Animal Board Books for Baby & Toddler

For our new zoo theme, I compiled all of Kingston's books that were zoo animal related. Not all of them are specific to the zoo, but there are animals that we saw at the zoo or that are classic zoo animals within each book. This is by far our biggest stack of themed books that we have explored so far. They are all stacked on the hearth for Kingston to explore at any time (although I think I will have to invest in a book basket for our themed books as they end up all over the place by the end of the day!). So without further ado, here they are!

Baby Sparkle: Who Lives In The Wild (Happy Baby) - This book is so fun! I featured the ocean version of this in our Ocean Board Book roundup! The large side tabs make page turning easy for baby. The colors are vibrant, the pictures are real life, and there are sparkles! How can you go wrong?

Zoo Talkabout Board Book - This is the book that Kingston picked out on our zoo trip! Before reading it to him, I would have classified it as a toddler book because it is an interactive talking book. The book asks the child questions such as how many of something there is. K loved this book though! He was very interested in pointing to the different animals. I read it and together we pointed, counted, and identified what the book asked. He wanted to read it over and over again. This is one of the books that he has been independently gravitating to the most!

Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? and Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See? Board Book - We own almost all of these books! They are great, especially when the goal is animal introduction. I love the unique animals inside and the fun singsong quality of the text. The pictures are so colorful. You really cannot go wrong with Eric Carle!

From Head to Toe Board Book - Another Eric Carle hit! I really like this book because not only does it introduce certain animals, but it gives you an action associated with each animal. I think this book would be a great one to do some gross motor activities with in the future. 

Is Your Mama a Llama? - Oh how I love this book! Kingston has been listening to this amazing rhyming book since he was just a tiny spec in the womb. This was always a favorite among my daycare kids, and it doesn't disappoint with K either! I know it by heart, and just love it. The rhyming is great. We saw llamas on our zoo trip, as well as a few of the other animals, so it is definitely relevant to what we are learning about.

Just Like Daddy (Touch-And-Match Fun Books) - This is Todd's favorite book to read to Kingston, which automatically makes me love it! This book is a super great read for baby's who love touch and feel books. K is obsessed with touch and feels, so this is an awesome book for him. It depicts different wild animal daddies and babies. The animals in the book all have some kind of velvety texture on them. It is quite adorable! We also have the mommy version!

New Alphabet Of Animals - This is a great contemporary alphabet book for baby. It has bold pictures and offers some new animals to explore. It is very aesthetically pleasing!

Teeth, Tails And Tentacles - This counting book by the same author, Christopher Wormell, has the same excellent bold pictures. I love these books!

Tails - Oh Kingston just loves this book!! It has tons of textures to touch, interactive pictures that move, and even a disgusting skunky smelling scratch and sniff, which I must admit I feel compelled to sniff at! I would 100% recommend that everyone own this book. It is so much fun!

My Big Animal Book (My Big Board Books) - This is another book that I find Kingston perusing on the floor independently a lot. He enjoys the big colorful pictures and the plethora of different animals. Just today I watched as he pointed at each animal and babbled to them. He really likes having a variety of pictures to look at. 

At the Zoo (Sesame Beginnings) (Sesame Beginnings) - I picked this book up at the Dollar Tree. Kingston loves the bright colored pictures and he also has a minor Cookie Monster obsession. I must admit that for a character book (which I am not too keen on), this one actually has some decent wording in it. It isn't literary by any means, but it's cute. 

We're Going on a Bear Hunt (Classic Board Books) - This is one of my favorite board books of ALL TIME! I read this book aloud so much when Kingston's was in the womb, that I'm shocked he didn't come out knowing the words already. I feel like he loves it too because he recognizes the text! I read it the same each time, with the same intonation and the same theatrics. At the end of the book, I always wave at the bear and say "BYYYYEEE BEAR" the same way that I say hi and bye to Kingston's mobile bears. THIS is the book that inspired that! Now Kingston waves bye to the bears. It blows my mind to have him enjoy something that I used to read to other children. I love it! 

Little Fur Family Board Book - This book is adorable!! I just recently discovered this when I picked it up for him. I was drawn to the bears furry tummy on the cover. This is of course what draws Kingston to it as well. The story is precious though! I love the old timey feel of Margaret Wise Brown's writing and illustrations. The tale of the little fur family is a great one!

Daddy Kisses and Mommy Hugs - Kingston loves these books. He likes to pull them out of his bookshelf and look at the animals inside. I love these sweet little books about how different animals mommies and daddies kiss and hug their babies. Too sweet!

Wild Animals (Touch and Feel) - K is wild for this wild animal touch and feel book! He loves to stroke the lion's mane and touch the lizards bumpy scales. I love reinforcing the different animals for Kingston by using texture. (An activity on this concept will be coming shortly! Stay tuned!)

Baby Bear, Giraffe, Gorilla, & Lion 4-Pack (Baby Animals) - I picked up these 4 animal books from the Dollar Tree, and I have to say they are awesome! They aren't the best durable and may not stand the test of time, but they are adorable. I love the real life pictures inside and the cute little informative stories about each animal. These were quite a score for $1!

Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed - We love this classic children's book about five silly little monkeys! When I read it to K, I do the actions and he thinks it's hilarious. I also make monkey noises for him which is one of his favorite sounds currently!

Polar Babies (Animal Babies), Safari Babies (Animal Babies) Prairie Babies (Animal Babies), and Desert Babies (Animal Babies) - These books are phenomenal! Not sure if you noticed, but I'm a bit obsessed with board books that depict real life animals. I like exposing Kingston to a lot of real wildlife pictures as opposed to only cartoons. I feel like it is easier for him to relate and commit to memory animals that look the same in books as they do in real life. This series is excellent. I would definitely recommend checking it out!

Animal Babies in Polar Lands and Animal Babies in Deserts - This is another excellent series with real life animals! We have several other titles in this series also. I was first introduced to this series while working in daycare. I loved that it introduces the mother and baby relationship of each different animal. So cute!

But Not the Hippopotamus (Boynton on Board) - We are big Sandra Boynton fans and this book is just plain adorable. I love the clever rhyming and the fun ending. This book is just as much fun to read as it is to listen to!

Fisher-Price: A Home for Polar Bear: Where Animals Live - This is a cute and colorful little board book that teaches a baby-fied version of animal habitats! Polar bear is seeking a new home, but finds that each habitat is just not right. Polar bear finally finds a home in the arctic.

My First Animals - Kingston's Aunta picked up this thick animal board book for him at the Christmas Tree Shop! It is chock full of colorful animal pictures. We keep this out 24/7, not just for our zoo theme. He loves to look at the different pictures. Some pages have collages of animals, while others have huge pictures with body part diagramming on it. It is a great tool to use to point out the different parts of each animal.

Animal Time! (Photo Baby Books) - I love these Tom Arma photo baby books! I want Kingston to be in one. Each picture depicts a baby dressed up in a different animal costume. I think these books are beyond precious and K enjoys looking at pictures of other babies. They even have a zoo specific one - Zoo Crew!

Tamarin's Mealtime - a Smithsonian Let's Go to the Zoo book (with easy-to-download e-book) and Rhinoceros's Bathtime (Let's Go To The Zoo!) - Both of these books are part of the Let's Go To The Zoo! series. We love this series! These books are great quality. The informational stories inside are as cute as the great wildlife pictures. I love that the animals are so specific. These are definitely a perfect accompaniment to any zoo trip!!

Eric Carle's ABC (The World of Eric Carle) - This is a great lift-the-flap ABC book by Eric Carle that depicts lots of different animals with their corresponding letter!

Another book we own that is not pictured here, but is a must have for every nursing Mama is We Like to Nurse! This is an amazing book about animals nursing their young. It is awesome!

Of course there are so many other books I would have liked to feature here, so I had to narrow it to the ones that we own and are currently reading! I hope you found something great to accompany your animal or zoo theme, or just something new for your baby or toddler to read! 

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