Best Interactive Books to Encourage Reading

We love all kinds of books at our house. My son especially loves any book that he can physically interact with. These interactive books are fun and allow him to play with books in different ways.

Interactive Books

When my son was younger, he loved lift-the-flap books which gave him the chance to reveal part of the story as I read the words. He was always so proud to be able to be a big part of the reading. He also loved the sound books where at certain parts of the book he pushed a specific button to hear a specific sound. He would wait excitedly to push each button as I read the page.

 

These interactive books are super fun for kids and encourage book awareness, imagination, listening skills, and reading.

 

Interactive books can also encourage reading motivation. There are so many great options to engage readers at every age. Here are some of our favorite interactive books that we continue to bring into our home and/or give as gifts for Christmas and birthdays.

Read to Me Readers

My son received his first Read to Me Reader as a birthday gift and LOVED it. He loved it so much that we have added a few more to our book collection. These readers are great for early readers. Each Read to Me Reader set includes 8 high-interest books and an electronic reader.

When your child selects which of the books they want to read, they simply push a button on the reader to indicate the book. Once the book is selected, your child will push a button for each page to start the recording of the reading. There is a button on each page so your child can control the pace of the book. My kids love following along with this reader.

 There are so many fantastic options for these readers.

Here are some of our favorites:

Pull-Back Busy Books by Usborne

We first discovered the Pull-Back Busy Car book at a sweet little independent book store while we were on vacation. What a great find! This book entertained my son the entire weekend! Anytime he had some time that we weren’t doing something as a family, he went to this book and played with the cars and the scenes on each page. This is a really fun find!

There are many others in this series. These will top our list of gifts for young kids who aren’t yet reading and can enjoy an interactive book. For Christmas, there is even a Busy Santa Book!

 

Look and Find Books

We have enjoyed Look and Find books for years. My kids love to search the pages to find different objects and people. I love that these books encourage kids to look closely at illustrations and they love the interactive nature.

Look and Find Books also come in different levels so kids as young as 2 can enjoy searching for images.

Shine-A-Light Books

These books are so much fun! Each page of the book offers a clue as to what might be hiding in the illustration. Your child then holds the book up to the light or shines a flashlight behind the page (our favorite) to reveal the hidden animal or plant. My kids love shining the flashlight on the pages!

There are several books in this series. Each of these are great books providing lots of interactive fun:

Read and Glow Books

Read and Glow Books feel like the result of a book and a Boogie Board (another thing my kids love) combined. This set comes with a light-up writing surface that changes color, a writing pen that is two-sided (offering two different colors), and a book that has brief descriptors or a short story with images your child is encouraged to draw. This book has kept my son entertained for long stretches of time. Even though he doesn’t always follow the recommended drawings, he loves to draw and write on the surface and watch the colors change. Read and Glow books have encouraged a great deal of writing for both of my kids.

There are several in this series too. These make great gifts for kids (3-8):

Klutz Lego Books

If you have a child in your life that loves Legos, these are a great way to support that passion for Legos and support their reading skills. These sets include an instruction book with ideas and directions and Lego pieces to make each of the designs suggested in the book. These Lego book sets are geared more toward kids 8 and up.

Start Young – Interactive Books for Littles

If you are looking for gifts for littles, classic Lift-the-flap and Sound Books are always a hit. These interactive books are engaging and fun for kids. These kinds of books allow young children to be an active participant when reading. I believe these kinds of interactive books promote independence because a young child can independently lift the flaps or push the buttons as they browse the book by themselves and the interactive elements tend to hold their attention longer.

 

Check out our favorties:

Another Great Option

 

While not interactive in nature, another great gift option is a 5 minute stories book. This anthology of favorites includes 12 stories that are great quick reads. We have (and love) several of these sets.

In our house, once we read one my kids often ask for another leading to longer reading times making these great for reading motivation. Knowing this, I set a story limit before reading if we are reading before bed or if we are pressed for time. I love that when reading these 5 minute stories books my kids want to hear more and more!

We have also found these are great for traveling since my kids like a little variety – this gives us multiple books without having to carry a lot of books.

Here are some great 5-Minute Stories Options:

Hope this list is helpful as you plan and purchase your gifts this season!

All of these books are fun for kids and great for encouraging reading!

Each book image in this post is linked for your convenience.

If you purchase through any of these links, I do receive a small commission but your price will not be affected at all. As always, be assured, I only recommend books and products that I know and love.

 

 

Happy Holidays and Happy reading!