Some of my four year-old’s favorite books are published by Nosy Crow — they made interactive, super fun books! My son highly recommends The Rabbit, the Dark, and the Cookie Tin by Nicola O’Byrne, I Saw Anaconda by Jane Clarke. When he was younger, he loved the Busy Bear board book series, and while he doesn’t read/look at them very often anymore, he still loves the manipulatives throughout the story and won’t let these books go.
In The Rabbit, the Dark, and the Cookie Tin, rabbit doesn’t want to go to bed (preschoolers can relate!). Rabbit thinks that if it doesn’t get dark, then he won’t have to go to bed. Rabbit hatches a plan to catch the dark in a cookie tin and not let it out so that rabbit can stay up. In this story, preschoolers learn the importance of nighttime, and eventually rabbit agrees to let the dark out of the cookie tin. The reader gets to lift the flap and open up the cookie tin, releasing the dark in an awesome pop-up!
My son says this anaconda book is awesome because it has so many flaps! Every page is interactive and my son giggles as the anaconda eats everything in sight. Plus, he learned about some new animals (a stork, piranhas, and a skink). We bought this for a couple of other preschool age kids we know because my son enjoys it so much.
The Busy Bear series is so much fun. Toddlers and younger preschoolers will love all of the hands-on activities they get do with these books. It really lets the kids be part of the storytelling as the books’ manipulatives are part of the story line. There’s something to toggle, lift, slide, and move around all throughout the books! We have Race Car Driver, Knights’ Castle, Spooky House, and Pirate Adventure. Even though my son is a little old for these books (the storyline is too simple for him), my friend has an 18 month-old that I still get to buy these cute books for 🙂
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