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11 Best Rhyming Books for Babies and Toddlers by Bryony Sumner at Coasting Australia.
We love reading – especially rhyming books. They are so much fun for me to read out loud and they are also an essential part of language learning for under 5s.
Rhyming teaches children how language works. They learn about the different sounds of words and how they relate to each other. Rhyming also teaches them the rhythm of language and how to speak and read with expression. When they are familiar with a rhyming book they learn to anticipate the rhyming words. It helps them make predictions about what comes next. This is another important skill when learning to talk and communicate. (source – West Downs Libraries)
Here’s our top ten favourites (in no particular order). Links below are affiliate links:
Bear has a new friend – flea – who likes to bite him to let him know he is there! This is an adorable story of friendship and adventure. It’s beautifully illustrated and featuring Nick Bland’s famous Cranky Bear – and the star of the show – flea – whose facial expressions are priceless!
The Very Itchy Bear by Nick Bland
I only realised when writing this list that Monster Chef was written by the same author as The Cranky Bear series. Although the incredible illustrations and clever rhymes should have given me a clue!
This one is a story about Marcel – a monster of medium size who has a problem – he just isn’t scary! Read about how he overcomes his shortfalls as a Monster and ends up in his dream job!
A meteor is about to hit Planet Earth and there’s only one way it can be saved! Read about the ingenious plan of the aliens to save their favourite planet and it’s abundant supply of pants!
Aliens in Underpants Save the World
A heart warming story about a crab trying to find his place in the world and meeting some special housemates along the way.
One of my absolute favourites. We love acting out the story whenever we’re at the beach (I’m always the hungry gull looking for his lunch!).
Our boys are 16 months apart so it’s important to find books that are stimulating for both their levels. This was a great book to share as the words are simple, repetitive yet fun, and the sheep are adorable and funny! It’s a great book for before bedtime too as the green sheep is found to be fast asleep at the end.
My parents bought us this book for our boys and it’s a lovely one to read from birth right through to preschool. We used to read it as children and it has lovely memories. It’s a story of a day through the eyes of a baby and there are windows in the pages for baby to peepo or put little fingers through.
The chook is back in his second exciting adventure! Chris Collins is a home grown Australian author and specialises in whacky, rhyming Aussie children’s books. We LOVE that the book comes with a CD – we play it on most journeys and the boys sing along. It’s such a catchy song too I find myself singing it all the time! (thanks Chris!).
A hilarious tale about a loveable piranha called Brian who just wants to share his love of fruit salad with his friends – but they’re having none of it – much preferring to eat body parts instead!! This book contains one of our boys’ favourite words – bum – at least twice so it’s a family favourite!
This one comes from the author of the Gruffalo. It’s a story about a pair of crafty robbers who have a cunning plan to steal the farmer’s fine prize cow. The ladybird (who never before has said a word) works together with all the other farm animals to make sure their plan is thwarted! There’s also a hidden sparkly ladybird to find on each page which adds an extra element of fun to storytime!
This is another book that’s great from birth. Our two and three year old still have fun looking at what the babies are doing and saying the rhyming words. We got this book free when we joined our local library (we just joined the library on the Sunshine Coast and they gave us ‘I’m a Dirty Dinosaur by Ann James and Janeen Brian – another great rhyming book).
There are so many great reasons to join your local library. You will get your free book, your little one will get their own membership and access to loads of books and resources and you can work your way through their 50 books to read before you’re 5 list. There is lots of info on their website – first5forever – on how important early literacy is and how to get the most out of reading with your child.
This is another one of my all time favourite books. We borrowed this from the library and renewed about three times! It’s about Eddy and his Teddy whose name is Freddy and it’s a treasure to read!
I hope you have some fun discovering some of these great reads.
Which are your favourite rhyming books for babies and toddlers?
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