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15 Best Books for Learning with Baby

15 Best Books for Learning with Baby

 

As parents we all want to give our children the best start and we all take different approaches. There is a surprising amount of controversy in the parenting world over everything from how and what to feed your child to how to educate your child best. Parents are passionate about how they raise their children, and honestly that isn’t a bad thing! One behaviour all parents should be able to agree on is the importance of reading to your baby from birth on.

Babies and children learn best when they are able to interact back and forth with an adult and reading together is a great way to actively do this outside of just talking to your baby throughout the day.  When you read you adjust your intonation and interactive behaviour based on the book and your child’s reaction – it’s a great way for your infant or toddler to learn language and important social skills!

baby-boutique-button-185x185The following books are a collection of best-selling board books from DK publishing that will help you and your baby explore the world and learn together.  I’ve also included a great book full of activities that will get you more interactive with your baby from day one on to their birthday.  You can find more great titles in DK Canada’s Baby Boutique.

15 Best Books for Learning with Baby

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Baby Play for Every Day – Susannah Steel

New parents take heart — you can boost your baby’s development, bond with your newborn and infant, and get back into shape after pregnancy through play! Baby Play for Every Day highlights a simple baby play activity for every day of the year, so you can combine bonding and baby development while having fun with your new baby. There’s no need to turn to boring, theoretical books on development or do complicated exercises to boost your baby’s development. Instead, have fun, and get back into shape with simple newborn activities.

Baby Play for Every Day is full of colorful pages that illustrate activities and baby games for every day of the year. The games are paired with baby ages, so you’ll make the most of your baby’s emerging interests and abilities, from newborn to infancy. And Baby Play for Every Day includes energizing smoothie recipes for new parents, diaper-bag tips for best packing, and parenting quizzes. After all, the best possible tool for baby development is happy, confident parents!

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This book is now my go-to baby shower gift.  It is full of ideas to keep your baby entertained from day 1 on.  Most new parents just don’t know what to do with day after day filled with a new baby, this book helps alleviate that problem and offers great activities!  Most of the activities are also perfect for skill development which is almost as important as having fun.

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Follow the Trail: Farm

Follow the Trail: Farm includes activities that teach preschoolers about shapes, sorting, and matching, as well as developing their hand-eye coordination and pre-writing skills. With trails that let toddlers circle the wheel of a tractor, trails that lead around the farm, and trails that connect farm animals and the products they give us, Follow the Trail: Farm is perfect for hands-on learning.

Preschoolers will love using their fingers to follow the shiny trails in DK’s new Follow the Trail series. With six double-page spreads full of exciting photographs, each title in the Follow the Trail series is perfect for sensory play and building fine motor skills.

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This is a fun book for infants through to pre-school age and can help with fine motor skill development as well as learning about farming and animals.  It’s also quite fun too 😉

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Follow the Trail: Baby Animals

Follow the Trail: Baby Animals includes activities that teach preschoolers about shapes, sorting, and matching, as well as developing their hand-eye coordination and pre-writing skills. With trails that let toddlers follow the shapes of bunny and kitten ears, a trail that connects a caterpillar to a butterfly, and trails that let mommy animals find their babies, Follow the Trail: Baby Animals is perfect for hands-on learning.

Preschoolers will love using their fingers to follow the shiny trails in DK’s new Follow the Trail series. With six double-page spreads full of exciting photographs, each title in the Follow the Trail series is perfect for sensory play and building fine motor skills.

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This book pairs well with the Farm book and focuses more on animals while learning about shapes and building on motor skills. 

 

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Sophie La Girafe: Sophie on the Move

Take a ride with Sophie and her friends in Sophie la girafe: On the Move!

Sophie explores different types of transportation from on the road in a car to up in the sky in a plane in this all new board book. Packed with bright images and tactile touch and feel elements, Sophie la girafe: On the Move is ideal for new parents to help build their children’s early learning and imagination.

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Learn about the different ways to go while baby is engaged by all the different elements from a shiny car to crinkly windows on a submarine.  This is a fun title featuring your baby’s favourite pal – Sophie!

 

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Sophie La Girafe: Hide and Seek

Where did Sophie go? Help your little reader find their favorite toy in Sophie la girafe: Hide and Seek. This chunky, beautifully illustrated board book features six easy-to-grab tabs and flaps that keep children entertained as they play hide and seek with Sophie and her friends around her house.

 

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Babies love Peek-a-boo and this book makes the concept so much fun.  Plus the book is built pretty sturdy so it will actually be able to withstand your excited baby flipping through the pages and tabs. 

 

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Pull the Tab: Colors

Colors is filled with vibrant photographs and illustrations of objects and animals, so children can learn all the colors of the rainbow. Objects are shown in a real-world context, with clear word labels, simple rhyming text, and pull-the-tab surprises. This early-learning title is a fun and engaging choice for babies to start discovering the colorful world around them.

Make learning fun with Pull the Tab board books! Pull the Tab board books introduce first concepts like colors, first words, numbers, and more with fun surprises hiding under every tab. Children will love the guessing games and the pull-the-tab activities, while the lively, rhyming text is perfect for a grown-up to read aloud. Repeated phrases allow preschoolers to join in and make reading fun.

 

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The concept is so simple but it is truly engaging. Baby will love all the pull tabs and the changing images as they learn about colours along the way.

 

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Pull the tab: Numbers

Numbers is a Pull the Tab book that introduces first numbers and counting to babies and toddlers. With clear word labels and simple, rhyming text, plus vibrant photography of everyday objects including cars, fish, and items found in the home, this early-learning title is perfect for anyone wanting a fun, interactive book to read with a toddler learning to count.

 

This is the same concept as the colour book, but teaches numbers.  The great part about these books is that the elements of the book really engage baby which helps them pick up the concepts easier.  In this case numbers.

 

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Baby Faces

Look at all the baby faces with Baby Faces. Make a happy face with a smiling baby or make a sad face with a crying baby. Baby Faces is the ideal first board book for your baby. Read along with your little one to introduce common expressions on sweet baby faces for your baby to look at! With crystal-clear photos, read-aloud text, and an extra-special twinkle on every page, Baby Faces engages young babies with singsong rhymes and bright, colorful pages.

The Baby Sparkle series features appealing early-learning themes — bedtime, baby faces, animals, and more. Each title has six sparkly, double-page spreads, designed to attract babies in the youngest age group (0 – 6 months). With lots to encourage playful interaction between parent and child, including singsongy rhymes and animal noises, these stimulating first books are a joy to share, and filled with high-quality real-world baby learning.

 

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Babies love faces and this book is perfect for newborns and on.  Each spread features sparkly patterns, a baby making a face and simple rhyming text.  I am sure this book is a good first step towards socialising baby and certainly teaches them to recognize different emotions.

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Baby Night-night

Say good night with Baby Night-night. See the teddy bear get ready for bed and the baby after his bath in this ideal first board book for your baby. Read along with your little one to share a special bedtime story and create a fun bedtime routine.

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This one is similar to the baby faces but centred around setting up a bedtime routine and would be a great way to get baby more excited about bedtime.

 

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My First Pets

In My First Pets, kids learn about different kinds of pets, from dogs to rabbits to fish, and they learn about how each pet eats, sleeps, and plays. This informational pet board book features a variety of familiar animal pets with clear, informational labels that tell readers about each animal’s daily life, as well as some exciting facts in each spread. The images are labeled clearly and promote early learning and language skills. The books are a sturdy format that is ideal for small hands to hold and carry, and the pages are filled with a distinctive, iconic design. The books can be read either alone or with an adult, and encourage learning on your own. My First Pets is the perfect animal book for kids!

This revamp of DK’s most successful board books series includes updated photography, contemporary design, and an insightful approach to engaging preschoolers. With charming, bold design, clear labels, and a wide variety of topics, these first learning books encourage children to build the vocabulary and language skills that form the foundation of early education. DK’s iconic My First board book series not only provides a collection of educational information books that children can refer back to again and again, but also offers a first taste of independent learning.

 

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Little ones love animals and this is a great way to introduce them to the concept of pets.

 

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My First Tractor

In My First Tractor, kids learn about the different types of their favorite tractors, and their colors and uses. The book also includes counting and color-matching activities. This informational book features high-quality and engaging pictures of tractors. Each spread has exciting facts and different labels for each part of the tractor. The images are labeled clearly and promote early learning and language skills. The books are a sturdy format that is ideal for small hands to hold and carry, and the pages are filled with a distinctive, iconic design. The books can be read either alone or with an adult, and encourage learning on your own. Learn about tractors all through the year with My First Tractor!

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This book is a fun platform to talk about colours, shapes, opposites and types of tractors/equipment.  It’s a great choice for babies who love cars and trucks – which in my experience is all babies.

 

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My First Body

Children can learn about their body in My First Body, an informational board book featuring images illustrating parts of the body. The bold, visual images are labeled clearly and promote early learning and language skills. The books are a sturdy format that is ideal for small hands to hold and carry, and the pages are filled with a distinctive, iconic design. The books can be read either alone or with an adult, and encourage learning on your own. Explore the amazing human body in My First Body.

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Babies love learning about their body parts and enjoy pointing them our and naming them.  Nose was among the first words my girls said.  This book is a great way to talk about body parts!

 

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My First Dinosaur

Dinosaurs for kids! In My First Dinosaur, children will read about the sheer size and power of a T-Rex and see the spikes and club tail on a Stegosaurus. This informational board book features a variety of dinosaurs with clear, informational labels that tell readers about their bodies and teeth, as well as some exciting facts about each type of dinosaur. The images are labeled clearly and promote early learning and language skills. The books are a sturdy format that is ideal for small hands to hold and carry, and the pages are filled with a distinctive, iconic design. The books can be read either alone or with an adult, and encourage learning on your own. Embrace your inner paleontologist with My First Dinosaur!

 

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We’ve been watching a lot of Dinsosaur stuff lately – Dinosaur train, The land before time and yesterday the girls wanted to watch The Good Dinosaur 3 times!  When I first opened up this book with my youngest who just turned 2 she let out a blood curdling scream and clung to me because of the Tyrannosaurus grinning at us with his big teeth.  Of course it was an act as seconds later she was giggling over it.  We then spent ages looking through this little board book and talking about the dinosaur names, what they ate,  how big they are compared to her etc.. It was a lot of fun and really sparked her imagination and got her talking.  She absolutely adores this book.

 

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My First French Book At Home

From making a meal to taking a bath, this is the perfect first bilingual book for parents and young children to share. Learning a second language can help to boost cognitive, memory, and listening skills, and early childhood is an ideal time to start.  With this book, it’s never been easier for parents to help their toddlers learn their first French words.

Each section features colourful, appealing images in a theme, simple labels in both English and French, and inviting questions to get your child thinking and talking in both languages.

 

 

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My First French Book Words

From toys to farm animals, shapes to things that go, this is the perfect first bilingual word book for parents and young children to share. Learning a second language can help to boost cognitive, memory, and listening skills, and early childhood is an ideal time to start. With this book, it’s never been easier for parents to help their toddlers learn their first French words.

Each section features colourful, appealing images in a theme, simple labels in both English and French, and inviting questions to get your child thinking and talking in both languages.

 

 

Debbie Denny

Saturday 12th of March 2016

Fantastic list to choose from. I need to pick up a few for my grandbaby.

Christie

Monday 7th of March 2016

i LOVE all of the colorful pictures in these baby books! Makes learning so much more interesting for them!

Shannon Gurnee

Sunday 6th of March 2016

These sound like some good books to read with babies! I had a few of these when my kids were babies!

Kiwi

Friday 4th of March 2016

Wow look at all of these vibrant colored books for babies! I think I gave some of these book away for new parents before.

Katherine G

Friday 4th of March 2016

This is a great book list. If I had babies I would read every book from this list to them.