Christmas Song Books

Let’s be honest here. I have a book problem! As a teacher I collected many, many books. And every three weeks we get a stack of new books from not one, but two libraries. So we have a ton of books around here, and I LOVE it! When we were unpacking the Christmas books I started sorting some of the girls’ favorites to keep in special bins around the house. Looking at the stack of favorites I noticed a common theme. Most of them were Christmas song books. As babies, toddlers, and preschoolers these seem to be the books we go back to again and again, so I thought I would share our favorite Christmas song books with you.

GET A FULL WEEK OF CHRISTMAS THEME ACTIVITIES IN OUR PRINTABLE PRESCHOOL CHRISTMAS LESSON PLANS.

More Resources for Little Book Lovers

The best way to encourage a love of reading is to provide kids with many opportunities to engage with a wide variety of books that are of interest to them. That’s why we share so many books lists on Fantastic Fun and Learning. We want to make it easy for you to find great books your kids will love. Over the years we’ve also discovered some helpful tools for connecting kids and books.

Digital libraries are one very handy way to do this. Epic! is one of our favorite online libraries. It’s full of over 25,000 books, learning videos, quizzes and more for kids 12 and under…and it’s free for educators. Click here to learn more and sign up.

Book Boxes are another fun way to get kids excited about reading. What kid doesn’t love to get a special delivery in the mail?! The crew over at Bookroo finds the best little known books that you won’t already have in your library, and they send them to you each month. Take a peak inside a Bookroo Box here.

Book-Based Activities are also a lot of fun for kids. Jodie over at Growing Book by Book has saved us all a ton of time and created a full year of Book-Based Activity Calendars so that you can extend the fun with a special book each week.

You may also be interested in this article from Nellie Edge. Among other important benefits this article suggests that the “brain is uniquely wired to effortlessly learn through music.” She goes on to share many ways that songs and rhyme help children.

When possible I am including the Amazon links to give you a visual reference. Most of the books can be purchased there, but we have also found many on sale racks over the years. Typically we don’t have a lot of books that actually play music, but you will see here that there are many. The kids really enjoy them, and it seems to help them learn the songs, too.

Christmas Stories

Silent Night is a board book we received from the girls’ grandparents when Lovey was a baby. It has been one of her seasonal favorites since then. She loves to listen to the music and watch the lights light up. I personally appreciate the music to help me keep tune with the song lyrics. (Singing is not one of my talents!) This is quickly becoming one of Tinker’s favorites, too. She has been carrying it around with her playing the music since we put out our Christmas books.

Frosty the Snowman is another favorite board book. This one also plays music, but there are some versions that do not play music. We have been singing this for years, and now I love to hear Lovey singing it on her own to her baby dolls.

Jolly Old St. Nicholas is one that I personally love. Our copy is a board book that came with a CD. The CD has some simple kid-friendly carols that we enjoy.

Deck the Halls is a padded board book that has some texture and visual details that both of the girls enjoy. Tinker is already joining in for Fa-La-La, La-La-La, La-La-La.

Jingle Bells is another padded board book we have in our collection. It includes the basic version of the Christmas carol.

Jingle Bells by Iza Trapani is a fun version that includes added verses that introduce kids to some Christmas traditions around the world. And if you have older children you might enjoy reading Jingle Bells: How the Holiday Classic Came to Be. We don’t own this one, but it came in one of our giant library stacks. I was so excited to read it, because I remembered seeing a sign about the song on one of our trips to Savannah. The story tells about the history of the song.

Up on the Housetop is another musical board book that the girls enjoy. It is a cute, but simple version of the song.

O Little Town of Bethlehem is a board book that plays music and lights up. It has been helpful this year as we talk with Lovey about the story of the first Christmas.

Hark the Herald Angels Sing is another board book that lights up and plays music. It follows the traditional Christmas carol.

The Little Drummer Boy is another book that we are talking a lot about this year. In Awana, Lovey has been talking about being helpful. This story is about a small boy who finds a way to help calm baby Jesus, so she has been able to make a connection to it. It is also a musical, light-up board book.

This version of the The Little Drummer Boy is a paperback. It is beautifully illustrated by Ezra Jack Keats, and we enjoy reading it together.

Joy to the World has always been one of my favorite Christmas carols, so I love that my girls are enjoying the song, too. Our version from the library is a musical board book.

If I had only one Christmas book, I would probably choose this one. Joy to the World: Tomie’s Christmas Stories is a book we borrowed from the library. I thought it was just the Christmas carol, but I was pleasantly surprised to find so much more. It includes three of dePaola’s stories: The Night of Las Posadas, The Story of the Three Wise Kings, and The Legend of the Poinsettia. There are also  Christmas carols with lyrics and pictures. The carols are “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” “Silent Night,” “The First Noel,” “Away in a Manger,” and “Joy to the World.” This one is a book we will add to our personal collection after returning our library copy.

Okay, this one isn’t exactly a traditional Christmas carol, but we are big fans of Pete the Cat around here. When it has been a tough day, I love to play “I Love My White Shoes” to remind us that it is “All Good!”  Pete the Cat Saves Christmas is another fun story from Eric Litwin, and you can get the song that goes along with the book for free.

I also found this excellent resource for Christmas carols for children. It includes many common Christmas carols with lyrics, a brief history of the song, and some YouTube video links. I know my kids are going to love some of these videos, and I am excited to be able to share a little bit of history with them.

Do you have any favorite Christmas song books? I would love to have some new ones to add to our collection.

Note: The links above are affiliate links. Unless otherwise noted I have included the books we own. However, there may be more recent prints available in some cases. If you love one of the books and purchase it through one of these links, I get a small compensation. Thank you for supporting this blog in that way.

GET A FULL SET OF CHRISTMAS THEME ACTIVITIES

Explore the symbols and traditions of Christmas and incorporate reading, math, science and more in this 169-page preschool secular Christmas lesson plan set full of fun and playful Christmas learning activities for preschool. Watch this short video to see just a few examples of the types of activities and printables included in this set:

The 169-page Christmas Lesson Plan Set includes hands-on activities and these additional printables:

1) Beginning Letters Gift Sorting Game (in color and b/w)

2) Reindeer Math Mats (2 versions in color and b/w)

3) My Christmas Senses Activity Book Making Pieces

4) 0-35 Christmas Number Cards (2 versions in color and b/w)

5) Christmas Counting Syllables Sorting Game (in color and b/w)

6) Christmas Picture-Word Cards (in color and b/w)

7) Ornament Play Dough Mats

8) Candy Cane Play Dough Writing Task Cards (shapes, uppercase letters, lowercase letters, number 0-20)

9) Christmas Light Patterns Activity Pieces (in color and b/w)

Also available on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Hands-On Holidays eBook

Less stress, more connecting this holiday season? Yes, PLEASE!

From the arrival of fall to Halloween to Thanksgiving and Christmas, the last four months of the year can be a wonderful opportunity for making family memories and spending time together, but they can also be stressful as we try to collect ideas, recipes, and activities to try together.

Stephanie Morgan, founder of Modern Parents Messy Kids, a site that’s been voted Best Craft Blog in Parents Magazine and one of babble.com’s Top 50 Craft Mom Blogs, recently released a new eBook to help us have a little less stress and more time to connect with family this year.

Stephanie’s goal is to make it easier on all of us to enjoy the holidays with our kids. Hands-On Holidays is 100 pages full of her family’s very favorite ways to connect as a family over the holiday season. I love the convenience of having so many ideas in one place, and most of them are simple enough for even my toddler to participate in.

The book includes picture book suggestions, DIY decor, activities, and treats. Bonus sections also offer even more ideas to enjoy. Click here to view more details.