Favorite Board Books | Best Board Books

I’m sharing the best board books from babies to toddlers!

I am a big fan of board books for my kids! Board books have thick pages, which are especially nice for young kids because they aren’t able to rip the pages or destroy them (as) easily. These books are usually simple and often rhyme. Personally, I gravitate towards board books that teach a good lesson and have great illustrations. Today I’m sharing our favorite households board books.

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Best Board Books

I’m sharing the best board books, in our little family’s opinion!

Favorite “I Love You” Board Books

Who doesn’t love reading a gushy “I love you” book to a squishy babe as you give them a big smooch on their chubby cheeks?!

Guess How Much I Love You* is a sweet book. It was one of my favorite, first books to read to my daughter. It’s about a dad and a son rabbit, volleying back and forth about how much they love each other. Their relationship is sweet and tender.

I Love You Night and Day* is a rhyming book all about loving your little one in opposite ways, night and day, big and tough, strong and small, for the fun to come and the fun that’s passed. It’s doubles as a fun way to teach about opposites, and the message is light-hearted and happy.

Oh… I cried the first time I read I Love You to the Moon and Back* to my daughter! It’s about a parent bear and baby cub and all the ways they show they love each other doing every day activities.

My Dad Loves Me (not sold on Amazon) is a fun, simple book that’s about all the ways dads love. The illustrations are cute and it’s one of my daughter’s favorites, especially when I act it out while reading (tickle her, kiss her, etc.)!

If I Could Keep You Little* is one of those sweet books I couldn’t read the first few months of my daughter’s life because I didn’t want to think about her ever growing up! But, in time it has become a favorite of mine and hers. It ends with one of my favorite lines, “If I could keep you little I’d keep you close to me, but then I’d miss you growing into who you’re meant to be.”

Board Books with Good Messages

These cute board books are all about teaching good principles like self-confidence, being a good friend or having a good attitude.

I Like Myself! is a gem of a board book! An ode to self-confidence, it’s all about liking yourself in every way, no matter what others may say or what you may look like. It has a cute rhythm and rhyme.

Little Blue Truck* has the cutest illustrations and best rhythm – it doesn’t miss a beat! This book is all about being friendly and lending a helping hand to others. I highly recommend!

The Pout Pout Fish* spreads the dreary wearies all over the place because he thinks that’s just the way he is! Then, he learns he’s actually a kiss-kiss fish, meant to spread cheery cheeries all over the place! This is a great book about choosing a positive attitude.

The Fearless Octopus (not sold on Amazon) is a cute book about facing your fears, and how you might be surprised to learn it ought not to have been feared all along! Jellycat makes adorable books, in general!

Board Books for Learning

These board books are all about teaching letters, numbers, shapes, colors, animals and other objects.

Priddy Board Books makes great educational books. We got this fun set of First 100 Board Books* and my daughter loves to point to all the objects and recite what they are. There are no stories in these board books – they are real life images of each object.

Alphaprints* makes simple educational board books with images made from thumbprints and everyday objects. The thumbprints are textured, so little ones like to scratch them. My daughter regularly picks these out for us to point and describe! We have several (Opposites, Animals, etc.) and I’ve linked one here.

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom is a fun story all about the letters of the alphabet climbing up the coconut tree before they… chicka chicka BOOM BOOM – all fall down! It repeats all the letters of the alphabet twice throughout the story and the final page has the full capital and lowercase alphabet. It’s great for teaching letters!

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? This repetitive rhyming board book is fun for teaching colors, animals and a bit about a teacher and kids!

Fun Board Books

These board books are just for fun! While still teaching, they are exploratory, lift-the-flap or touch-and-feel!

Dear Zoo* is a favorite lift-the-flap book about a kid who wrote to the zoo to send him a pet, and they sent all sorts of different animals until they finally send a puppy! We like to make all the animal noises on each page.

Who Goes Moo is a book I’ve got memorized like the back of my hand with how much my daughter has loved it! This rhyming book describes five different farm animals then asks, “Do you remember who goes moo?”

Make Believe Ideas has a number of adorable touch-and-feel books. We have If You Ever Meet a Groovicorn* (probably my favorite!), Never Touch a Dinosaur* and Never Touch a Spider*!

Happy Reading!

Whether you’re buying to start (or expand) your kids library or buying for a friend, these are all mom and kid-approved board books!