Top Books for Pre School Children

My kids, now aged 5 and 2 have always loved books. We read lots and definitely every night before bed. We have developed quite a list of favourites. I compared my list with my 5 year olds and they were very similar – here is our combined favourites in no particular order of our top books for preschoolers

The Big Fat Caterpillar, Eric Carle: A classic! I remember loving this as a child and my kids love it too. They love counting the fruit and laughing at the huge list of food the caterpillar eats on Saturday!

Goldilocks and the Three Bears: Another old classic, love the cheekiness of Godilocks and the indignant bears.

The Three Little Pigs: There is something very amusing about the terms “not by the hair of my chinny chin chin” and “I’ll huff and I’ll puff and blow your house down”

Dirty Bertie, David Roberts: Such a funny book and nice and short for the nights when you need story time to be quick. May not be sutiable for everyone!

Giraffes Can’t Dance, Giles Andrede: Lovely rhyming story about Gerald the Giraffe who thinks he can’t dance but realises he can!

Dogger, Shirley Hughes: This makes the list as I loved it as a child and now my son loves it too. Such a sweet story about a little boy losing his beloved soft toy dog. Love the kind heartedness of his sister in the end – think it teaches the kids something about being a good sibling!

Giggle Giggle Quack, Doreen Cronin; Funny and short story about the animals on a farm outwitting the human who is supposed to be looking after them. I find this is best from about 4/5 years plus as before that, they just don’t seem to get the humour.

Choo Choo Clickety Clack, Margaret Mayo: This has a place close to my heart as it was my son’s favourite book when I was pregnant with my daughter and we read it loads. It is probably more of a favourite amongst the boys as it’s all about transport but to be honest my daughter loves it too.

Stick Man, Julia Donaldson: There are so many Julia Donaldson books that I could add onto this list but I’ve limited myself to just a couple. See my Hub Best Children's Books by Julia Donaldson for more of my favourites. Stick Man is a fabulous story about Stick Man who people keep confusing for a Stick...will he make it back to his Stick Lady Love??

The Smartest Giant in Town, Julia Donaldson: This is my son’s favourite. I think he likes the repetitiveness of it. It is yet another sweet story of a very kind giant!