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children begin to learn from the day they are born and assimilate their environment. It’s great if parents read to their children from a young age as it can help a lot with the child’s vocabulary and language comprehension. naturally, there are different books for different ages. baby books are different from toddler books.
You are reading: Best books for 1 year olds
A one-year-old’s reading level will still be near zero, but reading still familiarizes them with the letters and words on the page. maybe you are trying to teach them the letters of the alphabet or their name? At this stage, children can begin to point to things in books that they recognize.
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In general, there will be more opportunities for interaction. we recommend books with very few sentences and lots of large pictures or even things like textures or sounds to explore in the book itself.
There are different types of books for young children. if you want to read to your child while they’re on your lap, a regular hardcover book is perfectly fine. If you want them to be able to read and interact with the book on their own, you should consider board books because they have thick pages that are much sturdier for playing with the book.
our favorite books for 1 year olds:
the very hungry caterpillar
around the farm
pick-who?
my first library
see, touch and feel: a first sensory book
the wonderful things you will be
good night moon
I love you to the moon and back
little blue truck leads the way
dear zoo
make faces: a first book of emotions
brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?
baby ditty sound books: nursery rhymes
Are you worried that your child doesn’t like to read?
Not everyone has a child who likes to read or is read to all the time. It often helps if you start reading to them very early and it becomes part of your family’s daily routine. this makes it simply part of the day, as it always has been.
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It’s also a great time to have fun together and bond between reader and child. make it fun by having different voices for different characters. if there is an animal or object that makes a sound, like a dog, a train, etc., try to imitate that sound.
Make sure your child has at least a few options to choose from for reading. As you may know, we recommend rotating toys, but the same goes for books. every week or so put the books out in the child’s room or playroom. this gives your child the excitement of seeing what is available this week and changes things up.
Notice if you notice your child really gravitates towards a specific book. maybe even ask them directly why they like this book specifically. if it’s because it’s about your favorite subject, has patches to feel textures, or something else, look for similar books that you might like.
Many books that are great for one-year-olds are also great for two-year-olds, but we also made an additional list of our favorite books for 2-year-olds.