Summertime is filled with countless hours of outdoor play and beach trips, but a little quiet time is very much needed for the kids to relax and recuperate after all the fun summer adventures. Reading is a great way to enjoy some quiet time, and it's the perfect activity to keep their little minds active. From beach trips and hikes to lemonade stands and camping, we've rounded up 20 summer themed kid's books that your minis will enjoy this summer. Keep on reading to see all the cute summer books we picked out. But before you do, be sure to sign up for our email updates (located in the sidebar) to get our latest posts straight to your inbox!
Note: This is not a sponsored post. All opinions about each book are our own.
A Midsummer Night's Dream (BabyLit Primers) — This adorable BabyLit book is a cute summer book for infants and toddlers. Each page is a simple and sweet passage about various little fairies, and the bright colors that are used throughout the book keeps your little one's engaged. The writing of this book uses the language of Shakespearean passages, so this is also a great way to introduce your kids to a classic like Shakespeare.
Summer (1−3y) — This enchanting summer picture book is a must buy for your little ones this summer season. This summer themed children's book doesn't contain any words, but it's filled with beautifully detailed and realistic images of different summer activities (e.g. playing at the beach, flying kites, fishing, eating ice cream, ect). This book is a great way to get your kids to use their imaginations to make up little stories about each active summer scene.
I See Summer (2−4y) — The perfect summertime book for toddlers! This adorable book is a great summer read aloud picture book that helps teach your toddler or preschooler everything that is associated with the summer season. Not only is this book filled with bright, colorful and diverse illustrations, but it contains short and simple rhyming sentences that makes this an easy and fun read.
Summer Days and Nights (2−6y) — This cute summer read aloud follows a little girl throughout her adventurous summer day and night as she finds different ways to entertain herself on a warm summer day. The simple rhyming text makes this a relaxing and soothing read for kids, and we especially love how this book contains simple similes, metaphors and questions that helps the kids engage with the story. The illustrations are also softly drawn, which makes the story seem very magical and dream-like. This is the one of the perfect summer books for preschool or kindergarten aged kids that captures classic summertime activities.
Beach (3−5y) — If you're looking for an elegant and imaginative children's book about the beach, then this is the book for you! While the text in this book is very detailed and descriptive, the story of what you see on a typical day at the beach is mainly told through the beautifully illustrated pictures in this children's summer book. The rich imagery does such a great job of capturing the ocean waves, the summer sky, and various beach activities that you're able to imagine being at the beach yourself. The only downside is that the text isn't very lyrical or rhythmic, so your little one might not enjoy it as a read aloud book, but they'll absolutely love the illustrations.
The Hike (3−5y) — Not only is this kids nature book really cute, but it's educational too! This outdoor-themed children's picture book follows three girls on their thrilling hiking adventure. What we love about this nature book is that it's more of an interactive, explore-the-pages type of book, rather than a story time book. Its detailed and accurate illustrations contain a handful of labeled plants and animals, which makes it a fun way to learn about different plants and animals that you might see on your own hike. This book helps encourage kids to get outside and enjoy nature, making it a perfect summer book for kids
Blackout (3−5y) — Not only does this children's book consist of vividly illustrated images, but it also contains a beautiful message about reconnecting with family. When the power goes out on a hot summer night in the city, the once distracted family comes together and spends time with each other in their neighborhood. There's not a whole lot of text in this book, but the beautiful images are what captures your attention and tells the story. We also love the diverse, multicultural aspect of this children's book. This is a great way to remind kids (and ourselves) the importance of spending time together without all the technology, making this one of the perfect summer books for kids.
The Big Book of the Blue (3−5y) — This fun and gorgeous ocean book for kids is the perfect book for kiddos interested in anything and everything about marine life and the ocean. Each page contains beautiful illustrations and the perfect amount of facts about different sea creatures and habitats. While it says the age range of this book is up to 5 years, it's still an informative and engaging book for older kid's too!
1, 2, 3, Jump! (3−6y) — If you have a little one who's afraid of the pool or is feeling scared about swimming lessons, then this children's book about swimming is a perfect way to help ease their nerves. We love that this summer picture book uses clever humor to provide gentle reassurance about swimming, and it also does a great job of slowly easing the main character into jumping into the pool (e.g. blowing bubbles, floating, kicking, ect.) The sweet illustrations additionally show a very supportive swimming teacher and a diverse set of kids who are having lots of fun in the pool!
Mermaid School (3−7y) — Not only is this kids summer book great for little mermaid enthusiasts, but it's also the perfect back to school book for kids who are starting their first day of school or those who may be starting at a new school. This sweet and simple story follows a little mermaid on her first day of school and shows all the fun activities and friends she meets. The beautiful illustrations in this book are so soft and delightful, which gives the story a very magical feel to it. We also love that this book includes boy mermaids too, so it's the perfect mermaid book for both boys and girls!
Over in the Ocean: In a Coral Reef (3−8y) — This educational ocean animals book is a must read kid's book during the summer! The cute, lyrical text makes learning about different sea creatures and their habitats much more fun and entertaining for kids, and it's a great way to help your little one's with their counting skills. The bright illustrations are also amazing and full of color!
And Then Comes Summer (4−8y) — This adorable children's book about summer uses descriptive text and beautiful illustrations to capture and teach kids everything there is to love about summer vacation. Not only is this a fun and exciting summer read for kids, but memories of lemonade stands, late bedtimes, the sound of the ice cream trunk, outdoor play, and beach trips will bring back idyllic summer memories for adults too.
A Lullaby of Summer Things (4−8y) — The perfect summer bedtime story! This adorable summer book is written in a cute rhyming pattern to tell a gentle summer story of the memories a little girl has of a fun day at the beach. We love how calming and relaxing this kid's summer book is, making it perfect for bedtime, and the wonderful summer beach memories makes it enjoyable for adults too. This book is based on a multicultural family, so this is also a great buy if you're looking for diverse kids books for the little ones.
Summer Color! (4−8y) — This charming book is one of the perfect summer books for kindergarten and preschool aged kids that helps introduce and teach them colors. Different colors are introduced throughout the book as a summer day changes from bright and sunny to dark and gloomy, where a beautiful rainbow is then introduced. The bright and vibrant illustrations make this kid's color book extra enjoyable, and the engaging rhythmic text also makes this a fun read for older kids too!
Jabari Jumps (4−8y) — This beautiful children's book about swimming is not only a good summer book for a fun read about a popular summer activity, but it's also a wonderful encouragement book that teaches kids about overcoming their fears and nerves with bravery. We love that this book shows a father being supportive but in the end letting his son make his own decision. It's a motivating story with beautiful illustrations that's perfect for your little one's summer book collection.
Rules of Summer (4−8y) — This book is definitely one of the more interesting and unique kid's summer books we've come across, as there's not really a linear storyline to it. Each page contains a different rule two brothers learned last summer, but there's not a clear context behind the rules, and they're accompanied by some wild (and a little bit dark) illustrations. This is, however, an excellent book for kid's to use their complete imaginations on — each page is like it's own story that you have to figure out and envision what it's about. This book is certainly geared more towards older kids (8+) who love sinister and dark fantasy figures and artwork.
How to Code a Sandcastle (4−8y) — This creative book is an excellent way to easily introduce coding concepts to kids, and coupling it with a summer beach activity makes it a fun summer read! Not only are the illustrations amazing, but the text is entertaining and really captures kids attentions. We love that the main character of this book is a girl, as it shows that girls can have an interest and excel in STEM too!
Lemonade Stand (5−6y) — This adorable book is a cute way of introducing the little one's to a yummy and popular summer drink — lemonade! The text is fun and enjoyable for kids, and you know you will heading straight to the kitchen to make all the lemonade after reading this book. The age range of this book is listed as 5-6 years, but we think it's suitable for younger children (2−4y) too!
Let's Dive: Into the Ocean (6−8y) — The perfect informative book for your little ocean explorers! We love the design of this kid's ocean book — it's segmented into different habitats corresponding to the different layers found in the ocean. Each page has a colorful illustration of different ocean creatures and their surroundings found in that zone, along with a few fun and interesting facts about those ocean creatures. The text is also perfectly written for younger kid's to understand and explore the book.
S is for S'mores (6−9y) — This is one of our favorite summer alphabet books yet! Not only is this adorable book written in a fun, rhyming type language to introduce different camping terms to kids, but it also includes a sidebar that contains factual and historic information about the word being introduced. The illustrations are absolutely beautiful and makes you want to explore the outdoors this summer.
We hope you loved our kids summer book picks! Tell us in the comments which ones you think would be your kiddo's favorite. If you found any inspiration from us, be sure to tag us on Instagram so we can see all the reading fun.
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