Reading can help your child understand the world around them. It can help your preschooler experience different cultures and traditions as well as give them insight about their own. While I thought about making a different book list for every holiday, that felt like the options might be unlimited. Instead, I tried to compile a list of holiday books for preschool that was widely inclusive. These are the best holiday picture books that I could find. I tried to include many holidays in this list. So enjoy my list of holiday books for kids!
Valentine's Day
Age: Infant and young toddler
Style: Board Book
Details: Count from 1 through 1- by kissing baby all over. Counting Kisses is a fun book to practice counting while showering baby with love.
Age: Older toddler, preschool
Style: Board book
Details: I enjoy the author of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. So I of course have to recommend the Happy Valentine’s Day Mouse book as well. Out favorite little mouse returns to make a card for Valentine’s Day.
Age: Older toddler, preschool
Style: Board book
Details: Oh I love this book. Any book just about love between a parent and child brings me a lot of joy. I’d Know You Anywhere My Love absolutely meets that requirement for me 100%.
Age: Older infant, toddlers
Style: Board book
Details: I like books that have lift the flap and things to feel. Pop Up Peekaboo! I Love You is a very simple book all about love. It does have lift the flaps, so I would definitely trend towards older baby and toddler.
Age: Older toddler, preschool
Style: Hard cover
Details: I don’t know that I realized that Some Things Go Together is not as common of a book anymore. But it’s really sweet about how certain things in life just go together.
Age: Older toddler, preschool
Style: Board book
Details: I love this author, but the board book style of many of her books is misleading. You and Me and the Wishing Tree is a beautiful journey and book about a parent and their child if they could wish for anything. Definitely keep it for older toddlers unless your child has a long attention span.
Father's Day
Age: Infant, toddler
Style: Board book
Details: I work hard to make sure that my kids’ dad is included. So sharing My Dad is Amazing with them was fun and sweet.
Age: Infant, toddler
Style: Board book
Details: This simple book depicts images of baby animals and their dads. My Dad Loves Me gives simple examples of family together and a chance to practice animals.
Halloween
Age: Preschool
Style: Board book
Details: Jasper Rabbit loves carrots. But one day, the carrots start following him home. Creepy Carrots is fun because it gives so much to talk about on each page.
Age: Toddler, young preschool
Style: Board Book
Details: Don’t Push the Button gives children a chance to be mischievous. This is a book where you follow along and do what it says.
Age: Toddler, young preschool
Style: Board Book
Details: I absolutely adore Room on the Broom. I think at one point in time we even had three copies in the house. This simple book has a nice cadence to the reading, and it’s cute and fun.
Christmas
Age: Preschool
Style: Hard cover
Details: My kids both went through a big Elmo stage (weird because neither of them ever really watched Sesame Street). Twas the Night Before Christmas on Sesame Street follows the same type of rhyme as the original. But in this one, Cookie Monster eats all of Santa’s cookies and has to hurry to make more before he disappoints old Saint Nick.
Age: Preschool
Style: Hard cover
Details: The Polar Express is a classic tale about belief. The child gets to go meet Santa, and in so doing gets to hear one of the magical reindeer bells.
Seasons
Age: older toddler, preschooler
Style: Paperback
Details: This book takes you on a journey through all the months of the year. Each month there is a little something extra, plus Chicken Soup with Rice.
Age: Older preschool
Style: Hard cover
Details: How to Catch a Snowman is on the edge of preschool for me. Part of the reason is because so much of the story is actually captured in the pictures, not the words. So your child has to have the cognitive skill to understand what’s happening. But still, a super cute book!
Age: Infant, younger toddler
Style: Hard cover
Details: This is a great book to happen right around your child’s first snow. Than it can be Junior and Little Owl’s Snow.
Age: Toddler, preschool
Style: Hard cover
Details: I almost marked The Mitten as good for all three ages that I am outlining here (infant, toddler, and preschool). For me, there is something for each stage of development. At the toddler stage, just reading it is enough. As your child gets older though, there are extra engaging images that are worth taking time to examine.
Age: Preschool
Style: Paperback
Details: A tortoise out in winter is Ridiculous! This book gives examples of why some animals may be suited for the winter and some are not. Also, I love it because tortoises are true hibernators and a great way to introduce the topic (bears are not true hibernators, I have no idea why they are the poster child for hibernation.).
