I’ve kept my two older children’s board books from when they were young. They enjoyed “Good Night, Moon”, Eric Carle’s “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?”, and other classics. (For more book ideas for babies, click here.)

Baby Bumblebee is also enjoying those same books now, reciting or singing along with each one.

Experience has taught me, though, that it’s best to first use our mother tongue, in this case Tagalog, with my children. I realized that my children, like the others in their generation here in Manila (and maybe other metropolitan areas in the Philippines?), are growing up with English as their first language.

You can read here about how we’ve helped our two older kids speak Filipino better. But for sure, we’re now vigilant about it with our third child.

Fun Filipino Books

I’m always on the lookout for Filipino books for babies and toddlers to read (and sing!) to her now. Here are our favorites, which can be found at our online book shop. Just click on the titles to learn more about each book or to buy it from our shop.

1. Prrrrrt… Utot!

All kids seem to love body parts and bodily functions, even the youngest ones, as I’m discovering with Baby Bumblebee. She loves this hilarious book about utot!

2. Kilikili!

This tickling book is so much fun. Kids will learn body parts in Filipino too! What I like most about it, though (and the rest of the series), is that the illustrations and layout are simple and clean, not cluttered at all like other local children’s books.

3. “Mmmm…. Sarap”

My Baby Bumblebee is such a good eater, and appreciates this book about different Filipino dishes. Yum!

Others in the series are “Kokak! Kokak!” and “Ang Dilim Dilim!”

4. Sampung Mga Daliri

This is one of the first Filipino books that we’ve read together, and Baby Bumblebee has already memorized and constantly asks for it.

5. Bahay Kubo

It’s never too early to sing folk songs to our young children, and this beautifully illustrated “Bahay Kubo” makes the job easier.

6. “Kumilos Tayo, Kuya” and “Kumilos Tayo, Ate”

These two board books are almost wordless and let you make your own stories (preferably in Filipino) using the action verbs shown on the pictures.

7. BuliLIT Boards Books

This beautiful series of Philippine literary classics (“Florante at Laura”, “Noli Me Tangere”, “Ibong Adarna”) in board book format highlight basic concepts (numbers, colors, shapes) and are great for the youngest readers.

Jumpstart love for our mother tongue

We really do try to make available at our shop everything that we use and enjoy. You can say that we’ve road-tested it for you! Just click on the links to read more about each book or to buy it from our shop.

• Kumilos Tayo, Ate
• Kumilos Tayo, Kuya
• BuliLIT Board Books (Ibong Adarna, Florante at Laura, Noli Me Tangere)
• Prrrtt… Utot!
• Kilikili!
• Mmmm…. Sarap!
• Kokak! Kokak!
• Ang Dilim Dilim!
• Bahay Kubo

Let’s jumpstart our children’s love for our mother tongue with these beautiful Filipino books for babies. The littlest ones will enjoy the simple and clear words with matching clean illustrations. As they grow to toddlerhood, they will enjoy “reading” the words, singing, and doing simple actions in the book. These books also make good practice for beginning readers.