Best Books for Two Year Olds- A two year old baby is at the stage of development, where they learn to speak more words and identify everything in their environment. At age two, with proper training, a child should be able to identify many things and speak many words too, properly.
For children whose parents have been reading to them since they were one year old, they can easily identify things and even words more than children who start later. The most important advantage of reading to your child is that it is a way of bonding and studying.
Reading books to your two year old kid has several advantages, and one of such is that it improves intelligence. If you start reading books to your child early, by age three their language would have improved greatly. They can learn new and more complex words really fast and do a couple of other things, especially if you mix reading with other learning concepts like games.
You also must not select books that are too difficult. The best books for two year olds are the ones that have very short words (two lettered and three lettered). This depends on whether you have read any book to your child previously, so you may want to start with simpler books if you are just beginning.
Gradually, you can change the books as they grow older. One fine way to do this would be to get all the books to read for your two year old child till he reaches age two. Please remember that it is not a must to finish your list of books. Your child may pick a favourite, so let him repeat it over and over. You can then get some of the best books for three year old kids after sometime and read those to him from then on.
This way, you can easily help him learn sentence construction and also how to read, gradually. Remember that with children, the key is to do everything step by step. This article will help you with how to read to a two year old, best books for two year olds, and best books for two year old boys or girls.
Best Books for Two Year Olds
- A Busy Day for Birds by Lucy Cousins
- Bathtime for Little Rabbit by: Jörg Mühle, Illustrator: Eve Erikson, Translator: Catherine Chidgey
- Bear on a Bike by Hannah Shaw
- Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr; Illustrator: Eric Carleb
- Dinosaur Roar! by Henrietta Stickland; Illustrator: Paul Stickland
- Fox’s Socks by Julia Donaldson; Illustrator: Axel Scheffler
- Have You Seen Elephant? by David Barrow
- How to Brush Your Teeth with Snappy Croc by Jane Clarke Illustrator: Georgie Birkett
- The Elephant and the Bad Baby by Elfrida Vipont Illustrator: Raymond Briggs
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
- This Bear, That Bear by Sian Wheatcroft
- WOW! Said the Owl by Tim Hopgood
- Dear Zoo
- First 100 Numbers Colors Shapes
- Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
- Press Here
- Potty
- My First 100 Words
- Where’s Spot?
- The Going to Bed Book
- Yummy Yucky
- Open the Barn Door
How to Choose the Best Books for Two year olds
The books you choose are the most important things, alongside your reading method, time and location.
When reading to your two year old child, it is easy for him to develop interest if the book is really nice.
Two year old kids are interested in beautiful views, so make sure to get books with really beautiful pictures. You can get books that will help him identify things in your home too.
According to mom reviews, the best books for two year olds are usually rhyme books. Books that have repetition and rhymes are among the favourite books for children.
Another important thing is that the books must not be long. Get short books that are really interesting with thick covers and leaves that your child can turn when they are tired of one page.
You can also choose themed books. These are books that talk about one category of things, like a family, animals, princesses, trains, airplanes and cars. Make sure there are enough images. The pages must not have a lot of text, and for two year olds, the words must be mostly three lettered or a maximum of five.
That way, they can easily learn the words while looking at the bright beautiful pictures.
If you are shopping for books, select prereader books if you are just starting to read to your child. If your child can identify words already, you can go for books in other categories.
If you want to take things easy, just go for the prereader books instead. The books should have short storylines, or you should take it gradually. It is really difficult to keep the attention of a two year old child for thirty minutes.
When to Start Reading to Your Child
If you are here it is probably because you learnt that reading to your child can help to increase bonding. You may also be wondering if it is not a little late to read to your two year old child, considering that many people start earlier.
It is almost never too early to start reading to your child. Some people say you may start reading from when your child is in your womb. Of course, that was exaggerated a little, but it is to show that is better to read to your child earlier.
Sometimes, this is not only to help them speak better and earlier, but also to bond. Reading lovely books to your kid is a really nice way to bond with them.
It’s never too early to start reading. You can even begin when your child is in the womb! Reading is a wonderful relationship builder as it strengthens your bond with your child, calms them and promotes good communication between the two of you.
According to several moms, reading to a two year old can help them relax and calm down. It also helps them cultivate a habit of reading books as they grow older.
How to read to a two year old?
Well, reading to the child is not the problem, but you must be able to keep them focused on the book. Here are some tips that can help you read to your child.
How to Read to a Two Year Old Child
At their age, two year old children hardly ever focus on anything. Their eyes keep darting left and right, trying to see everything they can. This is why you have to do a good job with keeping them focused.
One thing you must not forget is that the main purpose is fun. Children love beautiful views too, maybe more than we do. You are not tutoring your child, you are reading to them.
Read a book every day
Read a book every single day, unless something happens. Whenever you are going somewhere for a long time, maybe the hospital or a friend’s place, take a board book along. Children get bored when they stay somewhere for a long time, so you can keep their attention for quite some time.
Have a reading space and time
Getting used to a particular reading space is also going to help. You can choose to do it in the lawn, in your yard, or a really cool place in your house. After some time, your child may point towards the space when they want you to read to them.
They also brace themselves when it is time for reading. If you make it a habit to read to a child in the evening when the weather is cool, they start getting the feeling that it is time to relax when evening approaches.
Make it fun
Make reading relaxed and fun so that your child looks forward to it. Fun is the actual purpose of your reading to your baby. You can also use other things to make it fun, maybe play a tune or give treats that your baby loves.
This depends on you and your child. It may be a particular food that your child loves. Whatever it is, you just have to make sure that it is not distracting enough to take your child’s focus away.
Buy them gifts
You can buy your child a gift that they will really love when you complete a book or maybe five books. It depends on you and your baby. It could be a really lovely toy. It could be pet, like a hamster or a puppy or something else that will be a good gift for a two year old.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here is a list of the some of the best books for two year olds:
- A Busy Day for Birds by Lucy Cousins
- Bathtime for Little Rabbit by: Jörg Mühle, Illustrator: Eve Erikson, Translator: Catherine Chidgey
- Bear on a Bike by Hannah Shaw
- Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr; Illustrator: Eric Carleb
- Dinosaur Roar! by Henrietta Stickland; Illustrator: Paul Stickland
- Fox’s Socks by Julia Donaldson; Illustrator: Axel Scheffler
- Have You Seen Elephant? by David Barrow
- How to Brush Your Teeth with Snappy Croc by Jane Clarke Illustrator: Georgie Birkett
- The Elephant and the Bad Baby by Elfrida Vipont Illustrator: Raymond Briggs
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
- This Bear, That Bear by Sian Wheatcroft
- WOW! Said the Owl by Tim Hopgood
Yes. Board books are very good for two year old children, because they can feel it with their hands and arms, hold them and even try to turn the pages, improving their development of interest.
Conclusion
Two year old children should already have interest in reading. If you are just starting to read to your two or three year old kid, it is not too late.
Sometimes, think of it as a way of bonding and not studying. Make it fun for your baby. This article lists the best books for two year olds.
References
Thetot.com
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