Best books for 1-year-olds

With each page themed to a different colour (yellow hay, green hedge, red gate), this simple and accessible hide-and-seek book offers subtle early learning alongside the interactivity of the flaps and the opportunity to join in with the animals sounds of the different animals Spot meets around the farm.

This special edition for BookTrust includes Nick Sharratt’s brilliant, bright, accessible and diverse illustrations and a rhyming text from Sally Symes. This is a joyful book to share with little ones, and lots of fun can be had with the ​‘finger wiggle’ element. 

With beautiful illustrations of babies born all over the world and gentle rhyming text, this charming book is perfect for sharing with little ones.

Lucy Cousins brings her bold and bright illustrations to a set of books for babies featuring fish. This sturdy board book counts from one to ten with brightly coloured fish on each page.

This lovely lift-the-flap book – with good, thick pages and flaps– is colourful and playful, and introduces little ones to a selection of animals and their noises or actions.

Teeny hands will love turning the flaps of this adorable board book about the very keen and creative Ted on his daily outings. A sweetly interactive read-along that really celebrates the fun of imagination.

Lucy Cousins gently introduces first concepts: simple colours, spots and stripes, being happy and grumpy, counting one two three, the difference between fat and thin.

Emily Gravett’s colourful yet sparse illustrations cleverly depict a bumbling bear interacting in many different and imaginative ways with the fruit mentioned in the title.

This is a really simple and fun book to read, encouraging interaction between the book and the child, and the reader and little one. And there’s a bonus: the words are also a song, which can be downloaded or found on the It’s A Little Baby website.

Meet some brightly coloured dinosaurs in this interactive board book where little ones can push the tabs on each page to bring the dinosaurs to life! 

Lift the flap board book with optical illusions 

Bunny is in a magical mirror world! Can you spot the other creatures too? An innovative, unique board book that’s perfect for young children with additional sensory needs.