The best books for two year olds differ from those Best Books For One Year Olds slightly as of course with age interests change and as our toddlers are developing they find pleasure in different styles of books.
As a one year old interactive books play a large part of our children’s book collection as it captures their attention and brings the joys of reading to our little ones too.
Yes, interactive books are very much used still at two years of age such as lift-the-flap and sound books, however additional books with more text can also be added at this age.
Two years old is a beautiful age where our kids can sit and concentrate for longer whilst reading a book with mummy and daddy and love to get involved with the story and illustrations.
The following books are our top picks which we love reading together and are picked up time and time again to enjoy.
We’re Going On a Bear Hunt By Michael Rosen & Helen Oxenbury
We’re Going On A Bear Hunt was on my list of ‘must buy books’ from when I discovered a baby was on their way.
This brings back lots of nostalgia from growing up and I am delighted that my two year old loves this book as much as I did.
When I first purchased it I had forgotten the rhythm of the book, therefore I went onto Youtube and found a great video narrated by the author himself which goes through the book using actions too.
My little reader loves having the video on in the background and turns the pages as the video. Click here for the video.
The Gruffalo By Julia Donaldson
I have to admit that this book was in fact bought out of curiosity of The Gruffalo ‘hype’ and I myself want to read it with my toddler to see what all the fuss was about.
Admittedly now we are part of The Gruffalo hype as we love the book too!
In fact we have quite a few books by Julia Donaldson which we can’t get enough of and would also recommend, such as;
My two year old loves trying to finish some of the sentences throughout the book and her favourite is when they say “Gruffalo pie” and always has her giggling along.
Zog And The Flying Doctors By Julia Donaldson
We had to give this book a special mention too by Julia Donaldson.
This is a continuation of the original Zog book about an orange dragon who tries to be the teacher’s pet at school.
In the end Zog succeeds and manages to rescue a princess.
Zog And The Flying Doctors go around helping all the injured characters they find along the way.
In this house we love pretend play and becoming doctors ourselves taking care of our friends.
Check out our Pretend Play article for other fun role play ideas for toddlers.
The Wonky Donkey By Craig Smith
This book has us chuckling along as we add more words to the rhymes after each page. Initially it wasn’t an instant success and my daughter seemed somewhat disinterested when she was around 12-18months.
However from 18months onwards we loved the ugly but lovable donkey.
It is important to exaggerate and change your tone of voice with the words in the book to make it even more fun for little ones.
It’s super cute when they try to join in with some of the words and the loud donkey sound after each page.
The Tiger Who Came To Tea By Judith Kerr
A slightly unusual story as a rather large tiger comes knocking on the door asking for food.
This cheeky tiger eats the little girl and her family out of house and home but it is lovely to see the kindness of the family taking care of a stranger.
This book can build our two year olds imagination as they read through the surreal scenes of having a tiger at the dining table.
Perhaps they will ask for one of their animal soft toys to join them for tea next time too.
Poppy And The Orchestra By Magali Le Huche
This has been a firm favourite in our household since around 8 months old. I would say the content of this book is perhaps more ‘grown-up’ because of having thinner pages and the push pads to play the music are slightly difficult to press.
However the instruments and other sounds in the book definitely out way these.
As the weeks and months pass, your little one will love trying to press the pads themselves and get a little help from mummy.
A year and a half after purchasing Poppy And The Orchestra, the soft music notes never get old.
Poke A Dot Old McDonald Had a Farm By Melissa & Doug
Probably, this is one of the most popular Poke-A-Dot books from the series.
The illustrations and text are pretty ordinary but here’s what is unique about this book: There are poppers or plastic buttons on each page that follow the story:10 cows (10 poppers), 9 pigs (9 poppers), 8 chickens (8 poppers) etc.
As you read/sing through the book the little one has a ton of fun poking and popping those dots.
Not only does it help to reinforce counting, it’s a great book for kinesthetic learners.
This is a PERFECT book for quite some time as it can keep toddlers of all ages busy for a long time! We mentioned this book in our Best Books For 1 Year Olds article too!
Elmer By David Mckee
As a child I loved deciding which was my favourite patterned elephant from all the crazy designs in this book.
The message behind this story is just beautiful and it is definitely a story to be told to our little ones.
Elmer is a brightly coloured elephant that feels like he doesn’t fit in with all the other plain grey elephants.
He goes on the search to change his colour.
Not everything goes to plan and all the other elephants love Elmer just as he is and even decide to paint themselves all differently.
It makes my heart melt for little Elmer.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar By Eric Carle
Simple, classic illustrations that just pop out from the pages with its plain white background.
This book can teach a number of things; the life cycle of a caterpillar, numbers, colours and various food.
It is a great touch of interaction to the book by having the holes where the caterpillar has eaten through each piece.
The holes are a good trick for helping our toddlers to learn to count the food too.
Grumpy Monkey By Suzanne Lang
Do you have a grumpy monkey in your house too somedays?
This is totally normal and it is important for our kiddies to understand that too and the various emotions.
Two years old is a big year for developing emotions and our toddlers are trying to find their own personalities therefore this book is a fantastic addition to our best books for two year olds.
The book creates a light-hearted, funny way to bring an important lesson to our children.
Scribble Stones By Diane Alber
A stone which is sad to be picked last but finds a way to become unique and creative.
It’s such an interesting and fascinating way of showing to our two year olds how they can become their own individual person too.
Not only is Scribble Stones a fantastic book to read but also includes an activity which can lead our little ones outdoors but also can keep them busy on a rainy day too.
My daughter and I have actually been to the beach and collected stones and later coloured at home- a big hit!
Have a look at our Fun Activities For Two Year Olds article here too.
The Day The Crayons Quit By Drew Daywalt
Another hilarious book which sees various coloured crayons getting mad because they are always used to draw the same things.
Not only the illustrations inside this book but also the text encourages our little budding artists to be creative when they are next using the colours.
Who knows maybe even they will colour a green dog next time they are sitting down to use their crayons.
We also enjoy Love From The Crayons book in this collection too as mentioned in our favourite Books About Love article.
I Spy Everything By Books For Little Ones
I spy is a game which almost everyone has played or will play an uncountable amount of times in their lives. This I Spy book is a way of incorporating lots of brightly coloured illustrations which will be perfect for learning new words and recognition. Even if our little ones can’t initially find something with the letter indicated on the page, it is ideal for improvisation and mummy can say “Where is the….” and they can point out.
Dear Zoo By Rod Campbell
Which of the animals can fit inside the travel crate?!
We love exaggerating and repeating the words on each page when we see which animals are behind each flap. An example from one of the pages is “too big” so we always say “TOO BIG, TOO BIG” and stretch our arms out to show the meaning of big also.
Despite this book being very simple and with very few words it still remains one of our favourites.
My little girl now recognises the pages and loves saying the animals behind the flaps too.
As a matter of fact, my two year old loves most of her lift-the-flap books. Take a look at our Top 12 Lift-The-Flap Books here.
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