simple, making it an easy read for someone (like me) who is just starting out with learning Spanish.
7. Kindness Rules by Eunice Moyle + Sabrina Moyle: Arlo requests this book by saying “MORE RULES!” (Gonna remind him of that request when he’s a teenager… 😉 This book teaches kindness towards others and the importance of good manners. The illustrations are AMAZING and the colors are super bold and gorgeous!
8. We Are Family by Patricia Hegarty and Ryan Wheatcroft: I am always looking out for books that celebrate families of all kinds, so I was super happy when we received this is a gift! Each page shows all different families and how they do the same thing (like eating breakfast or dealing with hardships) and Arlo has fun looking at the pictures and talking about how the families are similar or different from ours!
9. Little Dinos Don’t Hit by Michael Doll and Adam Record: A few people recommended this series and hitting is definitely our biggest issue, so this is the one we read the most! They’re all board books that redirect and reinforce positive behavior instead of negative ones!
10. What Makes A Rainbow? by Betty Ann Schwartz: This is one of my mom’s favorite kids books to gift to kiddos, so we got it from her! It’s a board book all about teaching colors and essentially each time you flip a page, a new color ribbon appears until it forms a full rainbow at the end!
11. Love Makes A Family by Sophie Beer: Another book that focuses on showing all different types of families (two moms, two dads, one parent, grandparents, transracial, etc.) and how love is the most important thing in any family! I’m OBSESSED with the colorful illustrations and since it’s so graphic, I use the pictures to play some “I spy” type games with him too!
12. Pizza! An Interactive Recipe Book by Lotta Nieminen: We’ve long loved the taco version of this book and love the pizza now too! This series walks you through making a recipe with all different interactive and sensory elements for kids to play around with. These are great to have on hand for gifts!
Sarah says
My daughter loves Gazpacho for Nacho, a very fun book about a boy who only wants to eat gazpacho soup for every meal. It weaves Spanish in with English and rhymes too with the bilingual writing, it is so fun to read!
Lily says
Oh my god, I LIVED for What Makes a Rainbow as a child. The ribbons are just so, so cool.
Bethany says
We picked this book up at the library a few months ago and LOVED it! We were all sad to take it back… may have to make it a permanent member of our library… 🙂
another momma says
Check out the series: “hands are not for hitting”, “feet are not for kicking”, “diapers are not forever”, “teeth are not for biting”. They have board book versions that are great for younger kids. We still reference them with my son at age 3.
Hands Are Not for Hitting (Board Book) (Best Behavior Series) Board book – February 15, 2002 by Martine Agassi Ph.D. (Author), Marieka Heinlen (Illustrator)
https://www.amazon.com/Hands-Hitting-Board-Book-Behavior/dp/157542200X/ref=sr_1_1?qid=1560891618&refinements=p_27%3AMarieka+Heinlen&s=books&sr=1-1&text=Marieka+Heinlen
Embed1956 says
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