Recommended children's booklists sorted by age or topic

Topic: EYFS Topics

Colours

Picturebook

Learn the colours of the rainbow with Percy the park keeper and his animal friends in this fun first concept book from highly regarded, award-winning author/illustrator Nick Butterworth, creator of One Snowy Night.

Learning the colours of the rainbow is much easier when you do it with friends, and in this book children will find all their favourite characters from Percy’s Park!

Based on the bestselling picture books by Nick Butterworth, including After the Storm and One Snowy Night, this simple and fun first concept book is perfect for nature lovers and the very youngest of Percy’s fans!

Percy and his animal friends have delighted readers around the world for over thirty years!

Tim Hopgood’s Wonderful World of Colours

Tim Hopgood

Picturebook

A beautifully illustrated board book that delights in everything that grows, from red strawberries to yellow bananas. With bright, joyful art, it is a beautiful introduction to colours, and shows the youngest children how colours can be mixed to create new ones. It ends with a stunning fold-out rainbow to make this a truly special book for the youngest children.

The Crayons’ Book of Colours

Drew Daywalt & Oliver Jeffers

Learning colours is fun in this entertaining book from the creators of the #1 New York Times Bestsellers, The Day the Crayons Quit and The Day the Crayons Came Home.

It’s Duncan’s birthday, and the crayons all want to make him a card! With their fun and quirky illustrations of fire engines, dragons, even wheat, the creative crayons each have something special to contribute. But when they come together, they can create a truly spectactular celebration!

From the creative minds behind the The Day the Crayons Quit and The Day the Crayons Came Home comes a colourful board book introducing young readers to numbers.

Out of the Blue: A heartwarming picture book about celebrating difference

Robert Tregoning & Stef Murphy

Picturebook

ONLY BLUE ALLOWED, by Blue government demand. Anything that isn’t blue, by colour law, is banned.

In a very blue house on a very blue street, sits a little boy who feels as blue as the world around him. For this little boy has a BIG secret: he loves the colour yellow.

In a world where only one colour is allowed, will he be brave enough to tell his dad? And will they be able to defy the rules and create a world where EVERY colour is welcome? One boy and his dad are about to come OUT OF THE BLUE and into life in technicolour!

A stunning celebration of being yourself and living in ALL the colours of the rainbow, from debut author Robert Tregoning and rising star illustrator Stef Murphy. Championing difference, diversity and pride, this gloriously illustrated picture book is perfect for fans of Perfectly Norman, Grandad’s Camper and Julian Is a Mermaid.

How to Catch a Rainbow

Ana Gomez & Naomi Jones

Picturebook

Freya loves rainbows. She loves their bright colours and their curvy shape. More than anything, she wishes she has one of her very own. One that she can keep forever. So she decides to become a Rainbow Hunter! She searches high and low, but no rainbows are to be found, so she decides to make her own, collecting items in every colour of the rainbow from the garden. But when things don’t go quite to plan, Freya has to use her imagination and creativity to come up with a way to make her wish come true.

A vibrant story from the author of the bestselling The Perfect Fit with technicolour illustrations by Ana Gomez.

One World, Many Colours

Alette Straathof & Ben Lerwill

Picturebook

We share one world, we share many colours.

One World, Many Colours is a lyrical celebration of the vibrant colours waiting to be found in all corners of the world. From the ice-white plains of Antarctica to the soft pink blossoms of the Japanese countryside. The same colours can be found everywhere else in the world, in nature, in our cities and in our cultures.

From travel writer Ben Lerwill, and with beautiful illustrations from Alette Straathof this non-fiction picture book opens children’s eyes to the wonders of the world and the spectrum of colour that we share.

Rainbow Hands

Jo Loring-Fisher & Mamta Nainy

Picturebook

When a little boy paints his nails with his mum’s nail polish, he discovers the most important thing of all: the magic of being his true self.

As the long Indian summer days stretch ahead of him, a young boy looks forward to his favourite time – painting-your-nails-time. He knows that when he dips his brush into those magical bottles of nail polish, he will find a colour to express his every mood and feeling.

Purple is the colour of magic and mystery. White is the colour of endless possibilities.

At times, his Papa frowns and says, “”What have you done to your nails?”” At other times, he says, “”Why don’t you paint on paper instead?”” But the little boy knows that painting his nails makes his hands look beautiful.

This colour-filled story celebrates the joy of finding out who you are and embracing the courage to be yourself.

Busy Day: Firefighter

Dan Green

Non-fiction, Picturebook

Join in and help the busy firefighter in this playful, interactive flap book!

Nee-naw, nee-naw! Can you help the firefighter to save the day? Join in and use the flaps to slide down the pole, unroll the hose, put out the fire and much, much more. With interactive action-flaps, you can do it, too!

Each clever flap provides an action or scene-change to encourage children to actively engage and explore. The playful flaps are perfect for little hands to develop fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination.

Original concept and illustration by Dan Green.

When You’re Fast Asleep – Who Works at Night-Time?

Ingela P Arrhenius & Peter Arrhenius

Non-fiction, Picturebook

This is a rhyming non-fiction book with flaps to lift and oodles of details to spot. The concept of the book is about people who work at night time. It could fit well with topics about People Who Help Us or Light and Dark. Children enjoy the peek-inside nature of the flaps, gaining insights into a world that is not normally accessible to us because we are sleeping!

The simple language, gentle rhyme and warm illustrations make this a good choice of non-fiction to share with Nursery, Preschool and Reception aged children.

Mog and the V.E.T.

Judith Kerr

Picturebook

Share in fifty years of a really remarkable cat…

Mog is everyone’s favourite family cat! Join her in this warm-hearted and funny escapade about Mog’s sore paw, and her trip to the V. E. T….

Celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Mog the Forgetful Cat with special anniversary editions of her much-loved adventures.

From the creator of The Tiger Who Came to Tea and Mog the Forgetful Cat comes a delightful family adventure about a really remarkable cat!

Mog is chasing a butterfly one day, when something happens to her paw… Ouch!
“She’ll have to go to the vee ee tee,” says Mrs Thomas. But before they can make her better, Mog causes a great ruckus at the vet’s surgery…

Mog the Forgetful Cat was first published fifty years ago, and Mog has been delighting children all over the world with her adventures ever since. These books are the perfect gifts for boys, girls and families everywhere!