benefits of books

10 Best Books for 3 Year Olds

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Read time: 5 minutes
books for 3 year olds

The three’s have been an exciting time for us as parents. Our son is finally expressing clearly what he likes and dislikes. He is actively looking for content and topics to learn more about. This makes it easier for us as parents to curate his toys and books. No more guesswork required! In this blog post, I will feature the best books for 3-year-olds that match their curiosity levels and bring out the giggles.

Before I go ahead, I want to mention three books that are all-time favorites in our house. But since I already covered them in previous book lists I will keep them out of this one.

  1. The Gruffalo
  2. The Gruffalo’s Child
  3. The Room On The Broom

All three by Julia Donaldson. We are huge fans of her books. In fact, our son loves The Gruffalo so much we had a Gruffalo themed birthday party for him too.

mother and child reading- best books for 3 year olds

10 BEST BOOKS FOR 3-YEAR-OLDS

  1. Flap Your Wings – P. D Eastman

This story is about two birds who find an abandoned egg in their nest and go on to kindly help the egg hatch. On hatching, they find a creature different from themselves, a baby crocodile, yet they continue feeding the little baby. When he is finally too big for the nest its time to bid adieu.

This story was one of our favorite bedtime stories this year and highlights the helpful nature of Mr. and Mrs. Bird.

  1. Usborne Peep Inside Animal Homes

Age 3 is a time when children have many questions about life around them. Our son is very interested in knowing where other animals live. This prompted me to buy this beautiful Usborne book. The illustrations and information are just right for ages 3-5.

The book covers different habitats and a variety of animal homes, for curious little readers.

  1. The Paperdolls – Julia Donaldson

As I adready mentioned, Julia Donaldson is our all-time favorite children’s book authors. Her rhyming storytelling engages little readers in rapt attention.

Paperdolls is a sweet story about a little girl and her paper dolls. It showcases how some family traditions continue on through the generations.

  1. Tyrannosaurus Drip – Julia Donaldson

This book has been read on loop nearly every night in our house. Once again Julia Donaldson knows how to create engaging stories for little ones.

In this story, a Duckbill dinosaur egg gets misplaced in a Tyrannosaurus dinosaur nest. The Tyrannosaurus family end up raising the Duckbill dinosaur as their own. But the little duckbill dinosaur feels out of place in this family of large meat-eating dinosaurs. To know how this story ends, read the book. Any dinosaur-loving child will love this read.

5. Gajapati Kullapati – Ashok Rajagopalan

I like to add stories around Indian themes to our collection and Tulika Publishers is one of my favorite Indian publishers. This series follows the central character Gajapati, the elephant and his various experiences and adventures. The sing-song storytelling style is perfect for toddlers.

  1. You, me & Empathy – Jayneen Sanders

The perfect book for preschoolers. The book exposes the child to the emotion of empathy and different situations when one can empathize with those in difficulty. It gives the child a perspective of what it feels like to be in another’s shoes.

  1. Knock! Knock! – Kaori Takahashi

One of the best interactive book for 3-year-olds, Knock! Knock! takes you on a journey with a little girl in search of her teddy bear. A wonderful adventure unfolds as you turn each page.

  1. Ten Wriggly Wiggly Caterpillars – Debbie Tarbett

A simple counting book that makes counting fun for preschoolers. My son loves this book and is often seen sitting in a corner flipping through the pages counting the caterpillars on each page. You must buy this book in hardcover with the little 3-D caterpillars jutting out through each page. The counting rhyme ends beautifully with a pop-up surprise on the last page.

  1. Trumpet The Little Elephant With A Big Temper – Jane Clarke

A book about big emotions. Trumpet can’t seem to control his anger and frustration. His mother is teaching him how to manage his anger by counting to 10. A fun twist at the end brings home the point that anger is a futile emotion. A must-have in every 2-3-year-olds book library.

  1. Meg & Mog Series – Helen Nicoll

Our son loves this series of books on Meg, the witch and her pet cat, Mog. The stories are fun and the spells in the book make read-aloud fun. Meg and Mog Books are great books for 3-year-olds learning to read. Here are some of the titles we own and enjoy reading in this series;

Previous book lists:

Books for babies

Books for 1 year olds

Books for 2 year olds

These are books that our 3-year-old absolutely loves. I hope you find a few picks for your child’s book library. What are some of your 3-year-olds favorite books?

10 Eye-opening Benefits Of Reading To Your Child

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Read time: 6 minutes
benefits of reading to your child- raising readers

If you are a new age parent you have probably already heard about the benefits of reading to your child.  In fact, even the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) makes a strong effort to talk about the importance of reading to babies and toddlers as a way to promote early literacy skills. These efforts have led to a rising trend in reading to kids among millennial parents.

“Reading regularly with young children stimulates optimal patterns of brain development and strengthens parent-child relationships at a critical time in child development, which, in turn, builds language, literacy, and social-emotional skills that last a lifetime,” the AAP says.

Let’s look at this topic more in-depth and understand why educators and child development experts stress on reading aloud to kids.

BENEFITS OF READING TO BABIES AND BRAIN DEVELOPMENT

  1. Bond with parent

Reading aloud to babies helps parents bond with their babies. Reading helps soothe the child and build the foundation for trust in the parent. The parent is giving direct attention to the baby through the act of reading aloud and infants notice this.

  1. Early reading kickstarts language skills

A big importance of reading at an early age is the effect reading has on developing early language skills. Babies are noticing tone, inflections, and rhythms in voice. Research shows that reading aloud from an early age leads to developing early language and vocabulary.

  1. Helps eyes to track and focus on visuals

An infant has blurred vision and daily reading can help them focus on strong contrasting visuals in books providing the necessary input for eyesight development. That is why many experts recommend reading books with high contrast or black and white images to babies.

  1. Cognitive development

Introducing books at an early age lays the foundation for future cognitive skills like reasoning, problem-solving, and memory building. Early reading benefits not only language development but also helps literacy skills in the future such as writing, reading and math.

  1. Introduces the child to the concept of reading

They say practice makes one perfect. The same applies here, the more a child is read to the more will he learn to read in the future. Before they learn to read independently they need to be equipped with a large vocabulary. Setting a reading routine is crucial to make the child understand that books are a form of communication. They contain pictures and words that mean something. It is never too early or late starting to read to your child, as long as you read.

Benefits of reading

BENEFITS OF READING TO TODDLERS

  1. Introduces emotions and feelings

Reading stories introduces the child to different emotions and feelings. Watching the character go through emotions helps the toddler understand his own. This, in turn, helps with better communication since they now recognize the emotion and can express it to their parent.

  1. Sparks creativity

Reading books helps the child understand concepts, ignite imagination and creativity. They spark a whole new series of questions getting the child to think about and express feelings and ideas.

  1. As a form of entertainment

One of the biggest benefits of reading to toddlers is the use of books as a form of entertainment. Keeping kids engaged in books reduces screentime. Not only is reading helping the child to learn how to focus and engage in deep work, it keeps over stimulating modes of entertainment like electronic toys and screen use to a minimum.

  1. Enhances language development

Not only does early reading kickstart language skills it also helps improve language skills. Reading short stories regularly helps a toddler understand the finer nuances of conversation through tone and inflection. They begin to hold effective conversation themselves.

  1. Using books to teach life skills

Toddlers need to feel included in the adult world at the same time feeling as competent as the adults around them. Using books about bedtime routines, daily routines,  ones showcasing expected behaviors, helps a toddler grasp these concepts faster.

By now they are deeply invested and engaged in the reading habit and want to mimic the characters they read about.

I have found books useful in teaching my son everything from helping mommy with chores, to brushing teeth, having a bath. When he sees these characters do these things in the books he reads, he wants to follow along and do it himself.

Books can also be used as an introduction to your culture or language. These days there are toddler storybooks on almost every subject and language.

Must have books for toddlers 

Brown bear, brown bear what do you see?

Polar bear, polar bear what do you see?

Goodnight moon

The going to bed book

The Gruffalo

Busy park

HOW TO GET YOUR CHILD INTERESTED IN READING?

  1. Start with a routine

The easiest way to get your child interested in reading is by including reading as a part of your daily routine. Include bedtime reading or morning reading sessions or both. Make books your go-to activity as you move along the day. Once kids get used to this one on one time with you, they themselves remind you about books.

  1. Books everywhere

Another smart tip to encourage reading and interest in books is to create a small reading nook for your child. Include a big basket or bookshelf that is easily accessible to the child and a mat or chair to sit on.

Leave books in different corners of the house from your coffee table to the bedside table.

The key here is, the books need to be accessible to the child.

Once placed in different locations of the house, the books catch their attention and they like finding something familiar in different corners of the house.

  1. Model the behavior

Read with your child or make it a point that your child sees you read. As with everything else in parenting, when the parents act as a model for a certain behavior, it catches on faster with the kids.

  1. Diverse topics and styles

To keep your child constantly engaged, buy books in different formats – board books, cloth books, paperbacks, pop out books, and busy books.

Include different topics in terms of the subject of books. Here are some age-appropriate book lists for your kids.

Books for babies

Books for 1-year-olds

Books for 2-year-olds

I hope this article helps you get into a reading routine with your child and reinforces the importance of reading to babies. What benefits of reading did you experience with your child?

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