Baby books can cover a range of topics, from basic skills to fairy tales. No matter what your little one likes, there’s a perfect set of books waiting for them. These book sets are great starters for toddlers’ libraries.
Baby Book Set Buying Guide
Why buy a set of baby books?
Reading is an essential part of child development. Reading with your child teaches him to communicate while developing listening, memory and vocabulary. Read-aloud time with toddlers is also a special part of the parent-child bond.
What should you consider in a set of baby books?
- Durability: Babies and toddlers are small but mighty! You want to find thick, sturdy books that can withstand little hands that may not yet know their own strength. For children 0-3 years old, keep fragile sheets of paper to a minimum.
- Image quality: For babies and children up to 3 years old, the most important thing is to have a variety of high-contrast images with simple, easy-to-read text. This helps with word association and vocabulary development.
- Content suitable for development: Be sure to find books that are at your toddler’s level. Children who receive irrelevant or difficult-to-read material may be deterred from picking up a book. Check what age group a book has been deemed appropriate for. You can usually find it on the cover of a book.
Should you buy skill books or story books?
Storybooks and skill books are essential to a baby’s development. Each teaches practical skills that a child will use throughout their life. While skill books are great for quickly building vocabularies and teaching foundational skills, storybooks create models for communication, listening, memory, and emotional development. The most important thing is that your toddler has access to books and lots of reading time.
Our picks for the best baby book sets
Ideal for learning
Benefits: This 10-book set is perfect for new readers and affordable to get started. The hard cardstock pages are hard to fold, the images are bright and eye-catching illustrations, and the text is minimal and easy to read. The 10 books cover animals, numbers, the ABCs and more!
The inconvenients: While this set of books is fantastic value, some of the skill books have content that will be challenging for little readers. These books are also small, which may be ideal for small hands, but difficult for parents hoping to participate in reading time.
Conclusion: Here is a great set of books that cover a wide variety of vocabulary words. They are great for basic language skills and memory and are great value for money.
Popular choice
Benefits: Let your little one meet magic in this box set from the king of children’s literature. It contains five essential Dr. Seuss stories: These playful tongue twisters and rhymes are beloved classics for a reason, sure to please the whole family. The illustrations feature some of the most famous characters, such as The Cat in the Hat, and these books are sure to become a favorite for years to come.
The inconvenients: Some of the pages are thin and easy to wrinkle/tear, you might want to wait for your toddler to handle them.
Conclusion: This is an excellent collection of some of the most popular children’s stories of all time. They’re great for making reading fun and a great rhyming and alliteration exercise for your little one.
The most durable
Benefits: Seasoned parents know that if you’re struggling to get your child excited about something, putting Mickey Mouse’s face on it seems to help. Help your little one enter the world of learning with the help of Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Donald. This official collection of Disney books is ideal for teaching colors, shapes, numbers and letters. Plus, the pages are made of cardboard, which helps them stand the test of time.
The inconvenients: These skill books are for the basics only and are generally suitable for very young children aged 0-2. Toddlers can quickly outgrow their contents.
Conclusion: Mickey and his friends can make learning fun! They can make toddlers reach for the book. Extremely durable cardboard pages will help this last even multiple child households.
Best set of fabrics
Benefits: These super bright picture books keep young minds focused and engaged while building their vocabulary. And the best part is that these can work in or out of the tub, making them a great buy. Plus, let’s be honest, it’s nice to have extra pounds to chew on when teething starts. Take them to bed, to the bath or to the beach! Throw them in the washer when it’s time to freshen them up.
The inconvenients: You may find they are better as baby toys than learning aids for preschoolers.
Conclusion: These durable machine washable books are perfect for messy little ones. The soft texture is nice for little hands and mouths.
Ideal for sensory growth
Benefits: pat the bunny has been a classic for over 75 years, earning a reputation as an essential book for sensory play. Pat the bunny is now joined by cat and puppy companions. Let toddlers enter the world of reading with their senses: sight, touch and smell. They are perfect for 0 to 3 years old. Comb binding makes it easy to flip from page to page.
The inconvenients: Some pages may tear from the binding more easily than traditionally bound books.
Conclusion: This box set of books spans generations and offers a new twist on an old classic. Babies and toddlers will love playing with this multifaceted sensory playbook.
Final Thoughts
Reading is a lifelong skill that will help your child explore worlds outside their own, develop logical and analytical skills, encourage memory and communication, and much more. These baby book sets are some of our favorites for infants and young toddlers. Remember, the best books for your child are the ones they search for over and over again.
