I’m so excited to share this list of the BEST Christmas books for kids this year! I have something for kids of all ages including activity books and Christ-centered books too! You are sure to find a few great ideas to add to your book collection. Read the whole list or click the links below to browse the categories you’re most interested in. Happy reading!
- Christmas Books for Infants & Toddlers
- Christ-centered Christmas Books
- Christmas Picture Books for Kids of All Ages
- Christmas Activity Books for Kids of All Ages
CHRISTMAS BOOKS FOR INFANTS & TODDLERS
These Christmas books are perfect for infants and toddlers. They include plenty of opportunities to interact with your child and for them to learn more about the Christmas world around them.
FINGER PUPPET BOOKS
Baby Reindeer Finger Puppet Book My kids LOVE finger puppet books so I definitely wanted to include a few Christmas-related ones on this list. I like to use the puppet to give my girls little tickles or kisses as I tell the story. The non-stop giggles are to die for!
Santa’s Big Day Finger Puppet Book Here’s another awesome finger puppet Christmas book! Isn’t the Santa puppet adorable?
Friendly Little Snowman Finger Puppet Book Okay, last one, I promise. Look at that snowman!
TOUCH-AND-FEEL BOOKS
Winter Touch and Feel Book Touch and feel books are great for stimulating your baby’s senses and helping them learn about the world around them. They will love this cute snowman book full of exciting textures to touch and feel!
Merry Christmas Touch and Feel Board Book The bold and bright colors in this touch and feel Christmas book are really what set it apart!
EDUCATIONAL BOOKS
First 100 Christmas Words This book is a great one to help your child get familiar with all the Christmas things.
The ABCs of Christmas Board Book ABC books are perfect for introducing letters and sounds and this one is also great for introducing all-things Christmas! I love the illustrations in this book. All of my girls love this ABC book because they love to sing the words to the tune of Deck the Halls.
JUST FOR FUN CHRISTMAS BOOKS
Llama Llama Jingle Bells Don’t all kids (and parents) love Llama Llama books? It makes sense for you to have a Christmas Llama Llama book in your collection!
Moo, Baa, Fa La La La La Sandra Boynton always adds a cute silly twist to her books and this one, based on the song Deck the Halls, is no exception. Your kids will love practicing the animal sounds too!
Little Blue Truck’s Christmas Hasn’t Little Blue Truck’s friendly charm captured all our hearts? This Christmas edition follows Little Blue Truck as he delivers Christmas trees to all his friends. The best part is on the last page where the lights on the Christmas tree ACTUALLY twinkle!
CHRIST-CENTERED CHRISTMAS BOOKS
I Believe In Santa Claus You HAVE to add this one to your Christmas bookshelf. It’s one of my personal favorites. It shows that what we believe about Santa can actually point us to Christ. It’s a great way to shift the focus to our Savior.
The Legend of the Candy Cane This classic Christmas book for kids is about candy shop owner who teaches a little girl about how candy canes are symbolic of the story of Jesus. Your kids will think of Him every time they eat a candy cane and the illustrations are absolutely stunning.
The Tale of Three Trees This is a sweet folktale about three trees whose dreams didn’t come true like they expected. Instead, each tree took part in the life of Christ as a manger, a fishing boat, and a cross—better than they dreamed. You will love the beautiful illustrations!
The Donkey Who Carried a King This book teaches an important lesson about being content with whatever part you get to play—because every part matters! I would say you’ll want to bring this out at Easter time too!
Silent Night I love the beautiful illustrations in this Christmas book for kids. It illustrates the text of the song Silent Night, and it’s short and sweet!
The Donkey’s Christmas Song This is a simple story of the birth of Jesus and only has a couple of short sentences per page so your babies and toddlers will love it. A perfect Christmas book for kids.
A Christ-centered Christmas: Children’s Edition This book follows along with the story in Luke 2. It includes questions on each page to encourage discussion with your kids about how to bring Jesus into your Christmas celebrations. Great for the whole family! We like to read about each of the individual characters in the nativity story one day at a time.
God Gave Us Christmas In this cute story of a mama polar bear who teaches her cub about how God made Christmas and that we can learn to see God everywhere!
The Fourth Wise man This book is for your older readers. It’s about the fourth wise man who is trying to follow the star to find Jesus. Along his journey he stops to help those in need, thus giving away his gifts that he had for the Savior. He ages to be an old man never meeting the Lord, but he learns that through his service to others he was serving God all along.
CHRISTMAS PICTURE BOOKS FOR KIDS OF ALL AGES
I could add so much more to this list of Christmas picture books for kids, but for now I’ve just added a few of our favorites. I separated this list into books that are a little shorter (better for little ones or big kids with little attention spans), and those that are slightly longer.
FOR SHORTER ATTENTION SPANS
Bear Stays Up For Christmas I love this story about friends trying to keep bear awake for Christmas! There are only a handful of words on each page and the rhyming pattern makes this a joy to read.
A Very Fiona Christmas In this book a baby hippo at the zoo learns that Christmas isn’t just about the fun things you do but also about friends, family, and love. Fiona the baby hippo is so cute and exemplifies kindness to another at the end.
Merry Christmas, BIG HUNGRY BEAR This is a sweet story about a mouse who tries to lock up all his presents so the big hungry bear doesn’t get to them! In the end mouse decides to share his gifts and gets something from bear in return. I love the details in the pictures on this one.
Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Sleigh! Mo Willem’s books are definitely favorites around here! Pigeon is so much fun. Your kids will get a laugh out of how badly he wants to drive the sleigh and how quickly he changes his mind!
The Tree That’s Meant to Be This is a fast and easy-to-read Christmas book for kids about a lonely tree who finds a sense of belonging with all the forest animals after they decorate it for Christmas. The illustrations are amazing!
Santa Mouse This is another fast-read Christmas story about an ordinary, lonely, mouse who gets to become Santa’s helper! One of the best Christmas books for kids!
How to Catch an Elf This is a cute Christmas book about how to catch an elf! It would be so fun for the kids to make their own Elf trap after reading this!
FOR LONGER ATTENTION SPANS
How Many Sleeps ‘Til Christmas A cute story about Daddy Grizzle and Little Pip making preparations while they count down the sleeps ‘til Christmas. You can’t help but feel the excited anticipation on every page!
How The Grinch Stole Christmas No Christmas book collection for kids is complete without this book! This one plays a special role in my life as my parents read it to us every Christmas eve. My dad would read and act out the grinch parts in a silly way and my mom would narrate. We now continue the same tradition with our kids and it’s one of our favorites.
Tough Cookie This is such a fun Christmas book about a “sugar cookie man” that finds out he doesn’t taste all that sweet! His new friend helps him discover what he was truly meant to be: an ornament on the Christmas tree! It’s a fun read and a great message!
The Night Before Christmas This book screams Christmas! I love the illustrations and that one of the pages has a beautiful, large, fold out picture!
How Do Dinosaurs Say Merry Christmas? If you love the “How do Dinosaurs…” books like we do, then you’ll want to get this one for the Christmas book shelf!
Little Red Sleigh In this book Little Red Sleigh has big dreams of becoming Santa’s Big Red Sleigh, but learns she’s actually meant for a different important job. Your kids will love this.
The Biggest Snowman Ever This is a sweet story about two friends who learn that working together is always better! It’s the perfect winter-time read, and don’t blame me if everyone wants to build a snowman after!
Grumpy Monkey Oh, No! Christmas I’m sure we all have days where we feel like Grumpy Monkey in this story. He doesn’t feel like celebrating, but a friend helps him notice the good things around him. This is a great Christmas book for kids to turn around a grumpy attitude!
CHRISTMAS ACTIVITY BOOKS FOR KIDS OF ALL AGES
Activity books are always helpful for getting kids away from screens, and would be especially great if you plan on doing any holiday traveling!
ACTIVITY BOOKS FOR YOUNGER KIDS
Holiday Water Magic Book Water magic books are the best! If you haven’t tried them the yet, you should totally get these. You put water in the marker and then as your child draws on the page the water activates the color in the picture to appear. No mess coloring! These Christmas themed magic books even have scented markers!
Dot Markers Activity Book This Christmas activity book is perfect for your little ones! The pages are single-sided so there’s no bleed-through from page to page. Make sure to grab a set of dot markers to go along with it!
Holiday Themed Book + Felt Sets It’s no secret around here that we absolutely love these book and felt sets. You can purchase a la carte or subscribe for a monthly book and associating felt set delivered right to your door! Use discount code: Rylee10
ACTIVITY BOOKS FOR OLDER KIDS
Seek and Find First Christmas I love this little Nativity themed seek and find book. It’s simple enough that even your toddlers can find the pictures.
Paint by Sticker Kids: Christmas Paint by Sticker books make great activities for a range of ages. If you’ve never tried these, or if you’re already a fan, you should defnitely get this Christmas one this year!
I Spy Christmas A classic I Spy book, but Christmas themed. Yes please!
Christmas Puzzles: 100+ Puzzles My older girls could do these activity books for hours! This one has over 100 puzzles including mazes, word searches, matching and more. The product description says this is great for ages 6 and up.
Christmas Fun Mad Libs This Christmas Mad Libs book is a great activity for the whole family and is sure to bring lots of laughter and silliness!
Where’s Waldo! Santa Spotlight Search Where’s Waldo books are a classic for kids, and this Christmas book has a ‘magic slider’ that helps you find the special Santa’s on each page. This would make a great Christmas activity for all the kids.
Nativity Activity Book with Stickers Here’s another activity book with all the usual fun pages, but this one is Nativity themed.
Christmas books are a special way to celebrate and build memories or traditions with your kids around the holidays. You could wrap up a book to open and read each night as you countdown the days until Christmas, or you could just put a stack of books out on the coffee table for reading all season long. Click here for more tips on how to get your kids interested in books. Tell me your favorite Christmas book for kids in the comments below!
