This collection of the best fish and ocean books for toddlers includes Montessori-friendly books about the ocean and storybooks about fish. Discover these toddler-approved board books about fish and the ocean!
Most toddlers are fasciated by water and bright, colorful fish. Books about fish and the ocean can capture your toddler’s interest, teach them about sea life, and boost their enjoyment of reading. We hope you enjoy this list of the best ocean books for toddlers!
How to pick books for toddlers
We chose these books based on the appeal of their illustrations or photographs and the quality of the text. They are almost all mostly factual, but there are a handful of storybooks about fish at the bottom of the list because we love the Pout-Pout Fish too much to leave him out!
According to the National Center for Family Literacy, toddlers are frequently interested in books with information and detail. They can enjoy more detailed pictures than younger children and love pages with action and plenty detail to explored. Toddlers also tend to enjoy interactive books like touch-and-feel books and lift a flap books.
Scholastic says toddlers are like special bedtime books, counting books, and ABC books, so I made sure to include some of each type in this list of books about the ocean.
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The best fish & ocean books for toddlers
Ocean ABC books for toddlers
ABC Oceans by the American Museum of Natural History also features actual photographs of sea life. Even though it’s a board book, it’s a little more advanced and has a wide variety of sea life, not just the usual suspects. You’ll probably learn something from this book, too!
- American Museum of Natural History (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 18 Pages - 04/01/2014 (Publication Date) - Union Square Kids (Publisher)
A Swim Through the Sea is a vibrant swim through the alphabet. Each page has a lovely illustration of a sea creature as you read your way through the ABCs. There are facts about the featured animal on every page, which makes it great for toddlers who are into fish and the ocean. You can also skip the factoids for a shorter read for younger children.
- Pratt-Serafini, Kristin Joy (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 26 Pages - 03/01/2006 (Publication Date) - Dawn Publications (Publisher)
Books about the sea for toddlers
Ocean Creatures from the National Geographic Kids collection is a Montessori-friendly ocean book that features photographs of ocean animals along with bite sized chunks of information. It doesn’t rhyme, which can be a blessing for parents who are tired of rhyming kids books.
- National Geographic Kids (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 24 Pages - 08/04/2015 (Publication Date) - National Geographic Kids (Publisher)
Ocean Life is a bright, cheery, and informative book. It has more pages than a lot of board books, but there’s only a sentence or two on each page so it holds a toddler’s attention. It gives fun facts (like sharks have lots of teeth and whales breathe through a blowhole) without providing so much information that it bores your toddler.
- McDonald, Jill (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 26 Pages - 02/05/2019 (Publication Date) - Doubleday Books for Young Readers (Publisher)
Nerdy Babies: Ocean is a fantastic introduction to oceans as a whole. It doesn’t just take a look at fish – it talks about the importance of the entire ecosystem in language that’s straight forward for young children.
Another awesome feature – it depicts diverse babies, not just blond caucasians. The Nerdy Babies series is pretty new so there aren’t many books yet, but it’s off to a great start and definitely a series to keep an eye on!
- Kastner, Emmy (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 22 Pages - 05/07/2019 (Publication Date) - Roaring Brook Press (Publisher)
A Walk by the Ocean from the Smithsonian is another book with lots of information that your toddler can appreciate as they grow into a preschooler. To be honest, I learned some things from this book.
- Jaye Garnett (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 10 Pages - 10/15/2017 (Publication Date) - Cottage Door Press (Publisher)
Sharks from the American Museum of Natural History is a unique Montessori-friendly board book about…sharks! The book has neat interior tab cut outs that allow your child to compare what the nine featured sharks look like and how big they are. It’s a really cool book – I’ve never seen anything else quite like it.
- American Museum of Natural History (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 26 Pages - 06/06/2017 (Publication Date) - Union Square Kids (Publisher)
My Early Learning Book of Sea Animals is a fantastic choice for a Montessori household or anyone who wants a simple, realistic book about fish and sea life for their toddler. The book features photographs and simple, accurate names for each creature shown.
- Wonder House Books (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 10 Pages - 11/25/2018 (Publication Date) - Wonder House Books (Publisher)
Touch and Explore Ocean is fun and informative. It has a sensory touch and feel aspect and shows multiple species of different sea animals like sharks, whales, and sea turtles. It’s the kind of book that can grow with your toddler as they become more interested in learning about what lives in the ocean!
- Choux, Nathalie (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 04/05/2016 (Publication Date) - Twirl (Publisher)
Look! Fish! Is a really fun book. I appreciate that it gives factual information about each fish and includes some lesser-known fish. The only small downside is that, to me, some of the text is a little stilted sounding to make the words rhyme (but isn’t that true of a lot of kid’s books?)
- Hardcover Book
- Calmenson, Stephanie (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
Ocean-themed lift a flap books for toddlers
Deep Sea Dive features flaps that lift to reveal rhyming information about sea creatures. It’s shorter than some of the other ocean books listed here and the flaps are a fun interactive for toddlers who are less inclined to sit still. It’s a good choice if you’re looking for a book about fish and the ocean but know your little one doesn’t usually stay put for longer books.
- Yoon, Salina (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 12 Pages - 03/06/2012 (Publication Date) - Union Square Kids (Publisher)
Under the Sea has sturdy flaps to lift and detailed, realistic illustrations.
- Ages 3 and up
- Greenwell, Jessica (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
Ocean bedtime books for toddlers
Hawaiian Ocean Lullaby is a lovely counting ocean bedtime book. It has sweet illustrations and counting rhymes about the Hawaiian ocean at night.
- Beth Greenway (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 16 Pages - 08/01/2015 (Publication Date) - BeachHouse Publishing (Publisher)
Good Night Fish is a wonderful bedtime book for toddlers (and babies!) who love fish. The illustrations are bold and colorful and the text is catchy.
- Gamble, Adam (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 20 Pages - 05/10/2016 (Publication Date) - Good Night Books (Publisher)
Good Night, Little Sea Otter is incredibly beautiful. The illustrations are gorgeous and the story is cute (the little sea otter has to say goodnight to absolutely everything in sight while mama sea otter reminds her baby that it’s time to sleep. It’s kind of like real life with a toddler, but with cute illustrations!)
- Janet Halfmann (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 20 Pages - 12/15/2016 (Publication Date) - Star Bright Books (Publisher)
Fish storybooks for toddlers
You can’t make a list of toddler fish books and not include The Pout Pout Fish! A friend of my husband’s gave us the board book version when LG was born and she is all heart eyes for it. The rhymes are really catchy and I love the growth mindset message.
- Diesen, Deborah (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 32 Pages - 08/06/2013 (Publication Date) - Farrar, Straus and Giroux (Publisher)
Rainbow Fish is another classic that’s available as a board book for toddlers. The board book version is pared down with less text and about half of the original images, which makes it good for shorter toddler attention spans.
We hope you’ve enjoyed this collection of the best books about fish and the ocean for toddlers. If there’s a favorite of yours that we missed, please leave a comment below and let us know! We’re always on the lookout for more books to enjoy.
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