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This post originally appeared on Book Riot. Becuase of that, you may notice that Marian is suddenly an infant once more, ha! I decided to repost it because black and white board books are so important to early development. But y’all get a bonus picture of baby Marian!
The first item I bought for my little one was a book. That should surprise absolutely no one reading this.
Because I work at a used bookstore, almost every week of my pregnancy resulted in more and more books brought home. Like many parents, I made sure to stock Marian’s shelves with some of my own favorites: all of Maurice Sendak’s books, lots of feminist picture books—like Rosie Revere, Engineer—and random gorgeous ones—like Pool by Jihyeon Lee. At this point, my now 8-week-old little one has two full bookshelves filled with children’s books.
Is Marian interested in these books? Not in the least. In fact, she often sleeps right through story time. So ungrateful, and not even a teenager yet.
But that’s not to say she finds all books a snooze-fest. There’s one type of book that she can stare at for, well, several intense minutes, which in baby time is a long, long time. Those books are black and white board books.
Research shows that newborns prefer black and white. They’re still developing their eye sight, and the high contrast between black and white captivates their attention. That’s certainly true for Marian. In fact, after seeing a picture of fellow Rioter Jen Sherman’s little one with a book by her changing table, I’ve placed a black and white board book by Marian’s changing table so she has something engaging to look at during diaper changes! And she does like looking at it, in between kicks and sticking her tongue out at Mommy!
I now wish I’d bought more black and white board books instead of the pretty illustrated picture books, but she’s sure to enjoy those later.
I’ve gathered a list of Marian’s and my favorite black and white board books. Whether buying for your own newborn or someone else’s, I highly recommend them.
Spots and Dots from Art Baby
This is the one I have at Marian’s changing table. It’s perhaps the most popular black and white board book, featuring artsy images of…spots and dots. Except one page has squares, which bothers me. It doesn’t bother Marian, however. You can also check out Hearts & Stars by the same publisher.
I Kissed the Baby! by Mary Murphy
This is my favorite. In addition to the cute black and white illustrations (with some color mixed in), I love the interaction between baby and parent on each page. I make sure to kiss and sing to my baby as I read it to her!
Look, Look! by Peter Linenthal
A cute and simple book with large black and white illustrations. Marian particular likes the pages with children smiling, probably because it features faces, which babies love! I find these pages creepy, but whatever pleases Marian pleases Mommy too. The author has several other black and white board books too.
Baby Animals Black and White by Phyllis Limbacher Tildes
Because animals are fantastic and cute! Make sure to make animal noises as you read to your little one. I know Marian loves it when I make funny noises.
Checkers and Dot by J. Torres
There are four Checkers and Dot books, and this is the first, where you’re introduced to all the characters. This one actually has a storyline for the adults, if a simple one. So both baby and parent can enjoy it!
Does your baby have a favorite black and white board book?
If you’re looking for more books for an infant, check out Jen and Tilly’s 20 essential board books for your baby’s library.
High-contrasting, black and white images with sharp outlines are much easier for baby to see in the first few months of life while eyesight is still developing. At birth a baby’s retina is not fully developed; a newborn retina can only detect EXTREME contrasts between light and dark, or black and white. With everything appearing a little out-of-focus it’s no surprise that your baby will be completely absorbed when a book of black and white images is put in front of them.
“Anything with very obvious contrast – such as black and white edges and lines – is an optimal stimulant for the visual system. This type of stimulation basically gets the system up and running” – Professor Usha Goswami, director of the Centre for Neuroscience in Education at Cambridge University.
A baby’s eyesight will continue to develop over the first 6 months – use of our specially designed black and white, and high-contrast books, will help to nurture that development by helping to stimulate development of the optic nerve, while also providing much-needed entertainment and stimulation for your baby.
What makes our black and white books better than other high-contrast books on the market? Our images have been designed specifically for newborn vision. We include no unnescessary detail; the graphics are optimised for developing eyes that can’t see fine lines or small detail. Baby will be completely mesmerised by the bold patterns and shapes. We are yet to come across a baby that hasn’t loved staring at our books!
See our ‘Baby Vision Guide‘ for a month-by-month guide to infant visual development.
High-contrast books are top of the list of recommended books for babies on the Raising Children website.
For more information, please visit our website.
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