Best Counting Picture Books for Preschool Kids
Do you have a preschool child who is starting to understand number concepts? These interactive counting picture books will help your preschooler learn to count in a way that is fun and engaging!
As a homeschool mom of 15+ years, I think the best way for young children to learn to count is through play and games. As your preschool child shows awareness of number order, however, reading interactive picture books is a fantastic enrichment activity to enhance his or her understanding.
**This post contains affiliate links which means I may make a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thanks for supporting our family.
Best Counting Books for Preschool Kids
My preschoolers love these counting books! We read them over and over together.
Over in the Meadow by Paul Galdone
My daughter (now eight years old) used to love this book through her toddler years, asking constantly for me to read this book to her. Because of its rhyming text, I like to sing this book when I read it to my little learners. Here is the link to the tune I sing. Every number up to ten shows a mother and her children, starting with a mother turtle with her little turtle one to a mother fox and her little foxes ten.
- Used Book in Good Condition
- Paul Galdone (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 32 Pages – 06/01/1989 (Publication Date) – Aladdin (Publisher)
Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed by Eileen Christelow
Do you want to know the silly story behind the song about the five little monkeys jumping on the bed? You will learn here, as Eileen Christelow tells of the monkeys getting ready for bed. They jump on the bed until one of them gets hurt. But when the doctor tells them not to jump on the bed, they mischievously do it again. This rhyming book is also a song. If you can sing books to children, they love it!
- Christelow, Eileen (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 30 Pages – 04/04/2017 (Publication Date) – Clarion Books (Publisher)
Ten Little Ladybugs by Melanie Gerth
Count with your small children one by one, almost all of the ladybugs get distracted by other insects except for the last one. This ladybug is left alone until a breeze comes along and blows her home with all the other ladybugs and wildlife.
- TACTILE: Uses tactile ladybug buttons to teach young children to count
- COVER: Hardcover with ladybug counting toy built in
- SIZE: 22 pages, 9.2 x 7.2 inches
- COLOR: Toddlers love the bright colors and disappearing Ladybugs
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
On a warm, sunny morning, a baby caterpillar pops out of an egg. Follow the caterpillar, trying one apple, two two pears, and many more interesting foods. But all this eating results in a stomach ache. Finally, he finds the right food for him — a delicious green leaf. After emerging from a cocoon, the caterpillar transforms into a beautiful butterfly.
- Now even younger children can follow the little green caterpillar as he eats his way to becoming a beautiful butterfly in this sturdy board book
- Great for early development
- Children will enjoy this delightful tale
- Ages 3 to 7
- Hardcover Book
Ten Red Apples by Pat Hutchins
The style of the illustrations in this book is very unique. The wooden hinged figures with intricate designs render a Dutch farm theme. A farmer is trying to keep his ten beautiful apples growing on the apple tree. Animals keep running by and stealing them one by one, until they are all gone. Next thing he knows, the animals carry him away and he finds out what happened to all his precious apples.
- Pat Hutchins (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 32 Pages – 04/19/2025 (Publication Date) – Scholastic (Publisher)
Richard Scarry’s Best Counting Book Ever
Your kids will count along with Willy Bunny in this story. He is bored and begins to count the number of items and things he encounters that day. Kids love interacting with the books that we read to them!
- Scarry, Richard (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 64 Pages – 01/02/2014 (Publication Date) – HarperCollins (Publisher)
My First Counting Book Golden Book Illustrated by Garth Williams by Lilian Moore
In this board book, the reader counts different kinds of animals throughout the story. Garth William’s (illustrator for the Little House on the Prairie books) colorful illustrations display the animals’ different ways of each of their life cycles and environments.
- Hardcover Book
- Moore, Lilian (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 24 Pages – 02/01/2001 (Publication Date) – Golden Books (Publisher)
Bear Counts by Karma Wilson
Bear looks up at the sky and begins to count the insects, the birds, the clouds. Mouse follows him, and together, they count all the wildlife in the forest. “Numbers, numbers, everywhere. Now YOU can count too, just like BEAR!”
- Hardcover Book
- Wilson, Karma (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 32 Pages – 05/12/2015 (Publication Date) – Margaret K. McElderry Books (Publisher)
Chicka Chicka 1,2,3
My littles love the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom books and were excited to find that there was another version but with numbers! All the numbers race to the top of the apple tree, but what they meet at the top will send them tumbling back down.
- Chicka Chicka 1 2 3
- Hardcover Book
- Bill Martin Jr. (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 40 Pages – 08/01/2004 (Publication Date) – Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (Publisher)
Ten Black Dots by Donald Crews
What can you make with dots? Read this basic counting book to find all the creative ways to see black dots in everyday objects. This is a fun way for young children to learn number concepts from one to ten.
- Crews, Donald (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 32 Pages – 09/21/1995 (Publication Date) – Greenwillow Books (Publisher)
The M&M’s Counting Book
This is a good book with bright colors, as the M&M’s characters teach counting in their rhyming words. It is a great tool for teaching not only counting, but also the shapes and colors. It also has a little bit more advanced math concepts that are great for four to six year-olds.
- BARBARA BARBIERI MCGRATH (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 30 Pages – 04/19/1994 (Publication Date) – Scholastic Inc. (Publisher)
Count to 10 With a Mouse by Margaret Wise Brown
Margaret Wise Brown is one of my favorite authors. Big Red Barn and Goodnight Moon are two of my favorite books of hers. Count to 10 With a Mouse, another one of her works, but as a simple counting book. A mouse lives in his hole in a book, before he decides to explore to the next page. Each one has a different number of birds or animals that the mouse counts.
- Brown, Margaret Wise (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 04/19/2025 (Publication Date) – Parragon Book Service Ltd (Publisher)
Birdsongs by Betsy Franco and Steve Jenkins
What I love about the book Birdsong is that it’s a great for little readers to learn a different variety of birds while also learning to count. As the sun slowly rises, these birds go about their normal routine in their habitat. This delightful book could have a dual purpose, teaching math and nature study.
- Hardcover Book
- Franco, Betsy (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 40 Pages – 01/09/2007 (Publication Date) – Margaret K. McElderry Books (Publisher)
How Many Snails? by Paul Giganti Jr.
How many Snails invites children to interact with the reading as they count different items based on their qualities. Each page shows a number of one kind of animal or object, and the reader will be asked simple questions like how many trucks out of all of the trucks are fire trucks? And how many dogs are spotted?
- Giganti Jr., Paul (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 24 Pages – 09/21/1994 (Publication Date) – Greenwillow Books (Publisher)
This Little Pup by Laura J. Bryant
Follow a young puppy in this children’s book as he chases after a ball. The ball bounces past cows, and chickens, and pigs, and all sorts of animals there on the farm, counting them as he goes. It bounces past everything, until finally, the little pup catches it.
- Hardcover Book
- Bryant, Laura J. (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 32 Pages – 04/01/2020 (Publication Date) – Albert Whitman & Company (Publisher)
Big Fat Hen by Keith Baker
This is a great book that borrows lines from Mother Goose’s nursery rhyme, “one, two, buckle my shoe”, a nursery rhyme that I often read to my little ones. The simple illustrations show the hen and her eggs, and in the end as they hatch into chicks. It is a great way to teach your young readers math skills, and have so much fun reading the rhymes!
- Baker, Keith (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 32 Pages – 04/01/1999 (Publication Date) – Clarion Books (Publisher)
Looking for a way to enhance your child’s number sense? Reading these picture books with your small children is a fun way to do that! What books would you add to this list?
Similar Posts for Preschool Kids
The Best Alphabet Books to Help Kids Learn Their ABC’s
Rhyming Books for Preschool Through Kindergarten Age
