M is for Monkey: Books for Toddlers & Preschoolers

As usual, we are reading a lot of books this week as we learn about monkeys. Here are some highlights of what Jonathan and I have been reading:

The Original Curious George by H.A. Rey

We've enjoyed George before, but I pulled some of our books out again for our "monkey" unit. We read the first book  in the series which tells how George meets the Man in the Yellow Hat and comes to live in the city. We also read Curious George takes a Job, Curious George Learns the Alphabet, and Curious George Goes to the Hospital. Jonathan loved them all-- he loves reading about this silly monkey! (The original books, in my opinion, are the best-- even if some of the illustrations, such as in the hospital, are a little "dated").

Caps for Sale: A Tale of a Peddler, Some Monkeys, and Their Monkey Business by Esphyr Slobodkina

This is an another fun and classic story from 1940. It's about a cap peddler who falls asleep and wakes up to find that some monkeys have stolen his caps! He tries different tactics to get his caps back-- until the solution ends up being something unexpected! Jonathan engaged with this story. We had fun acting it out and playing "monkey see, monkey do".

Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb by Al Perkins

This is another classic book that I remember from my childhood. If you aren't familiar with it, it is about monkeys beating on drums- dum ditty, dum ditty, dum dum dum. It's  very rhythmic and lends itself well to acting out the story. We beat on our Leap Frog drum, our knees, the floor, etc. in time with the story.  Jonathan had so much fun he even wanted to take the book to bed with him!

Five Little Monkeys by Eileen Christelow

This is a modern-day classic based on the children's song. The five little monkeys are jumping on the bed. One by one, the little monkeys fall off of the bed and bump their heads. This is a very toddler-friendly book. Jonathan loves pretending to be a little monkey. Another book that we read (in honor of Grace's birthday) was Five Little Monkeys Bake a Birthday Cake.

Counting Coconuts/Contando Cocos by Wendi Silvano

This is a fun, bilingual counting book that aims to teach skip counting. The monkey is hungry, but he wants to count his coconuts. The various rainforest animals suggest counting by twos, threes, fours, fives, and tens to help monkey count his coconuts. The Spanish numbers for one, two, three, four, five, and ten are taught as part of the book. It's a fun concept, but was still a little over Jonathan's head. Older preschoolers may enjoy this fun book even more.



I'm linking up to:

Read Aloud Thursday @ Hope is the Word
Feed Me Books Friday @ Little Sprout Books
What My Child is Reading @ Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns
Book Sharing Monday @ Smiling Like Sunshine


Happy Reading!