The Best Interactive Board Books for Babies

My baby jumped and laughed in anticipation as I turned to the last page of the book. “Is he in the basket?” I asked enthusiastically. He quickly grabbed the flap and pulled it back to reveal the puppy, giggling as I responded, “There he is!”

It’s so much fun when your baby first begins to interact with books. One of my favorite things is reading books to my baby and watching him interact with them. I love seeing his excitement. It’s clear he’s understood these books long before he could physically or verbally interact with them. And that’s always amazing to me.

I hope this list of the best interactive board books helps you create those moments with your baby too. These are the best books to introduce interactive elements to your baby or young toddler.

Interactive Board Books for Babies & Toddlers

Peacock’s Rainbow Feathers* by Little Hippo Books

Interactive Element: Touch & Feel

Peacock’s Rainbow Feathers* offers color recognition and textures for Baby to feel. Your baby may not pick up the colors until he/she is a little older (my son started to get them at around 18 months), but my baby loved feeling the textures. Plus, it’s a great way to introduce colors to young readers non-threateningly.

Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell

Interactive Element: Lift the Flap

Dear Zoo is a book that both of my kids loved when they were babies. Lift the flaps to find the animal that was sent from the zoo. Lift the flaps to help the narrator find the perfect pet. Babies love lifting flaps. This book has sturdy flaps that will survive rough hands. Our one copy has survived both of my kids (unlike some others).

Bedtime Bear by Patricia Hegarty

Interactive Element: Touch & Feel

Bedtime Bear is a simple bedtime book that includes soft textures for your baby to feel. The story and textures both offer a calming effect that is perfect for bedtime.

See, Touch, Feel: A First Sensory Book by Roger Priddy

Interactive Element: Touch & Feel + Mirror

See, Touch, Feel is a colorful board book with touch-and-feel elements. There’s no story to this one. Just prompts that ask Baby to explore the pages. It includes many different textures, alongside new concepts, and a mirror at the end of the book that lets Baby see him/herself. It’s a great book to let your baby explore.

Where’s Spot? by Eric Hill

Interactive Element: Lift the Flap

Where’s Spot? is a classic lift-the-flap book that’s a favorite of so many babies for a reason. The story is simply about a mother dog looking for her puppy who is hiding. She looks in various places, finding an array of animals that should not be hiding around the house. This book is lots of fun for babies. They love lifting the flaps and looking for the puppy.

One negative to this book is that the flaps are flimsy and easy for rough little hands to rip off. We’re on our fourth copy because of this.

Llama Llama Hide & Seek by Anna Dewdney

Interactive Element: Lift the Flap

The Llama Llama books are some of our favorites because the rhyme scheme is quickly engaging for babies. Llama Llama Hide & Seek has Lama Llama looking for his favorite stuffed animal. Baby is asked to lift the flaps to help find him. It includes bold illustrations and various interactive elements. Plus, it exposes babies to fun activities, like hide and seek.

Related: The Best Books to Read to Your Baby

Where Is Baby’s Belly Button? by Karen Katz

Interactive Element: Lift the Flap

Where Is Baby’s Belly Button? is another lift-the-flap book. This book is worth mentioning because it helps teach your baby body parts–eyes, hands, feet, belly button. It’s a helpful introduction to body parts. Better than pointing to your own eyes and facing constantly being poked in the eye for the next few months.

The Itsy Bitsy Dinosaur Tiger Tales

Interactive Element: Pull-Tabs

The Itsy Bitsy Dinosaur is a fun book about a dinosaur that gets caught in the rain. This pull-tab book is set to the tune of the “Itsy Bitsy Spider.” You can sing or read this book to your baby. Use the pull tabs yourself to change the pictures while they’re young and wait for the day when they’ll do it themselves.

Never Touch a Dragon! by Rosie Greening

Interactive Element: Touch & Feel

Never Touch a Dragon! is one of many of the Never Touch Books. You can find one for any interest you or your child might have. These touch and feel board books are all unique and all engaging for young children. The Never Touch the… books tend to have counting in them. For example, Never Touch the Monsters! is about five little monsters going to a movie. The Never Touch a… books have fun and unexpected stories. For example, Never Touch a Snake! is about a circus (who would have thought?).

Related: Interactive Books for 2-Year-Olds

Poke-A-Dot by Melissa & Doug

Interactive Element: Poke the Dots

Babies love these Poke-A-Dot books. It was one of the first items both of my boys started playing with on their own for extended periods of time. There are a few options for these ones that all simply go through different items with a dot on each. Your baby can use their little fingers to poke the dot as you identify the item. I don’t think the baby gets much reading out of the book but the dots are a good way to keep Baby engaged. And they learn the names of the items in the book.

Let’s Learn ABCs by Kidsbooks Publishing

Interactive Element: Sound

Let’s Learn ABCs is an ABC book that has letters for your baby (or you) to push as you read. There is no story. It just goes through each letter and includes pictures of items that start with each letter on the page. This is fine for babies because they are learning to associate items with the verbal signal (word) that identifies them.

Peek-a-Who? by Nina Laden

Interactive Element: Cutouts & mirror

Peek-a-Who? is one of those simple, seemingly unimpressive books that babies love. The book shows a peek of an item and asks Baby to guess who. Babies love books that offer questions with answers on the following pages. This is also a fun way to introduce your baby to some animals. The book rhymes and the last page has a mirror–always a big hit with babies.

Baby Dino by Hippo Books

Interactive Element: Finger puppet

I chose Baby Dino for the finger puppet. Babies love finger puppets. Put your finger inside and move it around while you read. You will have your baby’s full engagement even at a young age with this fun board book. The story is simple, asking who does one thing or another. The answer is always “It’s Baby Dino!”

You Might Also Like: The Best Books for Babies

Fostering a Love for Reading

If you haven’t tried interactive books with your baby, try some new books from this list. I guarantee you’ll love those moments when you see the joy on your baby’s face as he/she interacts with the book.

Want to instill a love of reading in your kids? Don’t forget to sign up for my free email course on raising readers.