If you’ve ever spent the day with a young child, you know it’s a roller coaster of emotions! young children are working hard to understand their big emotions and mood swings, while parents and other caregivers want to find ways to help children with their social-emotional development. reading children’s books about feelings written just for young children is a great place to start!
This list of books about feelings for toddlers designed specifically for short attention spans! These board books will help toddlers identify emotions and navigate complex feelings like anger, joy, sadness, frustration, anxiety and fear. Only when they are able to describe their feelings will toddlers learn to express control them appropriately. It’s a long journey, but well worth it to help little humans grow up with the emotional intelligence they need to be successful big humans!
You are reading: Toddler books about feelings
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MAD, MAD BEAR by Kimberley Gee
See Also: Mary Higgins Clark – Book Series In Order
find it: amazon | bookstore
It’s never too early to help children learn to recognize, name, and process their feelings. This charming, age-appropriate book does just that for the big scary emotions of anger and frustration. the bear is very angry because he had to leave the park early. when he gets home, he’s still having trouble coping with his big feelings, causing him to break down, but with a little help, he breathes, snacks, and rests, eventually coming out the other side.
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TRAP THE MONSTER by Agnese Baruzzi
See Also: Mary Higgins Clark – Book Series In Order
find it: amazon | bookstore
Trap the Monster is a clever board book to help young children think of tactics to deal with their fears and worries in a healthy way, using their imaginations! each page introduces a new monster, “if you’re afraid of the big bad wolf…” and tells the reader, “turn the page…” turning the page reveals a method of entrapment accompanied by praise. for example, “Great job! You sent him to jail!” different die-cut pages give clues about the trap so children can guess how they would like to deal with the monster. big fun!
JOY by Yasmeen Ismail
See Also: Mary Higgins Clark – Book Series In Order
find it: amazon | bookstore
In wonderful, boisterous, onomatopoeic language, readers will feel the joy of watching a cat play with its ball of yarn. “shake, rattle and roll, this happy soul!” but then! Oh no! a dog accidentally knocks him down the stairs, “oh no. this is bad, I feel sad.” Fortunately, the solution to battered feelings is at hand. A few hugs and kisses from mom tell little ones that their loved ones are always ready to soothe their difficult feelings.
RISSY, NO KISSIES by Katey Howes, illustrated by Jess Engle
See Also: Mary Higgins Clark – Book Series In Order
find it: amazon | bookstore
rissy no kissies teaches children to identify feelings about physical contact with others. Rissy comes from a family of lovebirds who love to show each other affection, but Rissy doesn’t like physical attention that much. she wonders if she’s normal, but her mother assures her that her need for physical limits is totally fine. This is a great book to help children deal with when they think they have different feelings than they are “supposed” to have.
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HAPPY HIPPO GRUMPY DUCK by Sandra Boynton
See Also: Mary Higgins Clark – Book Series In Order
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Is there a boynton book that isn’t amazing? it’s hard not to smile when you read his books. I can still recite many of them from memory. In this young children’s book about feelings, Boynton’s text asks the reader if he identifies with any of the animals, “Grumpy as a moose? Excited as a dog? Worried as a rabbit?” there’s a gentle reminder at the end that moods come and go, unless of course you’re the duck, “he’s always like that.” also available in Spanish.
OLLIE FEELS FINE by Toni Yuly
See Also: Mary Higgins Clark – Book Series In Order
find it: amazon | bookstore
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This brilliantly illustrated book helps young children navigate a day full of feelings and emotional ups and downs. Little listeners will love seeing how Ollie’s eyes and tentacles express how he’s feeling. The simple text gets right to the point, “Ollie is feeling cranky,” and readers scan the illustrations for what’s causing Ollie’s mood swing. he is nervous around the shark, or surprised by a big wave. This charming little book doesn’t forget to remind young children that one person (or an octopus) can even feel many conflicting emotions at once.
MY FIRST COMICS SERIES by Jennifer L. Holm, illustrated by Matthew Holm
find it: amazon | random penguin house
This series of board books is a great choice for young children who are already big bookworms and love to start conversations about what they see happening on the page. Each of the four titles gives caregivers a way to expand on the events that can trigger an emotional response in young children and the actions they might take. for example, in i’m grumpy, after a cloud drops its ice cream cone, the sun tries to cheer it up. that effort fails and the cloud turns into a storm, no doubt a metaphor for throwing a tantrum, eventually leading the cloud to apologize to the sun.
MAKING FACES photographs by Molly Magnusson
See Also: Mary Higgins Clark – Book Series In Order
find it: amazon | bookstore
making faces is another great picture board book for your little one to draw on. Text and photos of various facial expressions show five different emotions: happy, sad, surprised, silly, and angry. The text invites adults to interact with their children, and the book includes a mirror so babies, toddlers, and preschoolers can see their own faces.
More: Toddler Books I’ll Miss Reading
THE FEELINGS BOOK by Todd Parr
See Also: Mary Higgins Clark – Book Series In Order
find it: amazon | bookstore
does todd parr have a book for everything? short answer: yes. With its characteristic illustrations filled with multicolored children, Parr helps young children identify how they are feeling and normalizes emotions ranging from happiness to pain. the book ends with a pointed message that no matter how they feel, children should feel free to share their feelings with someone they love.
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