The Best 20 Concept Books That Will Make Learning Fun for Your Child
You’ve probably already heard that reading aloud to your child helps their brain grow.
And what’s amazing is that to get all the benefits of reading aloud, you don’t even have to read something overtly “educational.” No matter whether you read Where the Wild Things Are for the 72 billionth time or the back of the Cheerios box to your child, their brain will soak up new words and knowledge like a sponge.
Or if you want to be more proactive, books are an excellent tool for teaching your child basic concepts, like the alphabet, counting, shapes, colors, and so on. In fact, a whole category of children’s books is devoted to this endeavor, called “concept books” because their goal is to teach kids basic concepts.
But unfortunately, a significant portion of those concept books are missing one essential ingredient for the learning process: fun.
The Problem With Some Concept Books for Kids
Some concept books approach their subject a bit like a drill sergeant might, standing at a blackboard and running through the concepts without warmth, a sense of wonder, or any trace of humor.
And yet, brain research suggests that fun isn’t just a “nice to have” for the learning process but that it may be required for authentic learning and for storage in long-term memory. According to Research-Based Strategies to Ignite Student Learning:
“When a lesson starts with humor, there is more alerting, and the subsequent information is attached to the positive emotional event as an event or flashbulb memory…
Optimal brain activation occurs when subjects are in positive emotional states or when the material holds personal meaning, connects to their interests, is presented with elements of novelty, or evokes wonder. This is why attentiveness is so closely linked to positive emotional cueing and personal meaning. When there is connection to prior knowledge or positive emotional experience, new information passage through the limbic system will be enhanced. The thalamus will then ‘decide’ to pay attention to the information.”
In other words, the best concept books make learning fun for kids. If a concept book fails to surprise your child, tickle their funny bone, or inspire a sense of awe, it probably won’t teach them anything anyway.
Related: The Ultimate List of the Best Books for Toddlers
The Best Concept Books That Will Get Kids Excited to Learn
A while ago, my kids and I spent months putting together a list of the best books for 2-year-olds, and parents message me every week to express gratitude for that list. But since then, I’ve been getting lots of follow-up questions from parents on one section from that list in particular: What other learning books for toddlers and preschoolers do you recommend?
Then not too long ago, I was excited to hear from the awesome folks at Candlewick Press because not only did they want to share a copy of This Is a Book of Shapes for the purposes of an honest review, but they also offered to sponsor a whole post about the best concept books for children. And so my family set out on a months-long research project to find fun concept books that both kids and parents will enjoy. (Because if kids are going to ask us to read it again and again, it may as well be something we’ll get a kick out of, too!)
To be clear, all opinions expressed in this post are my own, and I was not required or influenced to give anything but an honest appraisal. I have high standards for children’s books, and I recommend only books I’ve enjoyed with my own family.
What Makes This List of Children’s Concept Books Different
Over the years, we’d already read tons of concept books, but we wanted to do a thorough review to uncover all the best concept books. So every week, I put 30+ books on hold at the library, plus at every visit I browsed the shelves for even more concept books. All told, my kids and I read hundreds of children’s concept books to prepare this list.
The list below is the cream of the crop from those hundreds of concept books: the books I loved reading, and the books my kids couldn’t get enough of. Read these concept books with your child, and you’ll infuse the learning experience with a major dose of fun.
Note: indicates my family’s absolute top favorites on the list. These are the books my kids absolutely can’t get enough of!
Counting Books for Kids
One large category of concept books involves counting and numbers because number sense is a precursor to later math skills. But in order for the knowledge to sink in with your child, it’s important to have a book you both enjoy. Here are the counting books that stand out from the pack:
1. 123 Dream
Tip: Haven’t heard of Bookshop yet? It’s an online bookstore with a mission to support local, independent bookstores. As of March 2023, they’ve raised more than 25 million dollars for local bookstores! If you want to order books online while also supporting local bookstores, feel free to use the Bookshop buttons under each book recommendation in this post.
2. Ten, Nine, Eight
3. Have You Seen My Dragon?
Shape Books for Kids
These books about shapes are the perfect complement to hands-on learning about shapes.
4. This Is a Book of Shapes
5. Triangle
6. Shapes by Anne Woodhull and Shelley Rotner
Alphabet Books for Kids
Alphabet books pose a conundrum because toddlers and preschoolers don’t yet understand the concept of first letter. In other words, when young kids see a picture of an apple next to the letter “A”, their brains don’t yet make the connection that apple starts the short “a” vowel sound, which is represented by the letter “A.” (For more on this, see “Concept Books and Young Children” in Ways of Knowing: Literature and the Intellectual Life of Children.)
Experts say most kids start making sound-letter associations around age 4 or even age 5. So when sharing alphabet books with young kids, don’t stress if your child doesn’t seem to be picking up on first letter sounds quite yet. For young kids, it’s more valuable to talk about the objects they’re seeing to grow their understanding of the world and with it, their vocabulary.
7. ABC Dream
8. Eating the Alphabet: Fruits and Vegetables from A to Z
9. Creature ABC
Books About Colors
When it comes to concept books, books about colors abound. But here are the books about colors you and your child will actually want to come back to again and again:
10. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
11. My Favorite Color
12. Mouse Paint
Books About Opposites
These books about opposites create fun opportunities for building your child’s vocabulary while also helping them to understand how objects and ideas relate to each other.
13. Hippopposites
14. Hello Hello
15. Yummy Yucky
Concept Books That Cover Multiple Concepts
If you’re looking for a book that will cover a few areas of knowledge at the same time, you can’t go wrong with these children’s concept books.
16. Technicolor Treasure Hunt
17. Perfect Square
18. Numbers Colors Shapes
Bonus! More Concept Books for Kids
These concept books don’t fall into the traditional categories like alphabet or counting, but they still introduce kids to important ideas and concepts. Plus, they’re fun to share with your child!
19. Actual Size
20. Somewhere In the World Right Now
Before you go, get my FREE cheat sheet: 75 Positive Phrases Every Child Needs to Hear
Your Turn
What are your favorite concept books for children? Share in a comment below!
This post is brilliant and so helpful! Thank you!! I have a few preschoolers that I am working with each week and we are learning about weather. Oh Say Can You Say what’s the Weather Today is great, but is a bit over their heads. They liked Miss Maisy’s Wonderful Weather but were more interested in the Pop Ups than the info. :) I am still looking.
For weather, how about Boom Boom by Sarvinder Naberhaus and Margaret Chodos-Irvine?
What a nice round-up! Some old favorites and many new books to check out! Thank you!