Favourite baby/toddler books (Tuesday's Tot Talks)

Hi everyone!

I have a bit of a fun topic to share on the blog today for Tuesday's tot talks...and I've been meaning to share this for awhile! We have a very LARGE collection of board books for babies and toddlers. Molly absolutely loves to read. I would say we read at least 5 books to her every day, and that's only seeing her for a few hours...on weekends it is probably more like 30 books a day. She also likes to read to herself now, and sit in a little chair and read to her animals (cutest thing ever). Here she is reading some books to Elmo:

Her favourite books have evolved over time, and we are always getting new books out from the library to try out. She still doesn't like books with too complex of a storyline, but we are slowly getting into longer books.

Here are some of her first favourites from birth:

All pictures from online

 From top left clockwise:

1) The "teacher" from Brown Bear, Brown Bear - Molly says this is her Nanny, which always cracks us up
2) Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do you see? (Eric Carle) - great for learning colours and animals! We used to read this before bed, so we've probably read it about 500 times. All of Eric Carle's books are very visually appealing, and we love the Very Hungry Caterpillar too.
3) Baby Boo - Amazing baby series - has a page with a mirror and very small babies always seem to LOVE this book. Molly got it in the hospital through the Read to Me program in Nova Scotia
4) Goodnight, Moon (Margaret Wise Brown) - a classic bedtime book and I'd say we've read this to her over 1000 times in her lifetime...so yes, we both know it by heart ;)

 From top left clockwise:

5) Jane's Animal Expedition (Baby Einstein book) - Molly LOVED the flaps on this book, and it is almost completely worn out because she loved to read it so much. A great book for learning animals :)
6) Where is the Green Sheep? (Mem Fox) - a newer addition to our collection, this is a good book for learning opposites, and it is funny for toddlers too because the sheep are all doing funny things
7) 101 First Words at Home - Great for learning new words - we like these books because Molly can look through them herself
8) Pajama Time (Sandra Boynton) - We love Sandra Boynton books, even if they can be a bit silly! This one has a great rhythm and great for bedtime
9) Barnyard Dance (Sandra Boynton) - Molly loves this one too and laughs at all of the animals dancing
10) 101 First Words - Animals - there are some animals in here that I didn't really know very well...but Molly loves it!

 From top left clockwise:

11) Baby's Lullaby (Jill Barber) - Jill Barber is a local musician who wrote a song that accompanies this book. We got it from the library a few weeks ago and we have now learned the song and sing it before bed. You can hear the song HERE.
12) Gossie/Gosling books (Oliver Dunrea) - we have a collection of these gosling books which are SO CUTE...Molly can read them to us now and she loves them. Look at the cute little goslings! I just love them.
13) Wheels on the Bus - a classic song (Raffi!!!) and one of Molly's favourite songs of all time
14) On the Night You were Born  (Nancy Tillman) - We used to read this every night before bed, and just got back into it. It is a really cute story about how special each and every person is.
15) Sesame Street board books - these tiny little books are great for little hands
16) Where is my Frog? (Mercer Mayer) - Another favourite lift-the-flap book...Mercer Mayer's "Little Critter" books are very funny and worth checking out!

Here are a few articles about reading to your children:

• From the Read to Me program site (And another link from the same site)
• From Parents.com - an age guide for reading
• From the Australian Raising Children site
• From a different Read to me program
• From Sheknows.com

We love reading to Molly, and I am so happy to see how much she enjoys it. At a younger age, she didn't enjoy it quite as much as she does now, but I think that moving forward, she will only like it more and more. It's great for infant and toddler development, and it is a fun way to bond with your child. I can't wait until she gets a bit older, because I have a few books from my early childhood that I loved and she is still a bit too young to understand them. It will also be fun to watch her tackle her first chapter book someday (but not *too* soon, I want to keep my baby around for awhile!!)

Hope you got a few ideas for baby shower gifts or for your own baby or toddler!!!

What were some of your favourite books as a child?!