Three Fabulous Books for Two-Year-Olds

Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash

Over the last year, I’ve been observing my two-year-old daughter, Arianna, closely — especially when she’s reading, what lights up her eyes versus what she frisbees past my face in disapproval. In particular, I noticed her eyes glued to the following three types of books.

1. Animosaics.

Arianna loves picture books but not just any picture book. She LOVES animosaics, specifically Surya Sajnani’s “Animosaics: Can You Find Me”. Vibrant colours splash across each page dedicated to different animal habitats — the jungle, the arctic, the ocean and more. Cleverly crafted, each habitat is illustrated with shapes geniusly hiding a variety of animals. Two-year olds are meant to spot the animals and count them. And these are not just any kind of animals, Sajnani has managed to capture rare creatures from terrapins to mountain foxes to snowy owls. Arianna delights at the animals, gleefully spotting each one and counting them too. Once finished, she’ll say “Again?” with her big brown eyes directing me to the front of the book and we’ll do it all over again. Fun, absorbing and perfect for their cognitive development this is a unique addition to a picky two-year old’s book collection.

2. Sandra Magsamen Children’s Books

Sandra Magsamen’s children’s books are perfect to cuddle up to your toddler with. “I’m Wild About You” and “Beecause I Love You” are amongst half-a-dozen square hardcover books devoting pages of hugs, hearts and kisses to their readers that screams I Love You to your little ones, they’ll enjoy turning each page and at the end will be happy-dizzy, joyously relaxed and ready for bed. It always does the trick for me.

3. Lift-the-flap books

Last but not least, Lift-the flap books topped Arianna’s favourite word books, introducing her to a world of new vocabulary and inviting her to interact with each flap on a page (there are numerous flaps on every page). Beneath the flap rest an animal, fruit, vegetable and other exciting pictures for toddlers. Wonderful for vocabulary building. Arianna rejoices in repeating the names of each of the items underneath the flaps. If I reach out to lift a flap with her, she’ll quickly dictate “I’ll do it. Mine!”. And that’s just fine for me — I’ll happily spend minutes with her pouring over these peek-a-boo constructs.

What does your two-year old enjoy reading? Feel free to share in the comments!

A big hello and thank you for reading! Passionate about literature, psychology, and life I launched Book Therapy as an alternative form of therapy using the power of literature. I create reading lists/book prescriptions based on your individual needs. Feel free to reach out to me at bijal@booktherapy.io or www.booktherapy.io. You can also check out Book Therapy’s other free reading lists and book prescriptions.

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