If you’re looking for the best learning books for 2-year-olds to share with your child, you’ve come to the right place. Having the right kind of books on hand will not only help you entertain your toddler, but it’ll also provide a learning experience for them. Assuming the book you choose is both educational and amusing, you’ll realize that the ‘terrible two’ is not so terrible after all.
Your child will soon grow to enjoy reading these books with you and, with time, learn to read them without your help as well. Besides, sharing a book with you will also give your 2-year-old fond memories to look back to when they’re older. After all, several books for children around that age feature memorable characters that your child could grow attached to.
The best learning books have bright illustrations and are written in the kind of language that a 2-year-old can understand. Granted, reading the book is supposed to be a learning experience, but it can grow tiresome very quickly if you have to stop every few seconds to teach your child a new word.
In this article, we’ll take you through some of the best books we could find online that are ideal for 2-year-olds. Let’s have a look.
Best Books For 2-Year-Olds
The books we’ve featured in this list are all written by reputed authors and are quite popular among 2-year-olds. However, not every toddler enjoys curling up with a book. Unless the book you’re planning to read to them is packed with entertaining characters and colorful illustrations, chances are they won’t want to read it.
One way to get your child interested in learning how to read is to introduce them to personalized stories. These storybooks contain engaging stories that include your child as the main character. How? Their name and avatar are added to the story to make them feel like the book was written about them. A few websites create such stories for children, but the best of these is Play Stories.
You can choose from various stories on this site to get your child interested in reading. Once you start reading these stories, you can be sure that they’ll ask you for a story or two before bedtime every day. These stories are written by experts and promote the kind of core values you’d want your child to have as they grow older.
Coming back to our book reviews, the books we’ve listed below are not only suitable for 2-year-olds to learn from, but they’re those that your child will genuinely enjoy learning with. We’ve discussed the features of each book and its pros and cons briefly here to give you an idea of what to expect from them.
1. Toddler Activity Book For Preschool Learning
This book is ideal for toddlers because it’s filled with fun activities. This book covers everything from shapes and numbers to alphabets and animal figures. Hours of fun and learning – that’s what your 2-year-old will receive with the help of this book. The 2-year mark is around the time that most children pick up basic skills like how to hold a spoon, pencil, etc. properly.
While using this book, your child will be able to hold their colored pencils or crayons perfectly. This will give them the confidence to explore other similar activity books as well. Therefore, your child’s preschool days will be filled with them performing productive activities and learning new skills rather than spending time on electronic devices.
The drawings in the book are quite large, which makes it easy for first-time artists to practice. You’d be surprised at how many activity books designed for toddlers feature drawings with spaces so small that they’re difficult to color in. Thankfully, this book isn’t one of them and allows for easy coloring fun for your toddler.
Coloring helps develop basic motor skills that your child will need as they grow older. Another useful skill that they could learn with this book is meditation. Each page of the book has a different illustration and activity, which could keep your toddler occupied for days together.
Pros
- It contains drawings that are very easy to color in
- It improves basic motor skills among toddlers
- It can help your toddler learn meditation
- Each page consists of a different activity or game
- It can teach your child about numbers, alphabets, shapes, and more
Cons
- It doesn’t include any instructions for the activities
- It doesn’t feature enough repetitions of alphabets and numbers to help children memorize them
2. Big Letter Tracing By Anastasia Stephen
One of the easiest and most fun ways in which you can teach your 2-year-old how to write alphabets is to have them trace these alphabets. This is exactly what this activity book covers. Each page features large letters that your child will surely enjoy tracing. With time, they’ll learn how to write these alphabets without any help, which will prepare them for preschool.
This book is useful for both homeschooled children and those that attend regular preschool. If you’re teaching your kid how to write alphabets, you could first draw each alphabet on blank paper or a whiteboard. Then, you could ask them to trace the letter you’ve drawn with the help of this book.
The best feature of this book is that it gives your child a sense of independence as they use it. We all know how much 2-year-olds love getting things done on their own, regardless of whether or not they require help. They’ll therefore appreciate that this workbook gives them the freedom to learn writing without your assistance.
Since each page contains only one alphabet, your child can learn how to draw them in perfect detail. Besides, once they’re done using the workbook at the end of the day, you can erase all the pages and have them start over when required. After repeating this a few times, your toddler will be able to write down alphabets quite confidently.
Pros
- It teaches your child how to write alphabets
- The size of alphabets on each page is large enough for 2-year-olds to trace
- Each page contains guidelines and arrows to help your child understand how to draw the letters
- It contains over a hundred pages of activities for toddlers
- It can be reused over and over again
Cons
- It doesn’t contain any illustrations for coloring unlike most educational books for 2-year-olds
3. Play Smart Early Learning By Gakken Workbooks
This fun and creative workbook contain a wide variety of activities. Everything from games and mazes to puzzles and more is included in this book. Your child is sure to say entertained and happy with the beautiful drawings and shapes featured in it. The basic skills that your 2-year-old would require, such as motor skills and focus, are promoted by this workbook.
It can also help your child improve their problem-solving skills. Activities like puzzles and mazes require logical thinking, which is what makes this book so useful for toddlers. What’s more, each page contains tips and guidance on how parents can teach their children new words and improve their reasoning skills.
There are many activity books out there that contain puzzles, drawings, etc., that are similar to those contained in this one. However, not all of them contain explicit advice on how parents can use the book best to educate their toddlers. As they progress through this book, your child will find the activities growing harder.
Therefore, this book provides them with challenges that they’ll enjoy overcoming as they learn new concepts. Besides, since the activities increase in difficulty, your child will grow more confident every time they complete one. You can even let them add stickers to the activity pages once they’ve completed these successfully.
It also includes an activity board that you can wipe off once your child is done using it. Therefore, it seems as though this at-home activity book is one of the best educational books for 2-year-olds available online.
Pros
- It includes various activities such as mazes, puzzles, and more that can keep your toddler busy for hours
- The activities get progressively harder throughout the book, making for a fun challenge
- It improves motor coordination and focuses among 2 year olds
- It contains a reusable activity board
- It includes instructions and tips for parents to help their children improve upon basic skills
Cons
- It doesn’t contain as many alphabets and numbers as other educational activity books
- Some of the activities are a little too difficult for 2-year-olds to perform without assistance
4. Toddler Coloring Book By The Learning Bugs
This beautifully illustrated book is ideal for children aged 2 years and above. Your 2-year-old can learn about different colors, numbers, shapes, and more with this activity book. Since this book was designed by educators, it’s no surprise that each page is filled with activities that teach your child concepts that prepare them for preschool or elementary school.
You can speed up your child’s learning process and allow them to indulge in a few hours of fun every day with this book. For example, rather than having them watch TV or YouTube for amusement, you could sit them down with the learning bugs, some colored pencils, and crayons to improve their focus and motor skills.
The various illustrations in the booklet your child unleash their imagination and nurture their curiosity. Helping your child complete these activities can provide a great bonding experience for the two of you as well. Many parents who have used this book claim that it has taught their children about numbers and other educational concepts.
To prepare your child for preschool, you’ll need to ensure they’re familiar with concepts such as counting and have mastered basic motor skills. With the help of this book, your child should have no trouble keeping up with what’s being taught at school. Books such as this one inculcate the love for learning in toddlers early on.
This could make their initial days in preschool much easier and encourage them to enjoy their academic future.
Pros
- It contains some of the most beautiful illustrations in any toddler book
- It’s written by teachers and contains some great academic lessons
- The concepts covered in it help prepare your child for preschool
- It improves your child’s motor skills and hand-eye coordination
- The activities are easy enough for 2-year-olds to complete
Cons
- Some of the drawings are a little challenging for 2-year-olds to color in
- The alphabets don’t come with tracing lines
Conclusion
Well, there you have it – our reviews of the best books for 2-year-olds that help them learn new concepts. The concepts covered by these books include recognizing and writing numbers, alphabets, and more. Your child will also learn to draw basic shapes and figures with the help of these activity books, skills that are sure to come in handy when they progress through school.
Not only do these books make the perfect learning resources for 2-year-olds, but they also make a good source of entertainment for them. You’re sure to find your toddler with their nose buried behind an activity book for hours if you pick out the right one for them. Drawing and coloring with the help of these books can also help your child develop some basic motor skills and improve their hand-eye coordination.
Some books for 2-year-olds contain themes, such as the Toddler Book By The Learning Bugs. Themed books are more intriguing for toddlers and give their learning experience a sense of continuity when you teach them at home. These books are also more entertaining than other educational books as your toddler grows attached to the characters in these books.
Whichever activity book or learning resource for toddlers you opt for, make sure that you follow the instructions in the book carefully to give your 2-year-old a fruitful learning experience. Remember – this experience is what they’ll carry into elementary school and onward. A child who’s well-versed with the fundamental concepts of school learning is more likely to score good grades than one who isn’t.