World Book Day: Touch and Feel books

Happy World Book Day!

Since we had the Mini Grumpy Egyptian, I have found there is less and less time for me to sit down with a good book and relax. It seems as though I'm constantly cleaning, feeding, changing or trying to entertain her. I believe it is really important to instil a love of reading in little ones from a young age and in order to make me feel as though I am still reading, have read to the mini one since she was born. In her play area there is a small tub of board books that she is able to access herself and a book is part of our bedtime routine. While classics like The Hungry Caterpillar and Inch Wincy Spider puppet books are regulars, the Mini Grumpy Egyptian's favourite stories are without doubt the touch and feel books.

Charity shops and second-hand sales have been great at picking up copies of the fantastic "That's not my..." series and our favourites are the monkey, dinosaur and Princess books. They are great for a curious ten month old baby as they are short enough to keep her interested and with lots of different textures to feel.

I have noticed though that there are a lot of bad touch and feel books out there that feel as though the author just threw a couple of random textures down without paying much thought as to whether they have anything to do with the story or feel interesting enough to touch. When they are charging £5+ for a book, they need to be much better than this. My least favourite are the touch and feel books that don't have a story and just follow a general theme such as animals.

Our favourite book however is one the Mini Grumpy Egyptian got for Christmas and that is the my First Gruffalo -  Touch and feel. It is brilliant and comes complete with stick wart, felt spikes, furry stomach and gritty teeth. We can read this a couple of times a night and the mini one is as happy reading it the third time as she was the first. If you were looking to introduce a touch and feel book to your little one, I would suggest this is a great start. The book itself feels solid, durable and fantastic quality. Despite a number of tugs on the felt spikes, they show no signs of coming loose.

The next book we plan to add too up collection is the Peter Rabbit touch and feel. Can you suggest anymore? What books did you read with your ten month old? Did you allow them to free play with the books at this age or wait until they are older.

Top Ten Children's Books

I love reading. I cannot stress enough how important it is for children to not just read and be read to, but to enjoy it as well. When I've heard friends remark that their children don't like books, I can't help but feel that perhaps they just haven't found books that they like. When I was little, my mum used to take me to the library at the weekends and I would roam around the children's section, finding things that for one reason or another appealed to me. The end result is that a couple of decades later and prior to the birth of the Mini Grumpy Egyptian, I was thinking about the books from my childhood that I wanted to share with her.

Already the Mini One has a large collection of books and I try to sit down with her at least a couple of times a week to read with her. The aim is that we will start to introduce sitting down for a story as a part of her bedtime routine in the next couple of months.

With Christmas fast approaching (how did THAT happen by the way?) I thought it might be nice to share my top ten favourite children's books.

(Images: From top to bottom)

The Jolly Postman by Janet and Allan Ahlberg
Can't You Sleep Little Bear? by Martin Waddell
The Lighthouse Keeper's Lunch by Ronda and David Armitage
Oh, The Places You'll Go! by Dr Seuss
On The Way Home by Jill Murphy
The Day The Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
The Tiger Who Came To Tea by Judith Kerr
We're Going On A Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen
Whatever Next! by Jill Murphy

What's your favourite children's books? Are their stories from your childhood that you hope to share with your children one day?