This list should help you find the perfect title for your classroom or for your children at bedtime.
New Holiday Books for Preschoolers
This year’s holiday books are fantastic for preschoolers! I have sorted through all the available books and selected the best for children ages 3-5.
Celebrating Christmas with Cookies! This book is amazing! Preschoolers will love its warm, colorful illustrations as well as the simple, but still interesting rhymes. It would be great if it was hardcover!
Construction Site on Christmas Eve is a heartwarming story of teamwork featuring the construction vehicles in the Goodnight and Goodnight Construction Site.
Meet the Latkes, a new book on Hannukah. It’s informative and funny, but easy enough to read for preschoolers.
The Reindeer Express’s last stop looks fantastic and amusing, especially for children who are missing their loved ones.
Sparkle the Unicorn’s First Christmas. This cute story is for little unicorn lovers. Sparkle learns which Christmas traditions matter most.
Jan Brett’s Snowy Nap doesn’t actually have holiday themes, but it works well with them. Hedgie watches the other animals’ winter experiences from the comfort of a Nordic farmhouse.
Publications on Holiday Customs
These holiday books are great for children to understand and discuss Christmas traditions.
It’s Christmas, David! David Shannon’s character from No David is back with an easy-to-understand holiday story. Most pages have only one line. The page ends with a happy "Yes, David! It’s Christmas!"
Bear Stays Up for Christmas – This story is for anyone who has read Bear says Thanks and especially if they have done any Bear Thanks activities. Bear is woken by his friends to share Christmas traditions. Santa even makes a cameo appearance!
Pinkalicious Merry Pinkmas- Pinkalicious Fans will enjoy this adorable treatment Christmas traditions and will love the pink tree at their end!
Berenstain Bears’ Night before Christmas – Papa Bear recites "Twas Christmas Night Before Christmas" — the modern illustrations make the classic text more accessible.
Snowmen at Christmas- This story is about animated snowmen who celebrate Christmas while the humans are asleep.
Last but not least, the llama everyone loves has two beautiful holiday books.
Llama Llama Jiggle Bells is simple and sweet. It’s a quick concept book about Christmas. This book is ideal for children aged 3 years old.
Llama Llama Holiday Drama tells the story of a little llama who struggles to wait until Christmas. This story can be accompanied by an easy and popular ornament craft.
Publications on Presenting Gifts
Sometimes, gifts can be understood better by children than gift giving! These books will help you spread the joy of giving this holiday season.
Corduroy’s Christmas Surprise, which was my son’s favorite Christmas book as a preschooler, was Corduroy. It taught him the importance of friendship and gift-giving. It was so good that we kept it!
Biscuit gives a gift – This adorable story features Biscuit and his favorite dog Biscuit.
Another option addresses gift-giving is The Not Very Merry Pout Pout Fish. It is designed for preschoolers older than 6 years old and includes a lot more vocabulary.
Publications on the History of Christmas Trees
These books are great for anyone looking to learn more about the subject.
Maple and Willow’s Christmas Tree are another favorite of mine. Maple and Willow find creative solutions to Christmas tree problems.
Eric Carle’s Dream Snow depicts snowfall on farm with Christmas tree lighting at end.
The Littlest christmas tree is about the tiny tree that dreams of becoming a Christmas trees. To go along with the story, I made a cookie cutter ornament.
Pick a Pine Tree covers everything you need to know about Christmas trees. This one is great for story sequencing. This is a great way to practice story sequencing.
Red & Lulu tells the beautiful story of a pair cardinals that live in a tree taken to Rockefeller Center, New York City.
Inventive Vacation Tales
This section of our preschool holiday book collection is a lot of fun!
Pete the Cat Saves Christmas, is not the only Pete the Cat holiday title. However, it’s mine favorite. Eric Litwin’s story of Pete saving Christmas from Santa’s illness is a fun and rhythmic tale.
Santa’s Toy Shop is a classic Little Golden Book that tells a story about Santa Claus.
How to Catch an Elf is a hilarious tale about an elf who was caught in elf traps and managed to escape.
The Little Reindeer tells a story of adventure and imagination through beautiful illustrations.
Olive the Other Reindeer tells the funny and touching story of a dog that thinks she’s a reindeer.
Who’s coming to our house? This sweet story is about barn animals getting ready for baby Jesus.
Non-Christmas Holiday Book for Preschoolers
Here are some of my favourite non-Christmas books to read for December.
Because it is seasonal, the Gingerbread Man works well in public schools for holidays. This story is a classic.
Latke, The Lucky Dog – Children will learn more about Hanukkah by following this adorable pup’s misadventures.
The beautiful explanation of African American traditions is My First Kwanzaa.
Rupert’s Tales – The Wheel of the Year wilfully explains winter pagan customs. (Thanks Hillary from Raising Fairies & Knights!
I’d love for you to tell me about a book you’ve enjoyed that isn’t on this list. This list can be saved for later. Here’s an image that you can pin.
