Best Summer Books for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Summer is almost upon us! My favourite time of year! The days are getting longer, the sun is shining more and I can stop wearing five layers when I leave the house.

Reading with toddlers and preschoolers in the summer just gets even more fun. We lay out a picnic blanket in the back garden and I scatter books on there. I also put a little play tent up and place some in there for them too so if they want a bit of quiet time or some rest in the shade, they have got the option available to them.

We also look for fun activities in our local libraries over the summer holidays and borrow books when we’re there.

If you’d like some ideas for how to spend your summer with your toddler, please do check out my blog post entitled: What Should I Do With My Toddler This Summer? It includes over 50 ideas of fun activities to do in the summertime.

Why Should I Read With My Toddler or Preschooler?

Among other things, reading with your child helps them acquire a love of reading themselves, it widens their vocabulary which in turn will help with their spoken language and written language later on, and it opens them up to new places, ideas and experiences.

Reading with your toddler or preschooler also gives them that one-on-one time that’s maybe missing from our hectic modern lifestyles.

If part of a bedtime routine, reading to them can also settle them down for a good night’s sleep.

When Should I Read With My Toddler or Preschooler?

Read with them every day. If there is more than one parent in your house, you could take turns each day, if time is short. The ideal time is at bedtime. Make it an inherent part of their routine that cannot be touched. It cannot be taken away as a consequence of something they’ve done. It should be a protected time as it provides such a wealth of opportunities for their future.

Other opportunities for reading with your toddler could be at times when you stop for snack-time or while waiting for an appointment (so pop a book in the nappy bag before you go!).

What Does Reading Look Like In Our House?

In our house, we let our toddler (20 months) choose which books she’d like to read at bedtime. She will pick them from the book basket herself and hand them to us. We read several with her. They are currently all board books. She enjoys lifting the flaps, repeating the words and answering our questions about what the pictures are on the page. (One word answers!) Her vocabulary is building up from all the reading we do with her. I often find her picking a book up and turning the pages by herself to look at the pictures.

In comparison, our 4-year-old preschooler has either a longer picture book read to her or two shorter stories at bedtime. She asks questions as we go: she’ll answer questions about what we’re reading, we’ll discuss whether parts of the story are similar to something she’s already read and we’ll go off on tangents chatting about things related to the story. There’s more of a conversation between us than with her little sister.

We have a bookcase full of books in their bedroom and a basket of books in the lounge/playroom for them to pick from themselves at any point in the day. We’ll often find one of them looking through the book basket and flicking through a book looking at the pictures.