Hellobee

Charlie has always loved reading since he was an itty bitty baby. We started reading 3-4 books to him before every nap at 4 months as part of his routine, so he usually “read” 10+ books every day. His favorite gift from his first birthday was this set of Baby Einstein Alphabooks. He memorized his favorite books like Room on the Broom from cover to cover. And every night, he can never have enough books read to him before bedtime.

When Olive came along, I expected her to have the same love of books her older brother did. Alas getting her interested in books has been one of our biggest challenges! Up until she started talking, she was only interested in playing with flap or texture books, and not even for very long at that. I have no issue with these type of interactive books, but the problem was that Olive wasn’t really listening to the words and was only interested in opening the flaps and turning the pages. But once she became more verbal and understood storylines better, interactive books were really fundamental to igniting her interest in books. These are some of our favorite interactive books for babies and toddlers!

Where’s Spot? – This book was a turning point for Olive. Because interactive books were the only ones that held Olive’s attention (if only for a short amount of time), we read them over and over again. In this book, Spot’s mom looks for him around the house (and under flaps). She asks questions like, “Is he in the piano?” And under each flap, an animal answers, “No.” One day when we were reading this book, Olive started saying “no” after each question. She was finally interested in a book for its story instead of the flaps!

Dear Zoo – This classic lift the flap books remains a favorite in our household and is a great way to teach kids about animals.

DK My First Words – Though these are flashcards, they have textures on each one. Both Charlie and Olive have loved these — at first it was the fun of taking them in and out of the box — but later it helped them learn the words. We also have Things that Go and Animals in this series, and Colors and Shapes and Numbers and Counting are also available.

That’s Not My Monster – This book has great textures and is a quick, fun read for babies from birth+. I’d definitely get more books in this series like Puppy, Monkey and Bunny because both Charlie and Olive have enjoyed it so much.

Press Here – The premise of this book is so simple — each page has yellow, red, or blue dots on it, along with instructions on which ones to press. But it’s such a fun book, and a great way to teach primary colors. This is not a board book though, so I’d recommend it for 18 months+.

The Cheerios Play Book – I think every baby and toddler will love this book. Each page has various circles (like sunglasses) where you can insert Cheerios. Adding an eating element to reading is sure to keep your little one’s interest. They have several different renditions including animals, Halloween, and Christmas.

Tails – This book definitely topped both Charlie and Olive’s favorite list. The textures and interactive elements are so much more intricate than most other books out there. We own several of Matthew Van Fleet’s interactive books including Dogs and Alphabet, and they’re always hits.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar – This classic book simply has holes in it to represent the different foods the caterpillar eats through. But the holes are the perfect size for little fingers to stick through.

DwellStudio Touch and Feel – This is a very simple texture book for babies, but Olive loved this. We have the town version, but it also comes in zoo and farm.

Where is Baby’s Belly Button – You can’t go wrong with this classic lift the flap book that teaches various body parts. There are several other renditions — Olive loves the Halloween version, but there are also ones for fall, Christmas and many other occasions.

Fisher Price How Big? – I learned about this book through Mrs. Hide and Seek. It’s a simple lift the flap book that shows pictures of bigger and bigger babies. I think babies love it because they love looking at pictures of other babies.

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One thing I’ve found with both kids is that if the book has too many flaps on one page, it’s harder for them to focus, so I really prefer books with one interactive element per page.

Is your little one a fan of interactive books? Which ones are their favorite?