Books for 2 year old

[ALiceM20]

Anyone reads to their two year olds?
If so what kind of books? Are normal children's picture books ok or should i aim for the little board books that have very little text?

Best shops to buy them?

Also any tips on starting like getting them to listen etc

If you sound interested in the story and read it in an engaging way, your child will naturally want to listen.

For two year olds, try The Gruffalo, The Tiger Who Came To Tea, The Very Hungry Caterpillar. The Acorn Wood books (including Postman Bear and Rabbit's Nap) by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffer are lovely and have fun flaps to lift. We also like Where Is The Green Sheep.

Amazon is a good place to buy them but Waterstones and WH Smith also often have a good selection and you could take your DC to the shop and have fun choosing some books together.

Most are available as board books or as paperbacks - I find board books are a sturdier for withstanding grabby toddler fingers!

Reading with toddlers is lovely. If you enjoy it, they will too.

For two year olds, try The Gruffalo, The Tiger Who Came To Tea, The Very Hungry Caterpillar. The Acorn Wood books (including Postman Bear and Rabbit's Nap) by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffer are lovely and have fun flaps to lift

All of the above. These are my 2 year olds favourites!

Try visiting your local library. Don’t worry too much at this stage if they don’t listen to the story, just getting them interested in books is good.

Yes! We read for over an hour to our two year old everyday (in 20-25 mins chunks). He likes all the Julia Donaldson books, Hairy Maclairy, Shark in the Park, all the books by Lucy Cousins, the Tony Mitton series about vehicles, simple versions of fairy tales, the Peppa Pig books (sigh!), books by Judith Kerr esp the Mog books, the books by Rob Biddulph, Peace At Last and Whatever Next by Jill Murphy, the Oi Frog series and the Little Red Train series.

@Tigerwhocamefortea your username suggests which one is your favourite!!

Just to add that sitting them on your lap and cuddling while you read together is a nice way to start, and also if you really go for it with doing the different voices in the story then you're guaranteed an appreciative audience even if you feel a bit silly!

Press Here by Herve Tullet is great.

If you haven't read to him so far, I'd start with books with very little text. Go to the library and look around there, that way you can easily, without spending a lot of money on a stack of books, figure out what you both like.

Mine have always loved the Acorn Wood books, all Julia Donaldson and Alex Scheffler books really, also That's Not My... when they were very little. My 4 year old still loves Pip and Posy. I second the library, you can take loads out at a time and at mine there is a book start bear scheme where you get a little 'passport' they can get stamped every time they get books out etc,

The library is a great option and they can help suggest wonderful stories too. Julia Donaldson books are great fun and so catchy with their rhymes. Lulu books are also fun - fairly short and with bits to lift up/pull etc.

Thank you all so much for your recommendations, added few of the recommended books to my basket to buy and we are going to library on friday for their read and rhyme so will also check out some books they have.
Have any of you been to read and rhyme at library? Just want to know what exactly its like and if i have to do anything?

What practical said. The Noisy... series is good - lots of buttons to press. Noisy Bodies, Noisy Robots, Noisy Orchestra.

I help out at a rhyme time library session. It’s usually 30 min to one hour, there will be a bit of playing/interaction between the kids at first, then the group leader will lead some songs and parents will join in with the words and actions they know (but no one expects you to know them if you’ve not been before!). I highly recommend it, it’s the highlight of our week. Typical songs include Wheels on the bus, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Old McDonald, Wind the Bobbin Up (you’ll quickly come to hate this one), Five Little Ducks.

...and there might be a story read.

The Sue Henderson books are good too, Barry the Fish with Fingers, The Robot with No Bottom etc.

My username comes from a book called My Big Shouting Day which is about a grumpy toddler called Bella and is very relatable for parents 😂

If you are in Scotland, your health visitor should give you Bookbug bags of free books.

It’s very informal - normal to have kids wandering around etc

All of the above. Plus Peepo (an all time classic), Each Peach Pear Plum, Room on the Broom, Dinosaur Roar, A Squash and a Squeeze, any nursery rhymes, all the old Ladybirds (Billy Goats Gruff etc). The list is endless. We didn't have a TV or phones etc when my DC were small, so I just read to them, endlessly. They loved it, not least as it's a captive parent giving them attention. The more you can put expression into it, the better (they love anything with crash/smash/roooooaaaaaarrrrr/bang/thwack etc done dramatically!) It's such fun, OP. I wish mine were still small enough to be read to.

Cannot recommend these Usborne books enough they are so lovely and the sounds are great. We have them all (about 5 of them I think) and my 5 year year old still regularly asks for them at bedtime.

Night Sounds (Noisy Books) https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1474933416/ref=cmswwrcppapiii_qlQsDbWC1F0H9

Arghhhh I messed up doing that link!!

My son loves the postman pat books, they are quite fun to read for me! He's been asking for 'poo poo pat' every night before bed since he was 2, he's 3 now.

The jolly postman is another hit with everyone, it's got lots of little bits to take out and read, like party invitations, letters etc. It includes other fairy tales like Cinderella, the three bears, gingerbread house.

Julia Donaldson is a big hit in our house,. The Elmer books, Paddington books ...tbh my two year old will listen to any book. As a previous poster said, it's how you read it that counts. We're currently reading the Peter rabbit series. I thought they would be too old for him but he loves them.

Anything by Mem Fox, Leslie Patricelli, Sandra Boynton would be a big hit with that age.