20 Vibrant Books About Colors for Preschoolers and Toddlers

Pantone: Colors by Pantone

A fun book that has all different color swatches in a given color family with an animal buddy to match. I love looking at all the different shades of colors with my kids. This is a fun one to take out into the world and find the matching colors in the wild!

I Like Fruit and I Like Vegetables by Lorena Siminovich

Any book that introduces children to healthy foods from an early age is OK in my book. Add in the lessons about colors in I Like Fruit and also the lesson of opposites in I Like Vegetables and you have two winners. Oh! And did I mention these are textured and perfect for babies to explore with their fingers too?

Why We Love This Book: Textured pages are perfect for tactile learning about colors and opposites.
Appropriate for ages 0-2
Find this book in Color Books / Best Board Books / 1-year-old Books / 2-year-old Books / Food Books for Children

Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert

Caldecott Honor-winner, Lois Ehlert, teaches kids about colors in this story about planting a garden and watching it grow.

His artwork reminds me of Eric Carle. It will draw your child into the beautiful garden depicted within.

Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh

This classic children’s book is about 3 white mice who discover the primary colors. Soon they are dancing their way into mixing up colors as they create orange, purple, and green on the paper and their own white bodies!

Blue Hat Green Hat by Sandra Boynton

This board book is the perfect first book about colors for babies. It identified red, green, blue, and yellow as well as different clothing items. Your kids will laugh out loud as the turkey incorrectly wears the clothing each time.

Little Green Peas by Keith Baker

Like the alphabet book LMNO Peas, Little Green Peas is a charming walk through the rainbow with everyone’s favorite little green peas!

This picture book has a nice rhythm and there is so much to point out to your 3-year-old when looking at the illustrations in this book about colors.

Bear Sees Colors by Karma Wilson

This charming, rhyming picture book about colors has everyone’s favorite bear walking through the forest finding colors all around!

The repetition and bursts of color are perfect for toddlers just learning their colors.

The Mixed-Up Chameleon by Eric Carle

This fabulous picture book uses Eric Carle’s signature style to teach colors. As the chameleon travels around, he changes colors. When the chameleon visits the zoo, he starts to get mixed up, becoming a crazy-colored creature!

The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt

The classic color story that launched a series! The Day the Crayons Quit is about overworked crayons that decide to go on strike. Each color airs its grievances to Duncan, who just wants to color! Can Duncan find a solution to make his crayons happy?

I Don’t Draw, I COLOR!  by Adam Lehrhaupt

This is a lovely book that explores creativity as opposed to artistry.  I love how the child in this book can express feelings and emotions with colors.  

Why We Love This Book: Often, it is so difficult for children to express themselves verbally and I love how this book gives another way to do this.  
Appropriate for ages 4-8
Find this book in: Books about colors / Books about Feelings / Books for 5-year-olds

Mixed: A Colorful Story by Arree Chung

The blues, reds, and yellows live together in harmony until one day each color declares its color is the best and they don’t like the colors mixing.

But when yellow and blue fall in love, they make a little green baby. Soon colors start to mix and make new colors. They realize that the colors are better when they are mixed together. This book is really a wonderful way to introduce racism to your children as well. We really love this pick from our books about colors.

Festival of Colors Surishtha Sehgal 

I adore this vibrant book about Holi, the Indian festival of colors. Two children get ready by collecting colorful blooms that they will use to make fine powders.

This book about colors also exposures your little one to traditions from another culture. It’s an absolutely gorgeous book about colors.

Chameleon’s Colors by Chisato Tashiro 

I love this book about Chameleon. He is unhappy about the fact that he blends in so well, his friends never see him. Hippo wishes he could change colors like Chameleon. Hippo asks to be painted pink and this starts a trend. All Chameleon’s friends want to be painted.

I love this adorable book about color and your 5-year-old will love it too.

Pocket Full of Colors: The Magical World of Mary Blair, Disney Artist Extraordinaire by Amy Guglielmo

The pictures in this book are captivating, the colors are brilliant but, the best part is that it is true.  Based on the story of Mary Blair, this story tells how one woman broke the mold and created “It’s a Small World”.

One World Many Colors by Ben Lerwill

This beautifully illustrated book about colors explores colors as they are found all over the world. From the yellow cabs of New York and the sunflower fields of Spain to the pink blossoms of Japan and the feathers of a flamingo, this book explores colors as they have never been seen before.

The Color Monster by Anna Llenas

This adorable book about colors will not only teach your child about colors but will help them identify their emotions at the same time.

We love the idea of making emotions something your child can see because this will help your child identify how they are feeling more literally.