Top 10 Board Books for Babies
Discover the best board books for babies in our 'Book Lists to Read' series.
It’s never too early to start reading with your baby…
Babies love reading, just as much as older children. Babies who are read to in the womb show increased signs of alertness and recognition when hearing the voice of their loved ones after birth. Newborns find black and white books fascinating, and will often spend many minutes looking at patterns as their neural connections develop. Older babies love touching books – hence the popularity of touchy-feely books and pram books for keeping chubby fingers occupied – and with the positive benefits of devoted cuddle time during the reading of a book, it’s never too early to start introducing your little one to the delights of stories. Designed to withstand these curious, exploratory fingers, board books are a wonderful way to let babies loose on books without worrying about torn pages, and feature stories that will enchant tiny readers. We have compiled a list of our favourite board books for babies, and hope your bubba enjoys them as much as we do!
1. Art Baby Spots and Dots by Chez Picthall
Science shows that small babies develop concentration through high-contrast visual stimulation, and this wordless picture book is perfect for encouraging this innate development in neural growth. Its color contrasts with vibrant and black and whites are captivating for developing eyes, and also allow alert babies to begin pattern and shape recognition.
2. Pantone Box of Colour by Pantone
This bold board book collection presents a rainbow of radiance and sensory moments, welcoming your baby into the literary world of wonder of Pantone colours. Each book in the collection is devoted to a different colour, and will add a burst of brightness to your family’s story times, bedtime rituals and pram trips.
3. Where is Baby’s Beach Ball? by Karen Katz
This book provides engaging pages of fun, aquatic themed, and child-friendly vocabulary as an introduction to reading aloud and family bonding. All families can relate to missing items when there’s a new baby in the house, and the use of questions lets you interact cooperatively with giggles and smiles on the side. What’s more, there isn’t any messy SPF required or sandy to clean up in order to have a ball at this beach!
4. Noni the Pony Goes to the Beach by Alison Lester
Noni the Pony relates a sweet trip to the beach between some animal friends. What is not to love about a beautiful tale of friendship between a pony, a dog and a pair of lady cows? Alison Lester’s adorable illustrations and fun, playful rhythm will have young children enthralled and make it a pleasure for adults to read too.
5. Baby’s First Eames by Julie Merberg and Aki
This art smart book allows your child to start their journey towards modern architecture and design in the format of a lovely, child-friendly ABC. Featuring approachable text about aspects of modern art and artists in the context of architecture and design, it will entertain and educate both babies, parents and families in the basics of visual literacy.
6. Baby Faces Peekaboo by Dorling Kindersley
Baby Faces Peekaboo gives the true gift of face time with this fun and authentic book of faces. Babies respond to facial features above other environmental triggers as their brains develop, and this book allows babies to babble and coo with delight at the diverse faces within.
7. Baby Loves Coding by Ruth Spiro
Be coding cool in baby stem with Spiro’s innovative book. STEM is the trendiest topic in global education, so why not give your babies a jump start? This book is clever but still accessible book as a baby step or crawl to coding, and will help guide your little one to problem solve, learn sequences, and explore logic in an age-appropriate way.
8. My First Signs by Annie Kubler
This book is a great mini-guide for giving your child’s emergent speech and communication skills a big boost. It impressively introduces 35 basic sign words with child-friendly illustrations, and is available in both ASL and BSL. Baby signing is popular in parents who wish to communicate with children earlier than their verbal capacities can develop, and is also a wonderful way for introducing inclusivity in their communications with hearing-impaired friends.
9. Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes by Mem Fox
A classic story for children by beloved Australian author Mem Fox, the story is a lullaby of love between mother and child, as the two engage in the nightly ritual of counting fingers and toes. Each page speaks of babies born around the world, unique in circumstances, but the sharing ‘ten little fingers and ten little toes.’ The story is a beautiful reminder of our similarities despite our differences, and with a beautiful affirmation at the end which allows babies to feel the unconditional love of their parent.
10. Feminist Baby by Loryn Brantz
Feminist Baby is a fun approach to the welcome topic of allowing girl babies to embrace their potential, follow their hearts and live their lives as they determine… including to make lots of noise! This little board book revels in a sense of humour, and its engagement is enhanced by its bold, bright illustrations.
1. The Black and White Baby Adventure Book
The Black and White Baby Adventure Book is a high-contrast black and white book for infants, designed to enhance their concentration and neural development based on the science of newborn development. It’s accompanied by a magical poem so that little ones can hear their beloved parent or carer’s voice while enjoying the enchanting illustrations.
Wiggle, Jiggle
Wiggle, Jiggle is a cute little story for babies who will delight in the simple words and vibrant illustrations. In the story, a caterpillar talks about how he loves to wiggle and jiggle, the food he loves to eat, and what happens with his magic poo! Our audio version is read by a younger reader, and accompanied by fun, upbeat music that will enthral small readers into the tiny world of insects beneath their gaze.
2. The Whole World I Love It
Tell your baby how much they mean to you in this song of love. The gentle watercolour illustrations of Charu Jain allow children to feel comfort and safety as they learn about love, for the world and each other.