Need ideas for ways to spark your child’s creativity and encourage a curiosity for learning?
Here are 12 great books to ignite a lifelong love for learning and discovering new things.
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I’m a lover of all things library.
I could spend hours exploring the shelves of books there, and I can’t remember a single visit where my time at the library was ever wasted.
Books have a natural way of sparking our creativity. They can sweep us away to magical places and offer us new ways of thinking about even the most ordinary things.
With books, it’s easy to ignite a child’s imagination.
Kids are already swarming with wild ideas and extraordinary possibility. With a book, those thoughts can stretch even higher, where kids are prompted to explore and discover a love for creating wonderful and beautiful things.
Here are just a few of my favorite picture books to inspire your child to use his imagination.
12 Books to Spark a Kid’s Creativity
1. The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds
For any parent who wants to ignite a child’s creativity, start here. It’s a fable that conveys just what we’re trying to say.
2. Roxaboxen by Alice McLerran
This story takes me back to my childhood building forts and creating pine straw houses throughout my neighborhood.
It captures the essence of a child’s imagination and the wonderful worlds their minds can create.
3. The Book With No Pictures by B.J. Novak
You will not be able to read this aloud without laugher. And, because the reader becomes the funniest, most wonderful entertainer on the planet, you’ll want to share it with your children again and again.
I just love this one. And as you follow the directions, you find yourself having one wonderful experience, with lots of laughing, too.
5. Beautiful Oops! by Barney Saltzberg
We all need this one. It’s a wonderful illustration of how mistakes can make beautiful things.
6. Not a Box by Antoinette Portis
I remember when this one came out, my librarian save it for me. So taken by its simplicity, she had to share it and, I must say, I’m happy she did.
With a simple box, this story shares how you can go as far as your imagination will allow it.
7. Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
For this one, it’s all about perspective.
Is it a duck or a rabbit? Is all depends on how you look at it. A fun story you’ll want to read over again.
8. Christina Katerina and the Box by Patricia Lee Gauch
This one has been around for some time and, thankfully, has a reprint edition. It’s another classic tale of a kid, her imagination, and a cardboard box.
9. Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
Who doesn’t love this one? If you haven’t read it lately, perhaps it’s time for a reread as a reminder of how the simplest of stories can prompt us to imagine and create.
10. McElligot’s Pool by Dr. Seuss
I don’t know of a single Dr. Seuss book that doesn’t spark creativity. But for me, McElligot’s Pool tops them all.
11. And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street by Dr. Seuss
Another Dr. Seuss–his first published by the way. My son added this one as a must-read, too.
12. The Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg
If you don’t know this book, make sure to check it out.
First off, it’s Chris Van Allsburg and the man is a genius. With this one, though, the reader becomes the author of another story entirely.
With simple captions, each illustration prompts the reader’s curiosity in such a powerful way that grows with the turn of every page.
It is for upper elementary and middle grade readers, though. But it’s one that every kid should read and experience.
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