Interactive books to give your toddler’s fine motor skills a workout

Movement is essential for your toddler’s fine motor muscles. They will only be able to strengthen and learn to control the small muscles in their fingers, hands and wrists by doing actions and making movements which use them, and for toddlers the whole world is an opportunity to do so. It’s even possible to sneak some fine motor development into more restful moments like story time, and these three interactive story books make it fun for all of you to get involved! 

Your toddler will be developing their fine motor skills as they eat, as they use play dough or colour in, as they position toys to play and as they get dressed, but sometimes it can all feel a bit much and a cosy cuddle with a story is just what you both need. 

Every story time uses some fine motor skills, from turning pages to pointing at interesting pictures; it’s unlikely your toddler’s fingers are still for long, but these three favourites encourage even more movement by making your toddler’s actions part of the story.  

This Book Just Ate My Dog! by Richard Byrne 

This hilarious picture book uses the centre gutter of the book itself as part of the story. Bella is walking her dog when... dog disappears into the dip between the pages! Before long, so has everyone else! Your toddler will need to follow the book’s simple instructions to shake, shake, wiggle the character out of the book and back onto the page so the story can finish.  

Don’t Wake Up the Tiger! by Britta Teckentrup  

This beautifully illustrated story starts with a group of animal friends trying to sneak their bunch of balloons past a sleeping tiger. They decide to use the balloons to float past the big cat, but need your toddler’s help to avoid waking the tiger as they go. There are chances to stroke the tiger’s nose, blow the balloons through the air and even rock the book to help the animals, and enjoy a big celebration when tiger wakes up at just the right moment.  

The Cat Book by Silvia Borando and The Dog Book by Lorenzo Clerici 

This series about having a pet is illustrated with a bright, cartoonish style and simple backgrounds, making them perfect reads for toddlers, especially ones who love animals. Each page asks them to help look after the cat or dog by stroking them, using a hand to shelter them from rain or perhaps using a finger to ‘push’ a ball for them to play with. The variety of (sometimes very silly) ways your toddler has to interact with the book to keep the animals happy will have you both giggling and looking forward to finding out what’s next! 

The Cat Book

The Dog Book

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