What ages are the daily life stories for?

Most are for ages 0-3, with a handful for 4-6 and 7-9. Toddler books stick to one routine at a time, while the older ones add a small task such as counting or exploring a path in the park.

How do these books help with routines?

Books like What Are We Doing Today? walk through a day from waking up to bath time in order, so a child who knows the book can predict what comes next in real life. Reading the matching book just before the routine, such as What Am I Wearing Today? before getting dressed, strengthens the link.

How long does each story take?

Most of the narration runs under two minutes, and the shortest books take well under a minute. You can fit one in at the breakfast table or after a diaper change.

How should I read these with a young toddler?

Act out each page as you go: clap, put on a hat, stamp your feet. What Do My Little Hands Do? and What Do Little Feet Do? are built to be read with movement.

Do the books teach weather and clothing words?

Yes, a few are written for exactly that. How's the Weather Today? pairs sun, rain, wind and snow with outdoor play, and What Am I Wearing Today? matches each kind of weather with the right clothes, so looking out of the window to find today's page makes a nice morning game.

Can my child listen instead of me reading?

Yes. The Listen button on each page starts the narration, and the page lock stops a toddler from turning pages by tapping the screen.

Daily Routine Stories for Toddlers: Everyday Life Books

About this genre

Daily life stories turn a child's ordinary day into a book: waking up, breakfast, choosing clothes for the weather, the park and a bubble bath. Most books here are for ages 0-3, short and repetitive with read-aloud narration, which makes them handy for teaching routines and talking through what happens next in the day.

Who are everyday life books for?

For a toddler, a day is a string of small events: waking up, eating, getting dressed, going out, bath, bed. The books on this page take those events one at a time and tell them in short, repeated lines. As children recognize their own day on the page, their vocabulary grows and the question “what are we doing now?” becomes a little less surprising.

Most titles are for babies and toddlers and stay with very concrete things: hands and feet, fruit, toys, clothes and the weather. The few books for ages 4-6 swap the routine for exploring the park or sharing with a friend, and the 7-9 books add a small challenge, such as counting everything you see in a day.

Using these books in everyday life

Read right before the routine. Open the clothes book before getting dressed and the fruit book at snack time; that is how the book connects with real life.
Move along. Clap, jump and put on a hat with the characters. The short format is made for this.
Narration plus page lock. Switch on the Listen button and lock the page so little fingers do not scramble the order.
Repeat without worry. At this age repetition teaches; when your toddler starts guessing the next page, the book is doing its job.
Color a scene. Download the breakfast or park illustration as a coloring page and chat about how your own day went while coloring.

6 daily life books to start with

What Are We Doing Today? (ages 0-3): A little one’s day, from waking up and breakfast to the park, a bubble bath and bed.
What Am I Wearing Today? (ages 0-3): A hat for sun, a red raincoat and yellow boots for rain, mittens for snow.
I’m Tasting Fruits (ages 0-3): Crunch, pop, slurp! Ali tastes an apple, a banana, grapes, a fuzzy kiwi and an orange.
How’s the Weather Today? (ages 0-3): Sunny swings, rainy puddles, windy kites and a snowy snowman.
The Secret Path in the Park (ages 4-6): Behind a big plane tree, Aras finds an ivy-covered trail and new friends Nutty, Hopper and Chirpy.
Emma and Digi’s Counting Adventure (ages 7-9): Emma and her robot friend Digi count from 1 to 20, from apples and frogs to stars and fireflies.

See every book for the youngest readers on the ages 0-3 page, or browse short books for babies in the Toddler Books category. Free Story Books for Ages 0-3: PDF and Reading Guide covers how to start reading with a baby, and Book Recommendations for 2 Year Olds narrows it down for two-year-olds.