books our kids love

One of our very favorite parts of parenting is reading with our kids. We love that it’s a quiet, snuggly ritual, and that we can use books to impart wisdom that would otherwise sound annoying coming out of mom’s mouth (reading Grumpy Monkey to a moody 3-year-old is cathartic to all).

We also love how it offers a glimpse inside our kids’ brains! It’s fun to watch where a baby’s eyes track on a page, and to see which book or sentence or word your 2-year-old is obsessed with at the moment (they’ll ask for it again and again and again). The follow-up questions that come out of a 5-year-old’s mouth during bedtime book reading are beyond entertaining, and once kids can read on their own, it’s just as fun to see which books become their favorites.

The world of children’s books is vast, so we thought it’d be fun to share the books that are the biggest hits in our houses — and in the houses of a few other moms we’re fans of, too! Bookmark these books if you’re compiling a to-be-borrowed list, building your kids’ book collection, or gifting a book to any child in your life.

Before we get to the books, I want to share one of my fam’s most tried-and-true toys. Mattis and Calum have always been big Play-Doh fans and now that Cashel is 3, he has officially joined the club. We have a couple Play-Doh kits that are constantly in use at our house — our newest addition, the Play-Doh Donut Drop Shop playset, has been SO much fun. The boys have had hours of play and have been so proud to show me their most fun and imaginative donut creations. This one and this one are also tried and true. They hold up for years (and through multiple kids!) — we just occasionally restock on fresh cans and colors and they're good as new.

I always fill my boys’ Easter baskets with Play-Doh eggs, and gift their sets to my godsons/friends’ kids/whoever for their third, fourth, and fifth birthdays — aka when their imagination is starting to go wild. I also almost always have a Play-Doh can or two in my bag for on-the-go entertainment. For the record, Mattis, who’s 7, still loves it! Thank you to the Play-Doh brand for sponsoring today’s So Into That. Talk about ...