Inside: Interactive books for toddlers and big kids have tons of developmental benefits, and these are some of our very favorites. If you want your children to fall in love with reading, you’ll want to check out these interactive books, stat!
Interactive Books Are Must-Haves for Your Child’s Bookshelves!
If you have a baby or toddler in your home, it is absolutely imperative that you have interactive books on your shelves. These are some of the most important types of books you can give to a child, not only for the way they help boost their developmental skills, but also for the way they help foster a love of reading and support early literacy.
Interactive Books for Toddlers Support Development!
When sharing interactive books with your children, you are boosting their development in such important ways.
- First, interactive board books are incredibly engaging and capture children’s interest and curiosity. When your little ones bat at pages, look for hidden characters, and actively participate in stories, you’re creating the building blocks for reading and writing development!
- Second, many interactive books include pull tabs, die-cut pages, moving parts, and different textures. These elements create fabulous sensory experiences and are important for boosting sensory development!
- Finally, interactive books are fabulous for fine motor development. When your little one pulls tabs, lifts flaps, and traces her finger along die-cut pages and grooved paths, you are enhancing fine motor skills. Without it feeling like “work,” you are working on finger isolation and building that all-important pincer grasp!
These Books Help Kids Fall in Love with Reading
Above all else, I firmly believe that interactive books will help your little ones fall in love with reading. When your children are actively participating in storytime, engaging with the pages, and delighting at the surprises that pop up from under flaps they lift themselves, they experience, firsthand, the wonder of story. And when they realize that books provide avenues for entertainment, wonder, and amusement, you will hook them right then and there.
So what are you waiting for? Grab the below books for your babies, toddlers, and big kids too, and have fun watching your children explore the magical world of interactive board books. Enjoy!
Frequently Asked Questions
An interactive book is any type of story that allows the reader to engage directly with the story. They encourage kids to interact with and participate in the story by pulling or lifting tabs, touching different textures, or even blowing on or shaking the book. Readers also get to make choices about the story as they read, offering children a chance to hone their decision-making skills, too.
Yes! Books that encourage children to touch, grab, pull, and trace are excellent for helping children perfect their fine-motor skills. Not only do these stories bring books to life and encourage hands-on learning, but they also make following directions loads of fun as they get to witness how particular characters respond to their commands
Press Here, by Herve Tullet, will forever be a favorite interactive book for toddlers and young kids. It is magical, and children delight in watching how the dots in the book change size, color and position based on their every command. Through story and interaction, kids learn about cause and effect. Watching their eyes light up as the dots respond to their instructions is priceless.
Our Favorite Interactive Books for Toddlers
This book is genius! Think of hiding a small object in one of your tightly-fisted palms and asking your kiddo to guess which hand the object is in. Well, Guess Which Hand is exactly that — in board book form with a wheel to turn and flaps to lift. This is one of my favorite books for 2-year-olds. As a result, it has become a go-to book for baby showers because of the joy and wonder it elicits in little ones!
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his is a touchy-feely concept book, teaching kids how to count while also giving them a way to work their fine motor skills with a pull tab that makes the alligator’s mouth open and close. This book is a total winner for the younger set, and it will have your kids chomp, chomp, chomping all day long! Such a fun interactive book for toddlers, and your kids won’t be able to keep their hands off of it!
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ittle readers will trace lines with their fingers to promote fine motor activities, play memory games while learning shapes, and learn left from right through clever tabs. This is such an engaging book that offers a different learning experience on every page! Part concept book, part interactive book for toddlers, and so wholly engaging. For our full review of Press Here, click here!
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If you have a child who has a hard time sitting still during story time, she will absolutely love getting active and following along with the animals in this classic interactive board book. In this energetic story, giraffes can bend their necks, buffalos can raise their shoulders, and penguins can turn their heads. But can you do it? Kids will love listening to the ways in which various animals move their bodies and then try to mimic those movements. We can’t get enough of this one, and it’s a favorite among my students!
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Little hands will get a workout with this fabulous book. Why? It encourages toddlers to trace their fingers along grooved paths that zig and zag and twist and turn. Our littlest readers are encouraged to play and explore in this hands-on book that provides young kids with an amazing multi-sensory experience. An awesome book to enhance our children’s fine motor skills!
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Both of my kids were absolutely enamored with Usborne’s “touchy-feely” books, particularly the “That’s not my…” series, and I can say with out a doubt that these tactile, interactive books for toddlers are some of the best board books out there. Each book in this series features an animal, person or object combined with simple repetitive text. Each page invites tiny fingers to explore various different textures (fuzzy, rough, soft, bumpy, etc). The books are sturdy and well built, the illustrations are bright and fun, and the textures help develop and stimulate sensory skills.
If you want your kids to wiggle and laugh, they will love this interactive board book in which a little chick learns to dance from one awesome band of animals. This book is such a delight, with tabs that, among other things, make the alligator’s arms swing and the hippo’s skirt swish. We simply adore Van Fleet’s work, including another one of our favorites, Tails.
This is one of the most treasured stories on our shelf, and the very best board book to teach counting for the way it encourages affection and play between parent and child. In this story, a tired baby is getting ready for bed. What follows is a countdown of kisses given to the baby by all members of her family, starting on the baby’s tiny toes, then going up to her belly button and onto the top of her head… Until, of course, the baby falls sound asleep.
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Kids will absolutely adore giving “hi” fives to all of the animals that greet them in this adorable book. From animal sounds to bright pictures to interactive fun on every page, your toddlers won’t stop wanting to high five, and this engaging book will have your kids giggling long after the final page. Such a fun board book for your littles!
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Kiddos will love learning with this unique book, complete with two interactive spinners that allow them to create colors right in the middle of the flower. This book is a gem for teaching toddlers colors and color mixing, because its two different wheels make it easy to show what happens when, for example, red and yellow are mixed to create orange!
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If you love finger puppet books, you will adore both this book and Hug Me Little Bear! We love the way these books explore the various things parents can do with their little ones, from hugging to playing to sharing. Such a fun interactive book for toddlers, and we just love it!
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Where oh where is hoppity frog? Is he in the reeds or coral reef? Your kids will love the interactive sliders in this book that allow them to reveal hidden animals and play hide and seek with hoppity frog. Children delight at guessing which animal may pop up to greet them, and they eagerly await a hoppity frog sighting. Adorable!
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I am so very much in love with this stellar and innovative series of interactive board books. This one allows your kiddos to move a bird from nest to tree and all around the pages as it celebrates the life cycle of a charming bird! Simple and sturdy with movable parts, we can’t get enough of these books. We also adore Vehicles in the same series!
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If you and your kids are nature lovers, you will love this book that transforms into a standing bee hive! Children can “fly” two bees through this book’s charming pages that will teach your toddlers all about those hard-working honey bees — and how honey is made, too!
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We love these sturdy tabs that encourage kids to push and pull in order to learn about the body. This book has a lot of text, but you can choose to read small portions of it for your littlest kids and or all of it for your older ones. It is a fabulous introduction to the human body, teaching kids about the five senses, their skeletons, and how to take care of themselves. Such fun interaction, and your kids will love figuring out which direction to pull the tabs!
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Oh, how I love this concept book! Encouraging even our littlest children to learn about and discuss their feelings is so important, even at tender young ages. Using pull tabs, kids will be excited to identify and learn to vocalize how Little Crocodile and his friends are feeling on each page. We love this one!
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Interactive Books for Bigger Kids
This innovative book allows your child to be the grand master of the “story.” The reader is invited to press, shake, tap, blow and clap, watching with wonder as multi-colored dots “respond” to his physical input by multiplying, changing sizes/colors, and traveling around the pages. Your child will, without a doubt, eat this up book up! And you? You will be in heaven as you watch your kiddo squeal with delight as he interacts with the dots on every page. It is a great book to help kids learn how to follow a simple sequence of instructions, and it is also a helpful tool to teach children about cause and effect in a fun and unique manner. For our full review of Press Here, click here!
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Your kids will learn all about the four seasons with this fabulous interactive book that requires you to shake, wiggle, and tap its pages — and even blow it kisses! Little ones will marvel at the way their efforts help one little tree change with each season. Talk about magic! If you love this one, you will also love the other two books in this great series, Plant the Tiny Seed and Touch the Brightest Star.
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Bunny is going to conquer the bunny slopes, but he needs your help! Shake the book to make it snow, tilt it to help bunny down the slope, and turn it this way and that to help Bunny get out of the way of obstacles in his path! This is one of our most cherished interactive books, as we love the way it makes readers the master of the story in an effort to help Bunny down the mountain.
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Bruce is back in this laugh-out-loud funny interactive book! Everyone’s favorite grumpy bear is irritated once again, as three fun-loving and exuberant mice take readers on a journey that Bruce isn’t quite sure he wants to experience! As readers shake and flip the book while following the mice’s hilarious instructions, you’ll all be laughing as Bruce stumbles and falls and you end up with an up-close and personal view inside his nose!
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Oh no. There’s a bug on your nose. It’s tickling you. And now it’s going in your shirt! Eeeek! If you make a scary face, will that bug go away? What if you do a chicken dance? Perfect for pre-K and kindergarteners, this one never fails to have my students laughing out loud during storytime!
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This ingenious bedtime book by the late AKR is fabulous. Can your kids rise to the challenge and refrain from blinking in one heck of a staring contest? I guarantee they will do everything in their power to pass the test however they can, because if they can get to the end of the book without blinking, they win a very coveted prize: they get to avoid bedtime! This one is guaranteed to make your kids laugh — and you too!
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Your kids will discover the lost art of the high five. And thankfully, just in time! The annual high five competition is fast approaching, and if your little ones practice their skills and finesse enough, they just may be able to participate. So what you are waiting for? Brush off those palms, shake out those fingers, think about your trademark moves, and let’s get fiving!
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I had a hard time reading this one in school because both my students and I were laughing so hard, I could barely get through the book! This zany, interactive read-aloud is perfect for a fun afternoon when you are totally ok with letting your kids and students get a little bit bonkers. They will not stop laughing as they help you tell the story and follow the reader’s prompts. They will not stop giggling, and they will think this book is magic, I promise. Love this one for the kindergarten set!
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