9 Best Books about Bikes for Toddlers
Kristina
—Dec 31, 2021
Books are a great way to introduce new items to toddlers. Most toddlers need to be exposed to a concept before showing interest themselves. Biking is no different! They won't pick up their first bike and immediately know how to ride it!
Reading is a great way to get toddlers excited about bikes. You can curled up together and read their favorite book on bikes and watch as their excitement increases. For more ideas read 14 Ways to Motivate Kids to Ride a Bike.
My toddlers first bikes were Striders. Check out my Strider review and see the Strider bike options. Or you can read about best child and baby bike seats to take your toddler with you on your bike!
Read Teach a Kid to Ride A Bike Without Training Wheels if you want to know the simple methods I used for my kids to ride a bike without training wheels.
Why read books to toddlers?
Reading to toddlers has enormous benefits. Healthline reports the below benefits
- Bonding: Toddlers feel secure when being read to
- Listening
- Cognitive and language development
- Longer attention span
- Developing creativity
- Provide life lessons to relate to
- Social and emotional development
parents who read one picture book a day to their child for the first 5 years of a child’s life were exposed to 1.4 million more words than kids who were not read to.-study performed by Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics
Where can you get books on bikes for your toddler?
Purchasing books is not your only option. You can check out your local library and see if any of the books you are looking for are there. Most libraries also have digital copies available!
You can click here to locate a free library near you.
Best Books on Bikes for Toddlers
The books on my list all have bikes as the main topic of the bike. Some book titles can be deceitful; even though the title has the word bike in it, that doesn’t mean bike is a major theme in the book.
I wanted to portray books that didn’t only have a couple pages about bikes, but more the main storyline. These books cement bikes into little ones minds and should get them excited to go outside and ride their own, or learn how to ride without training wheels!
I chose the books that my toddlers (aged 20 months and 3.5 year old) enjoyed the most. Toddlers’ attention spans are short, if a book has too many words per page my toddlers are already looking for the next book to read.
Below are my top 9 books about bikes for toddlers.
Duck on Bike
This is one of my 3 year olds favorite books! The book is set at a farm and a duck rides a bike past many different farm animals. The book has each farm animal speak their sound, which both my boys have memorized; “Cow says “oink”.
All the animals have an opinion of the duck riding a bike. After the duck passes each animal a gang of kids arrive on bikes and go inside. All the farm animals duck past, take a bike and ride around having a great time.
The book is simple and reinforces different farm animals and the noises they make. The pictures bring the book alive and make riding a bike seem amazing!
This book is suitable for toddlers of all ages.
Bike on Bear
Bike on Bear is another favorite read in our household. A bear loves his bike, but still is riding with his training wheels. A new park opens with a bike path, but no training wheels are allowed. All of the bear's friends already know how to ride without training wheels.
Bear is saddened until his mother tells him to go to the library. There the bear finds a book on how to ride a bike in 4 days. Bear takes the necessary steps each day to learn to ride, but encounters failure after failure.
Finally on the last day the bear is called into action to save a kid goat. He finds a bike, without training wheels, and is able to get to the kid in time. Everyone is proud of bear.
The book follows an interesting story line and teaches the different components of a bike. It also portrays that learning to ride a bike isn’t easy, but in the end it is worth it!
This book is best for the older toddler who can follow a simple storyline.
Go, Bikes, Go!
This book is a board book, making it easy for those young toddler hands. The book is very simple and introduces the many different types of bikes.
Go, Bikes, Go is written in rhythms that can roll off your tongue. The pictures compliment the book and really help to depict all different types.
This book is more suited for the younger toddler who is growing their vocabulary.
Mr. Men go Cycling
This book depicts a collection the Mr. Men characters in a grand tour race. The book is longer than some of the others I suggested but overall a whimsical journey of a race.
The book is a great introduction to the idea of a grand tour and different stages of a race. It takes you through the different efforts needed in diverse lands and plays at the Mr. Men's characters perfectly.
This book is more enjoyed by my older toddler (3.5 year old) although my younger toddler will sometimes follow along with us.
Peppa the Pig: Peppa’s Big Race
If your little one watches Peppa the Pig they will surely love this story. Peppa goes on a bike ride with her family; while she is alone on her bike her parents share a tandem with her baby brother riding in a bike attachment seat on the back.
Peppa learns riding uphill is tiring and downhill is a breeze. She finds her friends and they partake in a downhill bike race in which Peppa wins! Peppa is then too tired to cycle home on her single bike.
This book is short enough for my 20 month old to enjoy as well as my older toddler. The story is simple to follow and makes cycling look like a great time.
Franklin Rides a Bike
This Franklin book teaches a great lesson; everyone excels at different things and just because you aren’t great at something initially doesn’t mean you can’t do it.
Franklin is naturally great at a lot of things, (monkey bars and swimming for example), that his friends had to learn from repeated practice. He sees his friends can ride a bike without training wheels and wants to join.
Franklin finds learning to ride without training wheels difficult and wonders what is wrong with himself. He discovers if he perseveres he can learn and has a great time riding with his friends.
This book is best suited for the older toddler who can follow a storyline. My younger toddler still likes the book, as the words per page ratio is low and he can name the different forest animals.
As a momma I like this book’s message; everything in life won’t come easy but that doesn't mean you should give up!
My Bike
This book is a simple board book great for the younger toddler. Tom, a clown, rides his bike to work. You follow him on his journey to work and pass all different types of vehicles, animals and things. Once Tom arrives at work you join him as he gets ready for his job, riding a unicycle on a tightrope.
The book is fun and helps young toddlers enforce new words, such as circus animal names and transportation vehicles. The words per page is minimal allowing the illustrations to tell the story.
This book is best suited for the younger toddler who is rapidly learning new words.
Giraffe on a Bicycle
A giraffe finds a bike and decides to ride it through the forest. Along the way the giraffe encounters all the forest animals who end up coming along for the ride.
Toddlers enjoy naming the different animals and the silly way these animals all fit on one bicycle. In the end the bicycle fails them, splitting in two. The animals work together to repair the bicycle.
This book is enjoyed by both young and older toddlers. The younger toddler loves learning about different animals while the older toddler can also find humor in the pictures and silly simple story.
The Cycling Wangdoos
This book is a bit longer than all the previous books I mentioned, however it has a good story. The author writes in a Dr. Seuss tone and tells a story of 6 Wangdoos on a grand tour on a 6 seater bike.
The book starts with all 6 Wangdoos putting in effort to win the race and slowly starts having a Wangdoo give up and rely on the other Wangdoos. By the end none of the Wangdoos are pedaling and as you can expect they lose the race and crash their bike.
The book gives a great message that when on a team everyone has to work together to win.
This book is best suited for an older toddler who can follow story lines. At first your toddler might just like the comical pictures and in time have more patience to hear the whole story front to back.
Hope you enjoyed this article on best books about bikes for toddlers.
Your toddler want their own bikes? Check out the best bikes for a 1, 2 or 3 year old.
Want to find out more about road cycling here is a Guide to Start Cycling With A Toddler.