Best Books for 1 Year Olds!

It’s never too early to introduce books to your child! Here are a few tips for introducing books to a baby:

1. Start with simple books with fewer words, bright colors, and bold illustrations. These will be the most engaging for your child at this age.
2. Make reading a fun and interactive experience. Point to the pictures and name the objects, and encourage your child to touch and explore the book.
3. Keep it short and sweet. At this age, your child’s attention span will be limited, so try to read one or two books at a time.
4. Make reading a daily routine. Set aside a few minutes each day to read together, and your child will soon come to love and look forward to this special time.
5. Don’t worry if your child doesn’t seem interested at first. Every child is different, and some may take longer to warm up to books. Keep offering books and reading together, and eventually, you’ll find the perfect book that gets your child more engaged.

Here Are A Handful of Very Popular Books That Are Perfect for One Year Olds:

1. “Goodnight Moon” by Margaret Wise Brown
2. “Guess How Much I Love You” by Sam McBratney
3. “Where’s Spot?” by Eric Hill
4. “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle
5. “The Going-to-Bed Book” by Sandra Boynton

These books all have simple, repetitive text and bright, engaging illustrations that are perfect for one-year-olds. They are also interactive, with textures, flaps, and other features that encourage children to touch and explore. Read below for additional books that focus on certain skills or interests.

Best Books for 1-year-olds to Practice Turning Pages

Here are a few ideas for books that are perfect for babies fingers and encourage them to practice turning the pages:

1. “The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog!” by Mo Willems
2. “Peek-a-Who?” by Nina Laden
3. “Dear Zoo: A Lift-the-Flap Book” by Rod Campbell
4. “I Love You to the Moon and Back” by Amelia Hepworth
5. “Where is Baby’s Belly Button?” by Karen Katz

These books all have thick durable pages and some have flaps, tabs, or other interactive features that encourage babies to turn the pages. They are also colorful, engaging, and full of exciting illustrations and text that will hold your baby’s attention.

Our Pick For This Category Is:

“The Snowy Day” by Ezra Jack Keats

Things to Love:

This is a timeless classic and a very sweet book! Every generation can relate to Peter’s joy in experiencing the winter wonderland of a snow day.

Things to Know:

Out of 9,170 reviews, 92% give this book 5 stars!

Best Books for 1-year-olds for Sensory Development

Here are some suggestions for books that are perfect for promoting sensory development in one-year-olds:

1. “Pat the Bunny” by Dorothy Kunhardt – This classic touch-and-feel book features a variety of textures for your child to explore, including soft bunny fur and a scratchy whisker.
2. “Tails” by Matthew Van Fleet – This book features pop-ups, lift-the-flaps, and other tactile elements that will engage your child’s sense of touch.
3. “See,Touch, Feel: A First Sensory Book” by Roger Priddy- This durable board book is full of happy babies, textures, mirrors, and finger trails to trace. Each page has bright pictures illustrating sensory play that invite babies to touch and explore.
4. “TouchThinkLearn: Colors” by Xavier Deneux – This beautifully designed book uses raised textures and simple illustrations to teach children about colors.
5. “That’s Not My Dragon…” by Fiona Watt – This (not scary) dragon book has you journey the many textures of a dragon’s body while following a cute short story.

Our Pick for This Category Is:

“Baby Animals” by Roger Priddy

Things to Love:

There are many touch-and-feel books with animals, but this cute baby book has rave reviews talking about how much babies and toddlers love it.

Things to Know:

This book is rated at a 4.8 and has over 13,500 reviews! It was written by Roger Priddy, a best-selling author with over 200 children’s books, and has his consistent mark of quality.

Best Books for 1-year-olds to Learn to Recognize Simple Objects

Here’s some suggestions for books that are perfect for helping babies to recognize simple objects:

1. “Where’s Spot?” by Eric Hill – This classic lift-the-flap book features a fun game of hide-and-seek, with simple illustrations of everyday objects that your child can look for and identify.
2. “First 100 Words” by Roger Priddy – This colorful book features large, clear photographs of common objects, along with their names, to help your child recognize and name familiar things.
3. “My Big Animal Book” by Roger Priddy – This large, sturdy board book features bold, colorful illustrations of a variety of animals, along with their names, to help your child recognize and name different animals.
4. “Look, Look!” by Peter Linenthal and Karen Ritz – This simple and charming book features high-contrast black-and-white illustrations perfect for baby’s eyes.
5. “Peekaboo Morning” by Rachel Isadora – This playful book follows a toddler playing peekaboo and identifying some of his favorite people and toys.

Our Pick for This Category Is:

“My First Words: Let’s Get Talking!” by DK

Things to Love:

We think this review sums it up:

A fantastic first words picture book as it has bright and colorful photos that are engaging for babies and toddlers. This book has been one of my 21 month old son’s favorite books for a while. If you get only one book from the DK Tabbed Board Book series, this is the one to get.

Things to Know:

This book has a rating of 4.8, photo-realistic illustrations, and is larger than many other board books at 9” x 9”. It’s also part of a 15-book collection, so if you love it, there’s plenty more to read!

Best Books for 1-year-olds to Learn to Count

Here are a few suggestions for books that are perfect for helping babies to learn to count:

1. “Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes” by Mem Fox – This sweet and gentle rhyming book features illustrations of babies from around the world, and encourages children to count along as each baby’s fingers and toes are counted.
2. “Baby, Let’s Count!” by Ekaterina Trukhan- This rip-proof, waterproof, safe-to-chew book counts animals with simple phrases that are easy to read.
3. “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle – This classic book follows the journey of a hungry caterpillar as it eats its way through a variety of foods, and encourages children to count along as each food is eaten.
4. “Good Night First Counting” by Dawn Nesting- This is another “indestructible” baby book that can be washed. The pictures are cute and simple for baby to follow, and this Lamaze product has a built-in teether for a spine.
5. “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom” by Bill Martin Jr.- Your child’s bookshelf should always have a space for this funny classic alphabet book that’s been a favorite for over 30 years!

Our Pick for This Category Is:

“Count with Blue” by Dave Aikins

What We Love About It:

Most of the rave reviews are focused on how loved Blue’s Clues is and how their children were excited to read the book because it had Blue in it. Many people also mentioned how cute the picnic story is. Who doesn’t love a picnic right?

Things to Know:

92% of reviewers give it 5 stars. There’s a whole set of Blue’s Clues books that you can look for after seeing how much your baby loves this one!

Best Books for a 1-year Old In the Bath

Here are some suggestions for books that make bath time more fun:

1. “Splish! Splash! Bath!” by Kathy Broderick- This floating bath book by Baby Einstein focuses on cartoon sea creatures, simple words, and peaceful pictures.
2. “The Rainbow Fish” by Marcus Pfister- This is a waterproof bath book with the same foil-stamped fish that children have loved for years.
3. “Bath Time with Blue” by Editors of Phoenix International Publications- This bathtime book brings Nickelodeon’s Blue’s Clues to your childs bathing experience.
4. “Splishy Fishy!” by Editors of Phoenix International Publications- This tub book includes some Disney favorites like Ariel and Nemo that your little one will be excited to take a swim with.
5. “Color Me: Who’s in the Ocean?” by Surya Sajnani- The black and white pages of this ocean-themed bath book magically come to life as water brings color to the pictures.

Our Pick for This Category Is:

“Baby Einstein – Rainbow Bath!” by Rachel Halpern

Things to Love:

We have owned this book for years and can verify that it’s both adorable and durable.

Things to Know:

This Baby Einstein waterproof book focuses on teaching colors while bathing and makes a pretty good distraction if you need to do the dreaded hair rinse.

Best Books for 1-year-olds for Lift-the-Flap

Here are a few suggestions for peek-a-boo books that are perfect for young children:

1. “Babies in the Forest” by Ginger Swift- Practice critical motor skills with this lift-a-flap board book that explores sweet forest animals.
2. “Oh Dear!: A Farm Lift-the-Flap Book” by Rod Campbell- The author of “Dear Zoo” brings us this cute farm story that follows a search for eggs for breakfast.
3. “Trucks” by Roger Priddy- This book shows different types of trucks with easy to understand explanations and plenty of flaps for little fingers to lift.
4. “Peek-a-Boo! I Love You” by Sandra Magsamen – This sweet and gentle book features adorable illustrations and lift-the-flaps that reveal hidden surprises and encourage your child to guess who is hiding behind each flap.
5. “Pop-up peekaboo: Under the Sea” by DK- Stripy fish shows your little one around the ocean with creatures hiding behind flaps and pop-ups that add extra fun!

Our Pick for This Category Is:

“Who: Peek-a-flap board book” by Jaye Garnett

Things to Love:

This book was designed to be loved from ages one through three and the reviews prove that even toddlers really enjoy it, so you don’t have to worry about baby growing out of this as fast as their onesies!

Things to Know:

“Lifting flaps encourages the use of fine motor skills and the content-rich text builds vocabulary.”

Best Books for 1-year-olds to Learn Colors

Here are some suggestions for books that are perfect for helping children learn colors:

1. “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” by Bill Martin Jr. – This classic story features a series of colorful illustrations and simple, repetitive text that is perfect for helping children learn colors.
2. “My Very First Book of Colors” by Eric Carle – This beautifully illustrated book has a unique feature where the top half of the book has colors and you need to flip through them to match the color of the picture on the bottom half.
3. “The Color Monster” by Anna Llenas – This playful and engaging book follows the story of a monster who is feeling confused and mixed-up, and helps children to understand and identify different emotions and colors.
4. “Rainbow Fish” by Marcus Pfister – This beautiful and colorful book follows the story of a fish who learns the importance of sharing and kindness, and features a variety of vibrant colors that will engage and inspire young children.
5. “Red: A Crayon’s Story” by Michael Hall – This creative and thought-provoking book follows the story of a red crayon who is struggling to be the color that others expect him to be, and is a great way to introduce children to the idea of individuality and self-expression.

Our Pick for This Category Is:

“Babies Love Colors” by Michelle Rhodes-Conway

Things to Love:

This book isn’t just colorful, it’s durable too. The pages and flaps are thick, durable, and can handle baby’s pulling.

Things to Know:

This book has a 4.9 rating with almost 3,000 reviews, so you know it’s sure to be a hit. It’s part of a 19 book lift-a-flap collection by Babies Love.

Best Books for 1-year-olds: Box Sets

Here are three of the most popular book box sets for baby:

1. “First 100 Box Set” by Roger Priddy – This boxed set includes three board books that feature large, clear photographs of common objects, along with their names, to help your child learn to recognize and name familiar things.
2. “World of Eric Carle: My First Library 12 Board Book Set” by Eric Carle – This boxed set includes 12 board books with six being “Look and Find” and six “Here, There, and Everywhere” books that cover a wide range of everyday objects and topics that help babies and toddlers understand the world.
3. “The Little Blue Box of Bright and Early Board Books” by Dr. Seuss- It’s never too early for Dr. Seuss with this delightful collection of four board books. The small blue box with a handle makes it fun for your little one to both read and carry around.

Our Pick for This Category Is:

“My First Library : Boxset of 10 Board Books for Kids” by Wonder House Books

Things to Love:

This box set covers all of the essential topics in the 10 books included. They’re sized right for little hands and full of bright colors.

Things to Know:

This is rated at a 4.6 with over 65,000 reviews!

Best Farm Themed Book for 1-year-olds

Here are five of the top farm themed books for your little one:

1. “Night Night Farm” by Roger Priddy- Baby’s eyes will love the glow-in-the-dark stars featured in this sweet nighttime story at the farm.
2. “Barnyard Dance!” by Sandra Boynton – This fun farm themed book will have you and your child dancing with the barn animals in no time.
3. “Open the Barn Door” by Christopher Santoro- This chunky little board book has 10 thick lift-the-flaps and beautiful illustrations to explore farm life.
4. “Around The Farm” by Eric Carle – This fun book has 30 different sound buttons to help your little one experience the farm.
5. “I’ll Love You Till the Cows Come Home” by Kathryn Cristaldi- This book may remind you of “Guess How Much I Love you?” but it’s unique, funny, and beautifully illustrated.

Our Pick for This Category Is:

“Little Blue Truck” by Alice Schertle

Things to Love:

This book is fun to read for parents and children alike and your toddlers will love making the noises along with you.

Things to Know:

This is the first book in what has grown to be a large collection. All 9 books have solid but simple lessons, noises toddlers love making, and illustrations everyone can enjoy.

Remember to have fun with reading! You don’t have to wait for a bedtime story to sit down with your baby or toddler with the perfect book. There are interactive books and fun rhymes that can be read when wide awake and full of energy. If your baby is too restless to sit still, just grab a sensory book to help hold their attention. When you make a habit of reading to your baby, it becomes fun for the whole family.

Popular questions asked about baby books: