MommaReads

Toddlers will love this book that talks about how little they were when they were a baby and how they are starting to grow. The teacher in me also has to mention that if you are teaching your students about similes, this would be a great book to read to them. The book uses many, many, many similes to describe how they baby is growing.

When you were born,
you were as big as a cabbage,
your knee was as round as a radish,
your ear as wee as a sweet pea.

Then you grew as long as the lettuce patch,
your foot was as stubby as a beet,
your mouth as dainty as a strawberry.

Baby Ted does not want to go to bed, but his father patiently helps Ted get ready for bed while Ted is also pretending to be a crocodile, a duck, a frog, a penguin and a few other critters. I love the playfulness and patience the father in this story exhibits with his child. It is a good reminder to all parents that sometimes the work of getting them to bed can be fun and playful, too.

Little Chick goes exploring around the farm one day and comes home to his mom to tell her all of the different animal sounds he heard that day. This is the PERFECT book for the toddler set. It has animals, animal sounds AND it rhymes!

Turkey knows that Thanksgiving is right around the corner and he has got to figure out something to save himself. He decides to dress up as different barn animals, but the other animals can still tell that it’s him. His last disguise, however, is perfect and helps both the farmer and Turkey have the perfect Thanksgiving.

This book reminds me so much of my own Thanksgivings growing up…the food, the family, the games with cousins after all the eating and the togetherness. I also love the compassion and patience this book teaches all of us when one of the youngest family members gets in the way and the turkey ends up in the fish tank. Cute story…and it rhymes!

The title of this book sums up its content pretty well. It’s a cute rhyming tale of Boynton’s classic characters getting ready for bed and doing probably the same things your little ones do before they go to bed…taking a bath, brushing their teeth, picking out the pajamas. This is, as you may have guessed, a great bedtime book to help reinforce those nightly routines.

A rhyming Thai lullaby where a mother tries to keep all of the creatures quiet…from a mosquito to a cat to a monkey to a water buffalo to an elephant…so that her baby can sleep. All is quiet in the end and baby isn’t the only one who’s asleep.

It doesn’t matter that your baby doesn’t know where Mali is, your baby will LOVE looking at the pictures of all the babies in this beautiful book that celebrates babies from all over the world. There is so much for a parent to talk about and describe in this book, too. Babies love to hear the sound of your voice and this is a great book to just sit and look at the pictures and talk about what you see.

A simple black and white book that goes through a baby/toddler’s day from breakfast to getting dressed to playing outside to bath time and bedtime. Babies love to look at things and “talk” about things that are all about them…it’s a great way to build on vocabulary too.

Sandra Boynton has a knack for writing books that the little ones love and this one is no exception. Little Pookie’s mom is trying to get him to go to bed, but Little Pookie has other ideas. Your little one will enjoy the rhyme of this book as well as helping Little Pookie’s mom find him. Babies and toddlers also love to see how other little people (or in this case a pig) get ready for bed, too…picking out the pajamas, brushing teeth and getting tucked in with a kiss good night.