Jellyfish, whales and sharks. These are some of my family’s favorite ocean books for toddlers that your kids will love.
We are doing ocean week for our tot school so I thought I would share some of our favorite Ocean books for toddlers. Both my boys love the ocean. My older son seems to love it more which is why I decorated his room with an ocean theme. Right now, we are doing tot school with my youngest. It is sort of like a preschool, but more play time. It also focuses primarily on three things. Colors, shapes, alphabet and number recognition. He knows them pretty well, but we make sure to reinforce the knowledge everyday through play.
Our ocean week is lots of fun full of water activities and we make sure to read lots of books about sea life and our underwater world. By the way, if you enjoy this, you may also enjoy my posts, Classical Books for Kindergarteners and 12 Beautiful Easter Books for Children. Happy reading!
Ocean Books for Toddlers
Mr. Seahorse
My oldest really loved this book. Mr. Seahorse is a great book to add to your collection if you are an Eric Carle fan (Very Hungry Caterpillar). This sweet story tells the tale of how the male seahorse carries the baby sea horse eggs until they are ready. Mr. Seahorse has become a favorite of my boys. This book is offered in a classic paperback in a board book style. I’ll leave the links below for both.
My Octopus Arms
My Octopus Arms is a playful and colorful story by Keith Baker. My boys have always loved this book. This book is just plain fun. It’s the story of an octopus who uses his arms to do various things that humans do. This was a great way to teach about our arms as body parts and sense of touch. It is a simple book but it is so silly that the kids love it.
The Rainbow Fish
The Rainbow Fish is a classic children’s book. This sweet book has been around since the late 1990’s. The book focuses on a moralistic tale of a fish who has beautiful scales. The fish around him only have regular scales. A fish asks him to share one of his beautiful scales, but the rainbow fish refuses. The tale is a parable of sorts about both vanity and sharing.
The really special thing of this book is that the rainbow fish has holographic scales on every page which is sure to delight your child. It was a favorite of my cousins when they were young and now a favorite of my sons.
I Spy Ocean Animals
I Spy Ocean Animals is a fun book even for preschoolers. Even my six-year-old still loves it, So this is a great I spy books. It is in a board book which I always loved with little ones. I know they take up a lot of room on a bookshelf, but my boys were so rough with books I needed something that could survive them!
This book is a lift-the-flap book. If you are unfamiliar with it, a lift-the-flap book has flaps on the inner pages and your child can peek underneath to find a hidden illustration or words. If your child has a hard time sitting or staying entertained with books, lift-the-flap books can be really helpful. Honestly, they helped my oldest enjoy books since his attention span was so poor.
There are 100 ocean animals featured in the book and they also go through the ABCs to help build language. If your child enjoys, I spy activities be sure to visit my other posts, Halloween I Spy and Christmas I Spy which include free printable games for your kids.
Good Night Ocean
Good Night Ocean is a delightful little bedtime book. The book goes through all kinds of diverse sea life in the ocean. It goes through everything from beaches and reefs as well as sharks, whales, and various sea life. The story itself is pretty simple, but my children enjoy going through marine life. This book is actually part of a larger series that explores other locations and parts of our world.
Baby Beluga
Do you remember Raffi? Maybe I am showing my age here, but Raffi was a children’s entertainer. He was not a favorite of mine when I was a kid back in the 1980’s although many of my friends liked him. In any case, one of his favorite songs has been turned into this book and my boys have really enjoyed it. Baby Beluga tells the story of a baby beluga whale with a heartfelt ending that will make mamas choke up. It is a sweet book and it comes in both traditional paperback and a board book.
I’m the Biggest Thing in the Ocean
I’m The Biggest Thing In the Ocean is a lovely book by Kevin Sherry. The book focuses on a giant squid and his travels discovering other sea life in the ocean like jellyfish and turtles. I definitely think this book is more suited for very young children. I have heard that the board book version and the classic book are not identical. Just something to keep in mind if you purchase. The board book appears to be an abridged version.
Way Down Deep In the Deep Blue Sea
Way Down Deep In The Deep Blue Sea is the story of a boy swimming through the ocean and meeting all kinds of sea creatures. At the end of the story, we learn that he is actually in his bathtub playing with his imagination. It’s a sweet story and both my boys really love this book. The story is quite simple, but sometimes that’s all a child needs. My boys enjoyed it so much that we bought a copy for their cousin since they refused to gift their copy.
Octopus’s Garden
Are you a Beatles fan? Well, my family is. The Beatles are my dad’s favorite band of all time. So when I found this children’s book, Octopus’s Garden by Ringo Starr, I was pretty excited. This book is just the complete lyrics of Octopus’s Garden. My boys love this book because when we read it, I always put on the song and we read/sing it together. Also, this isn’t the only Beatles children’s book out there. Paul McCartney has a book All You Need is Love and With A Little Help From My Friends just to name a few.
Hello, World! Ocean Life
Hello, World! Ocean Life is a book that is perfect for babies to about 3 years of age. It will likely be too simple a book after that, but it is a great language builder for infants and toddlers. As far as I can tell this book is only available in a board book format. This is actually part of a larger series. The series includes other science-related topics like bugs, artic animals, rainforest animals, planet earth, etc. So you may also want to look at their other books if you like this one.
quThanks for joining me. I hope you and your children enjoy these ocean books for toddlers. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share some of our favorite ocean story time books. This month I’ll be sharing our first-grade curriculum picks so don’t forget to subscribe and come back!