The 4 Types of Board Books Every Baby and Toddler Bookshelf Needs
The 4 Types of Board Books Every Baby and Toddler Bookshelf Needs
Go to any bookstore or major retailer where books for babies are sold. Look at the shelves. What do you see?
You’ll find story books. Bedtime books. Rhyming books. Alphabet books. First-word books. Color books. Touch-and-feel books. Lift-the-flap books. Seasonal books. Interactive books. Predictable books.
A lot of them are wonderful.
They’re on my toddler’s bookshelf, too. Some of them are his absolute favorites.
But look closer.
You’ll probably see a lot of cute illustrations. A lot of seasonal books that rhyme, but don’t really teach anything meaningful. And if you do find books with real photographs, they’re usually first-word books.
Again, let me be clear.
We love these books. Babies and toddlers need many kinds of books.
But when I look at most baby bookshelves, I see one category missing again and again.
Informational books.
Not first-word books.
Not books that label one object per page and stop there.
I mean books that help babies and toddlers build knowledge about one specific topic or category. Books that build vocabulary and real-world understanding. Books that give you more to talk about than one simple label.
And if your baby’s bookshelf doesn’t have many of those, you’re not alone. The market gives families plenty of wonderful stories, rhymes, predictable books, and first-word books.
But strong informational books for babies and toddlers are much harder to find.
That matters because birth to age 3 is a critical window for language development. Babies brains are little sponges. They’re building language and knowledge long before they can explain what they know.
So the books we give them now matter.
Want the quick version?
Download The Baby Bookshelf Checklist and use it the next time you buy board books for your baby or toddler.
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The 4 types of books every baby and toddler bookshelf needs
I like to think about a baby or toddler bookshelf in four main categories. There’s definitely overlap, but each type of book does something a little different.
A strong baby bookshelf usually includes:
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Stories
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Predictable books
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Rhyming books
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Informational books
You don’t need every book to do everything. That’s not the point.
Different books do different jobs.
1. Stories
Stories build meaning.
These are books with characters, events, problems, little plots, feelings, and connections. They help children understand that things happen in a sequence. Sometimes there’s a problem and solution.
A baby may not understand the full plot yet, and that’s fine. That still counts. They’re hearing story language. They’re learning that books carry meaning.
Here’s how I like to read story books. Yes. you can always read the words, but you can do so much more!
Point to what’s happening. Say what you notice. Name how the characters are feeling.
Little Owl Lost
You might say:
“Oh no! The baby owl is lost! He’s feeling sad.”
“The squirrel is helping.”
“Now the other animals are helping. They’re worried.”
Hot take: You don’t need a feelings book to teach feelings. Storybooks are often better children learning about feelings in a meaningful context.
2. Predictable books
Predictable books have repeated lines, repeated structures, familiar patterns, or a rhythm that helps your child know what’s coming next.
Babies and toddlers love this because they can participate!
They may bounce along with the rhythm. They may fill in a word. They may do the same motion every time you turn the page.
That participation is gold. It’s expressive language, and it’s exactly what we want to see.
The pattern is what makes these books powerful. That’s what invites new words.
One note: once children begin learning to read (usually in kindergarten) books with predictable patterns can be problematic if they encourage guessing instead of decoding. But for babies and toddlers, predictable books can be wonderful for language, participation, and connection.
3. Rhyming books
Rhyming books encourage young children to play with the sounds of language.
The rhythm and patterns can capture babies’ attention and help them tune in to language.
You don’t need to turn this into a lesson.
You don’t need to say, “Did you hear that rhyme?” or “What word rhymes with star?”
Just read. Have fun together.
Every so often, if your child is talking and the book is familiar, pause at the end of a line and give them a chance to fill in the missing word. No big deal if they don’t.
Rhyming books are fun no matter what. They support language development, sound play, rhythm, and most importantly, they’re fun!
4. Informational books
Informational books are the category I see missing most often.
There are plenty of concept books that teach skills like ABCs and colors, and there are lots of first words books available.
I’m looking for something a little different- informational books more like what we read to slightly older children. Books that teach about the natural or social world. They usually focus on a real topic, like birds, insects, mammals, babies, weather, food, vehicles, plants, bodies, or places.
They don’t just go broad.
They go deep.
A first-word book might teach: bird
An informational book about birds gives you room to talk about: wings, feathers, beak, nest, egg, fly, perch, hatch, sing
That is a very different language experience.
You’re not only naming one thing. You’re helping your child build a whole network of words and ideas.
That’s what babies and toddlers need more of.
First-word books label. Informational books build knowledge.
I want to be careful here because first-word books do have a place. We have several on our bookshelf.
I’m not saying they don’t have value. I’m not saying they’re bad.
A first-word book can help your baby learn labels: apple, dog, ball, cup, bird.
That’s useful.
But if the learning stops there, the language and knowledge stop there, too.
An informational book gives you more to talk about. It helps you name, describe, compare, connect, and explain.
Let’s stick with the bird example.
If a book is teaching about birds, you can talk about the beaks, feathers, wings, nests, eggs, birds flying, birds perched on a branch, and baby birds hatching.
Now your child isn’t just hearing one word.
They’re building a connected web of vocabulary and background knowledge. They’re learning to identify birds, but they’re also learning what makes a bird a bird.
That’s what I mean by informational board books.
And this is where many baby bookshelves are lacking.
Why informational books matter from birth to 3
Birth to age 3 is not “too early” for real learning. Don’t believe me? Read this.
It’s the foundation.
Babies are taking in language long before they can give it back to us. They’re listening, watching, noticing, and connecting. They’re learning what words mean by hearing those words in meaningful moments again and again.
So when we only give babies books that say one simple label per page, we may be giving them less language and knowledge than they’re ready for.
Babies don’t need watered-down books.
They need simple books with meaningful language. Books that connect to the real world.
That’s why informational books matter so much for early literacy for babies.
We're building the foundation for reading comprehension now, and comprehension depends on more than decoding.
Letters and sounds matter. Of course they do.
But children also need language and knowledge to understand what they read later.
A child may be able to sound out the word nest one day. But to understand what they’re reading, they need to know what a nest is. They need ideas to connect that word to.
Those ideas start building early through conversations, books, and real-world experiences.
What makes a strong informational board book?
A strong informational book does more than name a thing.
It helps your child build a bigger idea.
When you’re looking for informational books for babies and toddlers, look for books with:
Real photographs
Real photographs help babies connect books to the real world.
Rich but simple language
The book doesn’t need to be wordy. But it should give you more than one basic label.
A focused topic-Birds. Insects. Mammals. Babies. Weather. Food. Vehicles. Plants.
A focused topic gives your child repeated chances to hear connected words.
Enough substance for repeated conversations
Same book. Deeper conversations as your child grows.
How to check your baby’s bookshelf
Here’s the simple version.
Look at your baby’s bookshelf and ask:
- Do we have stories?
- Do we have predictable books?
- Do we have rhyming books?
- Do we have informational books that build real-world knowledge?
If the answer to that last one is no, don’t panic. You’re not behind. But it is worth noticing, and I can help.
This isn’t about buying more books just to have more books.
It’s about making the bookshelf stronger.
The Baby Bookshelf Checklist walks you through this quickly, so you can see what you already have and what may be missing.
I knew what I was looking for, and I still couldn’t find much
When I had my third baby at 45, I had 12 years of mothering experience and over 20 years of learning about literacy under my belt.
We already had a lot of great books, but we had what you would expect, wonderful stories, sweet rhyming books and fun predictable books. We had concept books and first word books, but we didn’t have any informational books.
I started looking.
- I wanted books with real photographs.
- Books that taught concepts deeply, not superficially.
- Books that could be read over and over again for a different purpose each time.
- Books that respect what babies are capable of learning.
I searched and found two: My Face Book and Global Babies.
We loved them both. They both feature photos of babies’ faces, so I added in other concepts as we talked about the photographs: eyes, noses, ears, mouths, hair, chin, hats. The HATS in Global Babies are amazing!
These concepts weren’t listed in the book, but I knew there was more we could do than read the words on the page.
But those were the only books I could find!
I already knew there was a limited selection. In my work, we talk about this all the time. But I didn’t realize there was such a gaping hole in the market until I was the mama searching for those books myself.
That’s when it became obvious.
If I couldn’t find what I was looking for, I had to write them myself.
Brilliance of Babies was Born
With Brilliance of Babies, I create informational board books for babies and toddlers with real photographs, rich language, meaningful concepts, and a Grown-Up Guide to help you know what to say.
These are knowledge-building board books designed specifically for the birth-to-3 language window.
They’re simple enough for babies, but rich enough to support deeper conversations as your child grows. We have some six-year-olds who love the books!
If your baby’s bookshelf is full of stories, rhymes, predictable books, and first-word books, that’s a great start.
Now look for the missing piece.
Look for informational books that build real language and real-world knowledge.