Best Busy Books for Toddlers & Young Kids
Calling all parents!
Keep reading if you have ever found yourself in any of the following situations :
- You are stuck in a waiting room with your child for longer than expected
- You are stuck in waiting room with your child for any length of time at all
- You wish you had an engaging substitute for screen time while you’re trying to make dinner
- You need something to keep your kids occupied in the car that’s NOT annoying songs on repeat
- You need something to occupy a sibling at your other child’s doctor appointment
- Honestly, you just want a few quiet minutes with your cup of coffee
Sound familiar?
While there’s obviously never one solution, here’s one of my best *go-to’s* for all of the above: Busy Books.
These are the *tried and true* books I throw in my bag before a doctor’s appointment with the kids, rotate in the car if we have a longer than typical drive, or pull out as an alternative to screen time.
There are bins of these strategically placed throughout our house so they are always accessible and easy for us to pull out during the times in the day we need them most. I also have a special shelf of busy books in our bedroom that keep little hands busy on mornings when kids wake up earlier than expected and I need more time to get ready.
Let’s be honest – sometimes screen time wins and that’s okay. In the moments where you want an alternative, these are a great option! While it’s true that we all need time in the day to get things done, we also love busy books for the opportunities for modeling language they provide while reading with your child!
Check out some of our favorite busy / interactive books below :
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Such a fun board book with a unique manipulative! Turn the wheel on every page to find the matching pants, but laugh at all the silly mis-matches. We truly don't have another one like this!
A fun take on the classic story that will help keep kids engaged! Our favorite manipulatives are the spinning wheels. Complete with colorful and engaging pictures!
How long might your kids sit here and trace the fun trails with their fingers? Well you might be surprised. The cut out of this maze helps to keep my kids engaged as they follow the maze through different picture scenes on the farm. *Bonus - seek and find element!
We love these fun dot-to-dots! Love the bright and colorful pictures in this one, with big designs that help tiny hands as we are gaining more fine motor control. A ton of pages!
Fun interactive version of the classic! We love the spinning wheel manipulatives and slide out pages.
We love the pop-up peekaboo series and have several. These fun pop ups keep my kids engaged for longer than your average pop up book!
We LOVE this book. Every page is a different interactive picture scene - pop the unicorn out and can make it walk through the book! Such a unique spin on an interactive board book.
Listen, we have a lot of lift-the-flap dinosaur books and this is one of our favorites! Tons of flaps, engaging pictures, and fun facts for your dino lover.
Such a cute concept and must have interactive book to throw in your bag or in the car. Bonus - the flashlight is tethered so little hands will not lose!
This was a fun find! Each page has the 'town' and 'country' version of the same scene with fun seek and find element and cutest illustrations. This one keeps us entertained for sure!
Perfect for the little Frozen lover in your life. Complete with fun pull out tabs and lift the flaps! My kids specifically love the page where you can make Sven's eyes open and close (IYKYK)!
We love a Melissa & Doug sticker book and the matching component in this one makes it our favorite.
This is a fun one. Lots of fun picture scenes featuring different animal groups. Each page folds out on either side to give you double the seek and find fun. Waiting room approved!
The CUTEST book for your little fairy tale lover. Complete with seek and find, lift the flaps, spinning wheels, and even a fun matching game at the end. Can't be beat!
Encouraging Language Skills:
- Describe actions: turn it, pull it, open it, close it, take it out
- Modeling gestalts: turn the page, look at that! I found it! What’s next?
- Imitate your child’s actions as they trace trails, imitate any words they say and add one word (more on this here – link)
- Instead of asking “what’s this?” Label pictures that you see and describe (e.g., instead of “what’s this? Model “green frog!”
- Focus on modeling language in general instead of asking questions
Improving Speech Sounds:
Choose sounds that you know your child struggles to produce (e.g., /th/ ) and have them practice with you as you read together. Here’s how this might look:
Text: “I think I can”
“There’s our /th/ sound! Let’s say it together – think! Try to get your child watching your mouth as you practice together.
Read more on this here!
Let me know if you add any of these to your library! Amazon affiliate links listed above, but you can also support through Bookshop.
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