Charlotte Mason Booklist Kindergarten
The preschool years are a great time to lay excellent foundations of habits for our children. In the Charlotte Mason method, we begin formal academic lessons at the age of 6, but that doesn’t mean that children before that age don’t learn—on the contrary, it’s considered among the most important years when the children get a “quiet growing time” that will inadvertently affect their future learning.
The early years are considered a crucial time to get the kids out in nature as much as possible. We also focus a lot on habit-training and character development. But we also read plenty of stories, including the Bible and many excellently-written picture books.
Our Recommended Books for Charlotte Mason Kindergarten
Although the kindergarten year is not all about reading books and will best include lots of active play, handicraft, and nature time, this booklist is intended to help you find some of the best picture books you can enjoy together as you cuddle with your preschooler.
(Many of these books are also included in our Charlotte Mason International Kindergarten Guide, if you would prefer an open-and-go curriculum that suggests all the activities–including handicraft, songs, and games–that you can do together everyday for a full school year.)
Eric Carle books
We love Eric Carle books for their attractive pictures and excellently-written text. They are great even for toddlers and make for nice bedtime read-alouds, while also teaching, through story, important concepts, such as time or the habits of certain animals. Here are some of our favorite Eric Carle books:
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a favorite with preschoolers as they follow what the hungry caterpillar eats each day of the week–with the added fun of learning numbers to boot!
The Grouchy Ladybug
The Grouchy Ladybug is a whimsical story of two ladybugs, a nice one and a not-so-nice one who tries to pick a fight with everyone he meets–which gets bigger and bigger with every passing hour!
The Very Busy Spider
Master storyteller Eric Carle does it again with The Very Busy Spider, bringing us into the intricate world of this little weaver.
Mister Seahorse
In Mister Seahorse, we dive into the underwater world and meet plenty of sea creatures and learn about daddy sea-creatures and how they take care of their young.
The Tiny Seed
In The Tiny Seed, you’ll enjoy the story of how a seed grows, still with Eric Carle’s imaginative classic illustrations.
A House for Hermit Crab
A House for Hermit Crab is another of my kids’ favorites. They love reading about all the different marine creatures that Hermit Crab encounters over the months as he decorates his shell!
“Slowly, Slowly, Slowly,” Said the Sloth
Personally, I initially had doubts about buying Slowly Slowly Slowly Said the Sloth because I thought I didn’t want my child to be slothful! But when we read it, I was pleasantly surprised at the storyline of appreciating what one is designed to be.
Virginia Lee Burton books
Virginia Lee Burton’s books are my sons’ favorites, too, despite what appears to be lengthy text per page. Her engaging storytelling captures the imagination of even the littlest ones.
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel has been a favorite for our kids for many years, with their asking me to read this aloud over and over and over–but I’m glad to say I don’t mind doing so because the story is just so entrancing and the words so musical!
The story is about a steam shovel operator, at a time when the steam shovel (whom he has named Mary Anne) has gone outdated. Instead of giving her up for junk, he goes to a small town where he takes on a gigantic task of digging a cellar for the new town hall–with the “bet” that if he couldn’t finish it in one day, he won’t get paid! We love the drama and the suspense!
The Little House
If I could choose a personal favorite among all these picture books, I think The Little House would have to be it. In a whimsical look at life in the country, the Little House stays on while everything around her changes into a big city.
Check out this interesting story of Katy and the Big Snow, where the snow plow does all she can to get the little town out of the snow!
Peter Rabbit and other books by Beatrix Potter
If you want to collect Beatrix Potter’s animal tales, we recommend finding those that come with the original, whimsical illustrations, and the unabridged text. Many versions have tried to adapt her stories, and sad to say, they are twaddle to the core! Nothing beats the beauty of the original writing!
You may want to choose between buying collections, with several stories inside, or individual books, which can be easier for your child to take in and out of the shelves on his own.
The Peter Rabbit Library 10-Book Gift Set
If you’re starting your home library on a budget, you can start with this 10-book gift set, with tales of Peter Rabbit, Jemimah Puddle-duck, and all our other beloved Beatrix Potter characters!
Or, if you prefer something that will stay for the long-run, this hardback version is our top choice! This is The Original Peter Rabbit, Books 1-23, complete with a Presentation Box!
(As a side note, these books are in the public domain, so if budget is eeeeven tighter, you can also access them on Project Gutenberg on this link.)
Other Stand-Alone Picture Books for Preschoolers
Corduroy by Don Freeman
Our toddler adores Corduroy, the story of a little bear who lost his button and scours around the department store in the middle of the night to search for it.
Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina
Caps for Sale is a funny tale of a cap peddler who loses all his caps to a bunch of mischievous monkeys will surely get your little one laughing out loud at their antics and the unexpected ending.
Winnie the Pooh books by A.A. Milne
Children the world over love Winnie the Pooh, and this is a boxed set containing poems and stories of this happy bear and his friends in the Hundred Acre Wood. Again, make sure you buy the original versions, because there are many adaptations with the cartoon illustrations that are totally twaddle!
Stella Luna by Jannell Cannon
Stella Luna is the story of a young fruit bat who falls into a nest of baby birds and grows up with them introduce little children to the habits of both bats and birds.
Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey
Blueberries for Sal is the charming story of little Sal, who goes to pick blueberries with her mother and unexpectedly switches places with a little bear who also goes to much on blueberries with her mother!
The Story About Ping by Marjorie Flack
Set in the house boats of China, The Story About Ping tells about a young duck who gets lost and gets picked up by a boy in a house boat. The boy’s parents intend to make a meal out of him, but the boy helps him escape and he eventually finds his family again.
We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Helen Oxenbury and Michael Rosen
We’re Going on a Bear Hunt is a whimsical tale that follows a family moving through a series of activities as they hunt for bears.
Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion
Harry the Dirty Dog is a short but memorable tale of a dog who gets into scrapes and becomes unrecognizable by his family will surely thrill your preschooler. It also comes in many other books, so if your child falls in love with Harry, you have a few more to enjoy:
The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf
The Story of Ferdinand is the interesting story of a young bull who prefers to smell the flowers over fighting with the other bulls captures the heart of children and assures them that it’s perfectly fine to be different form the crowd.
Jam and Jelly by Holly and Nellie by Gloria Whelan
We loved Jam and Jelly by Holly and Nellie for its very realistic illustrations and the story surrounding the family’s needing to earn money to send their little girl to school. They enjoy picking berries and finding other stuff in the woods to make into things to sell.
Max Lucado’s Wemmicks Books
You are Special is the first book in Max Lucado’s Wemmicks books. Lucado is an excellent storyteller, and the Wemmicks are some of his most famous children’s books, revolving around a wooden puppet called Punchinello, who struggles with many issues that children face today, such as acceptance, achievement and success, and unconditional love.
The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones
The Jesus Storybook Bible is our ultimate go-to Bible storybook, which takes us from the book of Genesis through the end of the Bible, telling the most popular (and some lesser known) stories in the Bible. We wrote our own book review here. We typically recommend this for younger students.
The Child’s Story Bible by Catherine Vos
We usually recommend The Child’s Story Bible as a one-step-up from the Jesus Storybook Bible. We love this book because it contains so many more stories, and follows the order of stories in the Bible but tells it in a more conversational way.
Booklist of FREE picture books for Charlotte Mason Preschool
While many of the above-mentioned books are not yet in the public domain, we have also scoured the Internet for those that you can access for free online. Of course, we believe there’s a certain quality in reading a hardcopy book while cuddling in bed, but for some circumstances, such as with lack of access to a good library or bookstore, e-books can be the next best thing.
Taking this into consideration, our Charlotte Mason International Kindergarten Guide includes suggestions for using ALL FREE e-books or alternatively, books that you can purchase. You may download our FREE one-week sample and have the links to a whole year’s worth of free e-books to use for your Kindergarten year. We hope this is helpful for you!
