Reading to Babies in Utero
Charley Harper’s ABC Book
Matt and I try to set aside a few minutes here and there to bond as a growing family. It usually happens right before bed. We’ll touch my stomach and talk to “Coconut.” The best was when Matt had his face pressed up against my belly and he got a swift kick to the head from our little baby.
One night we read an alphabet book to our little boy, and we had so much fun we started reading to him more often. Since we only had a total of two children’s books in our house (the rest of mine are in my classroom!), I decided to use my teacher “points” from Scholastic to order free books to read as a family.
Here are the books I ordered:
- Every Minute on Earth: Fun Facts that Happen Every 60 Seconds
- National Geographic: Elephants
- National Geographic: Whales
- National Geographic: Butterflies
- Click, Clack, Moo Cows that Type
- Commotion in the Ocean
- Down by the Cool of the Pool
- Giraffes Can’t Dance
- Cock-a-Doodle-Doo! Barnyard Hullabaloo
- Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale
- Words Are Not for Hurting
- Peek-a-WHO?
- Brown Bear, Brown Bear
- If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
- If You Give a Pig a Pancake
- If You Take a Mouse to the Movies
- If You Take a Mouse to School
- If You Give a Moose a Muffin
I love our family reading time. It’s a relaxing way to end the day, and it gives Coconut a chance to hear Matt’s voice in very close proximity.
My students have started making books and giving them to me to read to Coconut. Here’s one of my favorites:
Title: Space
This is the spiral galaxy.
God made things.
Even children.
Even…pencils.
Even computers.
Even books.
Coming Up: Cars.
7 Comments
Michele
You have some of our favorites there! Especially the "If you give a…." series. Jilli and Rory now say at the start of most books "Written by Laura Numeroff, Illustrations by Felicia Bond"
My favorites when they were super small were Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny….very calming.
Michele
Now that I think about it…we have quite a few books that we have outgrown. Want me to box them up and send them to you? EM me your address…
Carrie
I recommend having lots of board books, especially the peek-a-boo kind, so baby can interact with the pages easily. We love, "Where is Maisy?" and "Where is Maisy's Panda?" as well as any peek-a-boo book that reveals animals.
Rebecca
My husband and I are Charley Harper fanatics! We have 2 prints in our house and plan to get one for the nursery for our "little squirt" arriving in April. We'll probably have to get some of the books too. We already have a good collection of Dr. Seuss and National Geographic to start our child's book collection.
Sara
I highly recommend The Secret Circus by Johanna Wright. She is both the illustrator and author. Her artwork is beautiful and kids really seem to love the story – great for bedtime. Also, I always loved the Old Mother West Wind books by Thornton Burgess.
Liz
Goodnight Moon and Harold and the Purple Crayon are must-haves, I think! I like cloth books over board books for when they're old enough to 'read' them on their own, too, because there's usually a lot going on texturally as well as visually.
Jillian
Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes and Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold are my favorites. I read them often to my first grade class. I also love Shortcut by Donald Crews but that might be a little intense for belly reading!