Our #kbcChildoos are super curious. One of the most frequent queries we get is a book for curious kids about the human body! Little did we know our smallies would not only love but explore and comprehend every single part of the human body through some of these incredible books recommended by our parent members.
For 0 – 3 years
For toddlers, to teach them the parts of our body in a fun, non academic way these ones books keep popping up as the most loved ones:
Where Is Baby’s Belly Button? Legendary Lift the flap book by Karen Katz that almost every child has in her/his personal library.
Counting Kisses by Karen Katz has been recommended by Priya Pathak Banerjee, Quoting her:
No better way to learn numbers and body parts together than this book. It’s full of love, knowledge and warmth
From Head To Toe by Eric Carle
Quoting Amar:
The perfect book to introduce body parts to your child in an extremely fun way. This is our favourite action book and even though we’ve been reading it since my son was 2, it is still one of his favourites to read by himself.
And if you want your toddler to get introduced to the human body in an informative (with nomenclature), yet age-appropriate way there are books for those as well!
First Explorers: My Body (1-3 years) – it is age appropriate for toddlers. Sakshi Kohli highly recommends this one. In her words:
It tells about body parts. Also encourages children to point out to them once they have read each page. Plus the push pull feature adds to make it fun and interesting at the same time. We love it
Little Explorers: My Amazing Body (1-4 years) – The Little Explorers series comes highly highly recommended for curious children who enjoy exploring non fiction interactive books from a young age! They have sturdy lift-the-flaps that keep toddlers/pre-schoolers super engaged.
Hello, World! My Body by Jill MacDonald – Hello World! series is hugely popular with our kbc childoos. This book gets ordered very often!
My First Picture Book Of Parts Of Body (0 – 3 years)
For 3 – 5 years
First Facts and Flaps: Brilliant Body – Divya recommends this for 2.5 yrs+
It’s a really nice and simple book to introduce human body for kids aged 2.5 yrs + It has lift the flaps and a giant flap at the end with some interesting facts. Illustrations are simple and fun. And the illustrations can be related to day today activities of the kids. Like how muscles work when kids play in play area or why we need to wee before bedtime. What does our brain do when we are sleeping? Now it’s Darwin’s recent favorite that he reads whenever he feels like. The book doesn’t go back to shelf till night.
Usborne Lift the Flap How Your Body Works (16 pages)
The Pop-up, Pull-out Human Body
LAZY WORM GOES ON A JOURNEY: LOOK INSIDE THE BODY by Rachna Chhabria for 3-8 years (24 pages). This is a Scholastic Early Science book which can also be ordered from kbc’s storefront on Scholastic India.
Usborne: Look Inside Your Body
THIS BOOK IS A SUPER DUPER BLOCKBUSTER WITH ALL OF OUR KBC MEMBERS & CHILDOOS. (As it’s an imported book the price fluctuates. Many of our #kbcmembers have grabbed it when it was around Rs 600 so please keep checking!)
Quoting Amardeep:
What I like about this book is mainly that it isn’t like a biology textbook. I wanted a book to only answer basic questions, satisfy curiosity, and maybe make my child more curious too. This book has worked like magic. What i feel has worked about it is the fact the images are relatable. For example, in the first page there is an image of a boy with all body parts, you open a flap then the muscular system is there, you open another flap then the skeletal system is there. All processes like digestion and respiration, are explained so simply and beautifully. What I also like is the extra tidbits of information all through the book. Recommended for 2.5/3 yrs plus.
Who Has What?: All About Girls’ Bodies And Boys’ Bodies – This book is sought after big time! It’s an expensive import so everyone waits for a good deal to grab it! Quoting Sabah:
This is an absolutely brilliant book. Love how it explains the body parts and refers to the private parts by their biological name!
Usborne Beginners: Your Body (3.5+ years)
I am huge fan of these Usborne beginners books for three very simple reasons –
1. They are short and the content is crisp with beautiful illustrations.
2. These books are for specific topics which is like breaking a broad topic into smaller pieces. So one can pick and choose a book on their are of interest.
3. They are super affordable!
Why I Sneeze, Shiver, Hiccup, And Yawn (4 – 8 years) Achira recommends this book big time:
Another wonderful nook from Let’s read and find out science series! What intrigued me to get this book is a set of men at home who can’t stop their hiccups once they start and sneeze at the drop of a hat. Why I sneeze, shiver, hiccup and yawn written by Melvin Berger, illustrated by Paul Meisel. This book talks about all the reflexes that we have. Why do we suddenly sneeze or have a hiccup out of nowhere or shiver after we come put of bath! Why do we yawn when we are sleepy, how the eyeballs go big when there is little light. All this happens without we wanting it. This is all involuntary and happens when we least expect it, right!!! These reflexes work through the nervous system which consists of numerous tiny nerves, the spinal cord and our mighty brain! This book has explained the chain of events very beautifully. And the diagrams of the whole transmission of messages makes it really cool and interesting. This book is great to understand how the Central nervous system works and the science behind all those reflexes. The book has some cool fun facts at the end. Ideal for ages 7 and up. Though it can be read to 5 years plus for a fun interactive session. We read this along with our usborne Your Body and we had this whole discussion on how the messages travel! Am in love with this series.
Me And My Amazing Body (3 – 7 years)
Amazing You!: Getting Smart About Your Private Parts (3 – 7 years) – Amardeep has reviewed this book in a dedicated post here.
It’s a book on “Mom, where do babies come from?” Many parents live in fear of the day their child asks this question—which inevitably happens, often as early as the preschool years. Here is a picture book designed especially for young children who are becoming aware of their bodies, but aren’t ready to learn about sexual intercourse. Written with warmth and honesty, this book presents clear and age-appropriate information about reproduction, birth, and the difference between girls’ and boys’ bodies. Lynne Cravath’s lighthearted illustrations enliven the text, making this a book that parents will gladly share with their young ones.”
The Usborne Big Book Of The Body (4+ years) – Akanksha recommends this book.
Quoting her:
So, after reading reviews from our Usborne expert Amardeep Sodhi, I finally tried my hands on the series. This book is a vividly illustrated information book and key feature of this book are the 4 fold-outs. It describes everything a human body has and its functions right from head to toe including the smallest part like eye lashes to whole skeleton, muscles, digestive system and how a life starts inside mother. Aayansh spent almost 2 hrs just looking at the pictures when we received it. After reading it, he didn’t allow me to keep the book on the shelf since. Last night, he wanted to read the book as his bedtime story. His favourite part in the book is fold-outs of skeleton and digestive system. He had already explained the whole system multiple number of times to whomsoever came his way and also called up his nanu to boast about his new knowledge. Moreover, his various curiosities such as, what is inside our tummy, where does food we eat go and his most favourite question how he was occupied inside my tummy, have been answered. It’s a complete hit for us.
My Pop-Up Body Book (3-9 years as mentioned by the publisher)
Punidha has it – in her words, “This book has so much of information on each and every organ in detail and the pop-ups make it more interesting with the toddlers (and biology lovers like me.”
The Body Book by Hannah Alice published by Nosy Crow (16 pages). Monil Gupta has this. Quoting her:
A brilliant book with fabulous see-through acetate pages which show the different systems within the body. This book, although recommended for a little older kids, made a perfect first body learning book for us at the age of 3.5 (we are skipping the text too heavy to understand ofcourse)
What we are learning?
How our muscles work, how we breath, how we get rid of waste and much, much more. The simple language, beautiful illustrated diagrams and interactive pages makes it an engaging read.
The additional pages on diet and exercise are completely winning me over and add to that the beautiful message on how on outside we are all different yet the same inside makes this book all the more favorite.
Must read for preschoolers stepping into the world of science.
Head to Toe: A Human Body Parts Activity Book for Toddlers
For 5 – 8 years
Encyclopedia: Amazing Questions & Answers Human Body (4/5-8 years) by Om Books. Books in this series get ordered often as they are very affordable and cover various topics. Also available in a Knowledge Bookset of 12 which makes an interesting gift!
Inside Your Outside!: All About The Human Body (3-7 years) – Achira highly recommends this one:
Have you ever wondered how will the ride be in the “Inside your Outside machine”!! This lovely book “Inside your Outside” by Tish Rabe is a fun book for our little readers who want to know about the human body. The illustrations by Aristides Ruiz are totally amazing. What a fun way to learn the functions of different body parts. The heart never stops pumping blood even when we are sleeping and the brain never stops working! What we learnt apart from the different body parts and what they do is this – well our body is so hard working and never stops, so we must take care of our body by eating healthy food, getting enough sleep and always staying happy!
DK Find Out!: Human Body (4+ years) – Amardeep has this one as well. To quote her:
Neil has been telling me that he wants to know more about his body parts. Our regular go to book, Usborne Look Inside Your Body has been exhausted and now he wants more facts. I wanted to try something other than Usborne, for a change. So we bought the DK find out series. When I went through it initially, I thought it may be too much for him. But surprisingly it wasn’t. So, for example, when he said he wants to know about the tongue the book explained how the tongue is made up of 8 muscles, helps us to speak and move the food around when we chew. He later applied that concept while chewing food, which indicated that it wasn’t too much for him to understand! The book also explained interesting facts like how when we smell something not very nice, our brain tells us not to eat it – it then relates this concept to skunks and how they ward off predators, which I found a really amazing way to relate concepts. Overall, an awesome book and I would recommend it for 4 plus really curious kids, and while you may not be able to explain everything in the book to them, you will be able to answer their questions and maintain calm in your curious universe!
Dreamland: Human Body Minipedia (7+ years) – Tanvi has this and recommends it:
We have an amazing book , Look Inside Your body, which both of my children, 4 and 9 year olds love to read. Since then, my older one wanted more information. I gave him this one and he was again hooked to learning about the human body. It contains big and beautiful illustrations along with more and detailed information. It says for 5+. I feel it’s for slightly older kids. For 7+.
Collins: My First Book Of The Human Body (5/6+ years)
The Incredible Human Body: Activity book – Kanishka was one of the first kbc members to grab this book from the Scholastic Sale. In her words:
This book is so much fun. As soon as Twisha saw it, she started doing it on her own. It has facts, activities, mazes, puzzles, sudoku, colouring… packed with all possible activities about the human body – digestive system, bones, senses, hair, etc. Fun way to learn. I had to convince her to take a break and have breakfast. She didn’t want to leave the book. Must buy!!!
If it’s not in stock at Scholastic you can also check it out on Amazon.
Head to Toe: My Body and How It Works for 6-9 years
For 7 – 9 years
Usborne Flap Books: See Inside Your Body (7-10 years) – Quoting Kanika Shah Wadhwa:
So here is an update that I have been waiting to give all of you. Amardeep, had recommended Usborne’s See Inside Your Body and we had volunteered Nanu to read and explain the book to Amyra. The grandfather and granddaughter got together over the weekend. They had a wonderful time reading the book. Nanu, being a pulmonologist, was happy to explain the entire respiratory system. The book is really good. The flaps add the fun element to the book. Illustrations are excellent and help in explaining things. This is one book that I suggest that the children read first and then sit with adults to understand each page. I would suggest this book for 7 – 10years with guided reading. Thank you Amardeep for this recommendation!
Kay’s Anatomy: A Complete (and Completely Disgusting) Guide to the Human Body by Adam Kay for 7-10 years (publishers recommend for 8-12 years) Mansi Ligga’s son says,
It’s a funny and really very good way to learn about your body. It has funny pictures and at the end of each chapter there are interesting questions which are also hilarious. It’s a brilliant book everyone should read it.
Recommended Puzzles/Posters
The Book Tree Puzzle: Human Body (3+ years)
Parts Of Body Puzzle For Kids – some puzzles here also explain parts of the body!
My Body Parts: Early Learning Educational Posters For Children (2 – 5 years)
A big shout-out to Amardeep, Achira, Tanvi, Kanika Shah Wadhwa, Kanishka Vedi, Akanksha Priya Jha, Priya Pathak Banerjee, Divya, and of course #the14yearold for contributing to this valuable post!
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