You guys, my mom is just the best. Seriously, if you knew her, you’d agree.
When I went to Houston recently she had the best gift for baby James. She read in my post about preparing James for solid food that I was looking for some baby books about food. I use the term “looking” loosely, as what I was really doing was wishing I had some and doing nothing about it.
She gave us four beautiful books about food / eating and we have been loving them.
I’ll start with the best one. During a particularly busy week where she had parent teacher conferences until 6PM every night (and she gets to school at 7 AM…), my Mom went to Whole Foods after work to get some beautiful produce, went home and photographed it, and made the most beautiful book on Shutterfly.
Again, this is something I’d mentioned wanting to do, but I was clearly not actually making it happen.
This is the best book, not only because it is homemade, but because the images are clear and vibrant against a white background, the best for baby to see. It only has one food per page, which I think is ideal for a baby. It is simple and full of foods he is likely to eat in the early days. I also like that it is large enough that I can prop it open to a certain page if he seems particularly interested in a specific image.
Next up is Eating the Rainbow. This one shows different babies and toddlers from around the world eating a variety of foods. I love this one because it combines babies’ interest in faces with their interest in food.
Eating the Alphabet is slightly more “advanced” I would say. It has beautiful illustrated images of food. One thing that’s great about this book is that it includes familiar foods as well as more exotic ones like kohlrabi, figs, and persimmons.
I actually think it would be super fun to use this book for a scavenger hunt of sorts with a toddler / young child. You could choose a few new foods to try each week and search for them at the farmers’ market or grocery store. Hey, I think I’d even enjoy that!
Lastly, she gave us My First abc, which is not strictly about food, but includes many images of different foods as well as other every day objects.
I’ve already had so much fun with these new books and I see us enjoying them for years to come. Thanks Mom!
Do you enjoy books about food?
I personally love looking through beautiful cookbooks, a hobby I definitely got from my Mom.
Do you know of any other great children’s books about food?
4 Comments
That is such a cool gift from your mom!! What an easy, neat idea!
Thank you! We’re a little obsessed with Shutterfly as a family. Next, I want to make him a photo book with pictures of family members, especially those who live far away. I just wish they’d print them as board books!
My friend is using books like these for her daughter! And it’s so fun to see her match things from the book to things that she is actually eating in real life. It’s also really helped her out with her colors.
I love, love, love cookbooks. I can read them at night in bed like an actual book and be so super content. I love ones like Chrissy Teigen’s that have a story attached to each recipe.
I don’t have any of Chrissy Teigen’s, I’ll have to check those out! I love ones with stories too though – I have one called Apples for Jam that has beautiful pictures and stories and I could definitely read it like a book.