60+ Children's Book Ideas (and How to Pick the Right One)

The best children's book ideas are small. One kid, one problem, one good ending. Below are more than 60 ideas grouped by theme, each one specific enough to start writing tonight, plus a quick way to choose and turn your pick into a real book.

How do you choose a children's book idea?

Start with your child, not with the list. The idea they will ask for again and again is usually something already happening in their life: a worry, a new skill, a person they love, a joke they keep repeating.

Ask yourself three quick questions:

• Who is it for? A toddler wants familiar things and repetition. A six-year-old can handle a real problem and a twist.
• What is the one moment? "Starting school" is a topic. "The walk from the car to the classroom door" is a story.
• What pictures do you have? If you have photos of the event or a pile of their drawings, pick the idea that uses them.

Punita Rice, who wrote our book on making children's books, once made her oldest son a story about a bunny afraid of swim class after he got water in his eyes. Years later he still pulls it out. That is the kind of idea to look for: tiny, true and theirs.

Everyday adventure ideas

• A trip to the grocery store where the cart seems to have its own plans.
• The walk to the mailbox, told as a jungle expedition.
• Bath time as a deep-sea dive, with rubber duck submarines.
• The day the car would not start, so everyone walked to the park instead.
• Finding the perfect stick, and everything it turns into.
• A rainy afternoon spent building a blanket-fort city.
• Waiting at the doctor's office and the game that made the time fly.
• The case of the missing sock and where it really went.
• Riding the bus or train all the way to the end of the line.

Big feelings ideas

• A little bear scared of the dark learns what each night sound really is.
• Too mad to talk: a kid who stomps, counts to ten, then finds the words.
• Missing Grandma after she flies home, and the phone call that helps.
• Feeling left out at the playground, then asking, "Can I play too?"
• A worry that grows bigger every time it gets ignored, and smaller when it is shared.
• Nervous about a haircut, and what actually happens in the chair.
• Jealous of a friend's new bike, and the day they take turns.
• Being brave at the dentist, one step at a time.
• A kid who made a mistake and learned how to say sorry.

Milestone ideas

• The first day of school, from packing the backpack to pickup.
• Losing the first tooth, and what the tooth fairy does with it.
• Saying goodbye to the pacifier or the bottle.
• Potty training, starring a very patient potty.
• Moving to a new house and finding a new favorite spot.
• Riding a bike without training wheels: wobble, wobble, go.
• A first sleepover at Grandpa's house.
• Turning five, and everything they can do now that they couldn't at four.
• Becoming a big brother or big sister.

Milestones make wonderful books starring your own child. Our guide to a personalized children's book walks through writing one.

Family ideas

• How we became a family, told your way (birth, adoption, marriage or all of the above).
• What a parent does at work all day, as your child imagines it.
• When Grandma was little: what was different, and what was the same.
• The family recipe, step by step, and who taught it to whom.
• Our weekend, page by page, from pancakes to bedtime.
• The family pet's secret life while everyone is out.
• A holiday tradition and why your family keeps it.
• A book for a parent who travels, with a page for each day apart.
• Summer at the cousins' house.

Silly story ideas

• A dragon who refuses to eat anything but broccoli.
• The morning every shoe in the house swapped feet.
• A pancake who desperately wants to be a pizza.
• What if the dog drove everyone to school?
• A sneeze so big it blew the roof off the house.
• The cat who is sure she is the principal.
• Backwards Day: dessert first, pajamas at school.
• A monster who is afraid of children.

Nonfiction and learning ideas

• The ABCs of our neighborhood: A is for apartment, B is for bakery.
• A counting book of everything in the toy bin.
• How a seed becomes a sunflower, photographed in your own yard.
• Our week of weather, one day per page.
• A color hunt around the house: everything red, everything blue.
• How to make a sandwich, written and photographed by your child.
• Where our trash goes, starring the garbage truck.
• Shapes we found on our walk.
• First words in two languages, for a family that speaks both.

Ideas from your child's drawings

• A gallery book of this year's art, with one line under each piece.
• Let them draw a character first, then write the story around it together.
• Turn the fridge art into a picture dictionary.
• Their dinosaur drawing becomes a dinosaur who goes to kindergarten.
• Self-portraits from age three to now, one per page.
• The map they drew of their room becomes a treasure hunt.
• A drawing of each family member with one fact about them.
• A story told entirely through their scribbles, with you as narrator.

If you have a stack of art waiting, see how to turn kids' drawings into a book.

How to turn your idea into a book

Once you have picked an idea, the fastest way to keep it from sitting in your notes app is to open a book and fill in the first page. On makeabook.fun it is free, runs in your browser, and needs no sign-up.

1. Pick a starter that fits. For a story with a problem and a happy ending, use "A story about them". For a book of facts about your child, use "All about me" (see our all about me book guide). For art, use "Their drawings". For anything else, start with a blank book.
2. Write one sentence per page. The starters pre-fill pages with fill-in-the-blank prompts, so you are never staring at nothing.
3. Add pictures. Upload photos, snap their drawings with your phone, or sketch on the built-in drawing pad with a finger, mouse or stylus.
4. Choose a layout and font. There are six page layouts and six fonts, including Andika, a font designed for children learning to read.
5. Make the cover. Add a title, your child's name as author, and a short back-cover blurb.
6. Read it together, then print. Flip through it in the reader, then download the free print-at-home PDF.

Want to go further and publish it as a paperback? Our free 7-day guide covers brainstorming through publishing, and the maker can create free Amazon KDP files when you are ready.