Not-your-typical books about animal sounds

It's time to trade in "Old MacDonald" for these fun reads.

As a parent, you spend the first two years of your child’s life talking about animal sounds a lot.

Learning animal sounds is important for children’s development, from learning pronunciation to the building blocks of sentence structure—but, well, it can get a little repetitive for even the most patient parents.

If you’ve sung “Old MacDonald” a few too may times lately, tag in these four books to spice things up a bit.

“Who Said Moo?” illustrated by Yi-Hsuan Wu

“Who said ‘quack’? Was it Dog? No, it was Duck!”

My little ones think this lift-the-flap book with animal sound mix-ups is absolutely hilarious. I mean, a dog quacking? This give us the giggles every bedtime.

“The Cows on the Bus” illustrated by Valerie Sindelar

Sung to the tune of “Wheels on the Bus,” this book has dogs on trains, pigs on planes, and everybody launching to space in a rocket by the last page. It’s another goofy, lovable read.

“Over in the Meadow” illustrated by Jill McDonald

Meet 10 animals who live in the meadow as the babies echo their mothers on each page. Not every animal has a sound (e.g. the fish swim and the spiders spin webs), but this books offers a great introduction to the sounds or actions of various animals. And if my baby says “spin” when she points to a spider, I consider that a win!

“The Very Busy Spider” by Eric Carle

Spend a day with a spider just trying to spin her web while the residents of a local farm keep asking her to join them in their favorite activities. My kids love the repetition and seeing the progression of the spider’s web.

Does your family have a favorite book of animal sounds? Please share in the comments!

“The humblest tasks get beautified if loving hands do them. —Louisa May Alcott