Joyful books for one-year-olds can be an absolutely wonderful way to spend time together. As anyone with a one-year-old knows, there is a vast difference between a 12-month-old and an 18-month-old, much less a 23-month-old. This age is full of exponential growth and development as littles start to walk, then run and climb. Their brains are moving a mile a minute picking up information from all around them and slowly turning it into language. Books are a wonderful way to introduce new language for toddlers, reinforce routines and learn about their own daily lives. Books that are durable and playful are best for this age.
Although you can certainly buy all these books right as your little one turns one, the infant books that I had in my post Wonderful Age-Appropriate Books for Every Age of Baby – hummingbirdhomelife.com will still be wonderful for them. I’m going to break the recommended books into ones I suggest for 12-month-olds, 15-month-olds, 18-month-olds and 21-month-olds. This is to provide a progression for one-year-olds and parents, but also to honor the vast differences in the ages.
Peaceful books for 12-month-olds
For the very youngest one-year olds, nursery rhymes are perfect and joyful for their little brains. They lay the basis of pre-reading skills and rhyming identification. They can be playful or sweet, but they appeal to this age and their developing brain in a way that almost nothing else does. Some nighttime books for bedtime are a wonderful way to help little ones calm down for bed. The last book is a beautiful seasonal book. Pick the one for the season you are in. One-year-olds are very much in the now and will connect best to learning about their current season.
Engaging Books for 15-month-olds
By 15 months, most children will be walking fully and exploring their environment at a new height. Toddlers this age may not want to stop long enough to listen to a full book, but books with finger puppets inside are a wonderful way to catch their attention. These books are playful and reinforce daily life. If you are a single parent household, only buy the book for who you are in the child’s life. Similarly, if you don’t have a dog, wait until your little one is closer to 21 months before introducing this dog book. These other books are playful and repetitive in a way that appeal to little brains and help with language development.
Interactive Books for 18-month-olds
By 18-months-old, most toddlers are ready to stop putting books in their mouths. They are also starting to have the fine motor skills for flaps, so these lift-a-flap books will be perfect for their little hands. This is a great age for learning animal sounds and positional words, like “in” and “on.” Your child may start to understand simple instructions at this age like “put the ball in the basket!” Littles this age are also often going as fast as they can in as many directions as they can and may only want a few pages from a book read at a time before they are on the move.
Joyful Books for 21-month-olds
By 21 months, little ones are approaching being 2-years-olds rapidly. They may be expressing more opinions about their wants and dislikes, those often these will change rapidly from moment to moment. Introducing numbers and colors at this age in a gentle way can help them start to identify and use these terms. They may start to be able to hold up 1 or 2 fingers to tell people their age, or know which car is blue or red. Books with repetition will still appeal best at this age, but they will start to be able to follow simple stories.
Joyful books for one-year-olds are just one way to encourage your child’s development and growth. Playing outside. Learning how to do puzzles. Playing with developmentally appropriate toys. Bouncing to music. Banging on pots and pans. These are all ways for one-year-olds to develop new skills and turn into busy little toddlers curious about the world and wanting to learn more. If your child is turning two soon, look for my blog post about books for 2-year-olds coming soon.
Happy Reading!
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