Books for Starting Nursery/ Pre-School

Friday Five Starting Nursery

After my book round-up a couple of weeks ago with our favourite books for starting school, I thought I’d also do a similar one for younger kids. Now that Oskar has settled in to his new school, it’s Mr Fox’s turn to settle in to his new nursery. He’s already a bit of an old pro, having been at nursery for over a year in Berlin, so I hope the transition will go smoothly. When he first started, back in Berlin, it took him around 6 weeks to settle! Not all children take that long, but going to nursery/kindergarten/pre-school for the first time can be a very scary and daunting time for a lot of children. As with many milestones, books can be a great help for addressing those fears, so here are some of our favourites…

  • Goat Goes to Playgroup, by by Julia Donaldson (author) & Nick Sharratt (illustrator) – This is one of the first books we borrowed after joining the library here in Edinburgh. Goat spends the day at playgroup with the other animals, and gets in to a muddle or two, but most of all has a fun time so is great for showing kids how fun playgroup or nursery can be. The book never actually refers to Goat as ‘he’ or ‘she’, so I love that it can be a boy or a girl. 
  • Lulu Loves Nursery, by Camilla Reid (author) & Ailie Busby (illustrator) – This is another book we read at the library. It’s Lulu’s first day at nursery, and she is worried about leaving her mummy and that she won’t make any friends. But she ends up having lots of fun, and at the ends of the day even gets a special certificate from her teacher.
  • I Love You All Day Long, by Francesca Rusackas (author) & Priscilla Burris (illustrator) – I picked this book up in a charity shop the other week, and it’s just the sweetest story. It starts with little Owen asking “Do I have to go today?” and his mommy says yes, but he should always remember that she loves him when she is with him and when they are apart. She loves him when he makes a new friend, shares his favourite crayon, makes a mess, lets a burp sneak out waits for his turn, feeds the fish, and the many other things that happen throughout the day while he is at nursery. But most importantly, she loves him all day long! We’ve had a few wobbles with Mr Fox not wanting to go (though when I pick him up he doesn’t want to come home, I can’t win) so this has been the perfect book to read.
  • Maisy Goes to Nursery, by Lucy Cousins – Good old Maisy. There’s no situation for little ones that she doesn’t have a book to go with. I keep thinking I shouldn’t include here in these round ups so much, but she is a firm favourite in our house. We recently inherited a pop-up Maisy play book from our neighbours, and it’s been a huge hit with Mr Fox.
  • Pirate Pete: I’m Starting Nursery, by Amanda Li. We discovered this board book at the library too. It covers all the different things that happen at nursery, like making new friends, having lunch or going to the toilet. And there’s a a button you can press to hear a cheer on every page. There’s apparently also a Princess Polly version of this book, though we didn’t see that at the library.

Do you have any other favourite books about starting nursery or pre-school? Please feel free to share your recommendations in the comments below!


Please note that all the book links in this post marked with an * are Amazon affiliate links. That means if you buy any books via these links, I receive a small percentage – at no extra cost to you! – which helps to keep this blog running. Thank you.

Comments: 8

  • reply
    9 September 2017

    We have goat goes to play group and Lulu loves nursery :-) read them to Lily before she started her first week :-)

  • reply
    11 September 2017

    awww love some of these book ideas. Theres a few i actually haven’t come across before. We like reading Julia Donaldson books in our house.

  • reply
    11 September 2017

    My daughter LOVES Goat goes to Play group – we are reading it every night at the moment!

  • reply
    11 September 2017

    What a great list! I think books are brilliant for helping kids with new experiences or things that are difficult. They help to articulate problems for them and make things easier.

  • reply
    11 September 2017

    Those look like excellent books to start pre-school with. Best of luck to you and your little one:)

  • reply

    Ana

    12 September 2017

    What a lovely selection of nursery books. Maisy goes to nursery sounds lovely x

  • reply
    12 September 2017

    I will definitely be sending this to my sister in law as my nephew just started pre-school and his enjoying it so far.

  • reply
    14 September 2017

    A great lineup, we actually have the Maisie book ,my daughter just loves it.

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