Great Read Alouds: Let's play outside!

Who doesn't love to play outside in the summer? The sun is bright, the sky is clear, the critters are out and so are our friends. Whether your kids love to go to the pool, see animals at the zoo, get a sweet treat or jump in a big puddle there's always something amazing and fun to do outside.

Here's a collection of awesome picture books to read with your kids to celebrate the joys of being outside and maybe get some ideas for more fun.

Our Pool by Lucy Ruth Cummins

The most beloved outdoor pastime of kids everywhere: going to the pool. No summer season is complete without a bunch of trips to the pool. In this beautifully illustrated picture book we find out how much the local pool means to the entire community. All of the traditions, routines, sights, sounds, smells, giggles and fun of the pool are here and you'll want to dive right in! 

"Both the chatty, child-friendly text and the gouache, colored pencil, and digitally finished artwork ooze exuberance; Cummins’ saturated colors and energetic, curving waves are utterly inviting." –Kirkus Review, starred review

Pete the Cat Screams for Ice Cream by Kimberly & James Dean

You scream, I scream, Pete the Cat screams for ice cream! There's nothing better on a hot day outside than going to get a sweet, cold treat. There's no better treat than ice cream. And there's no better friend to share it with than Pete the Cat. Thanks to this groovy book you and your kids will be thinking about what flavor you want the next time you go to an ice cream truck or shop.

Let's Go Puddling written by Emma Perry & illustrated by Claire Alexander

It doesn't need to be sunny to have fun outside. Sometimes when it rains or snows you can have the most fun in the great outdoors. Let's Go Puddling is a celebration of one of the most fun ways to spend your day when it's rainy out: putting on your rain boots and stomping around in the puddles and mud! This book follows a group of three families as they stomp, splash and splat to have a great time together.

This book will absolutely have your waiting for the next rain shower, so you can take your loved ones out puddling!

This book delivers frolicking tots gamboling in said puddles—there’s mud, too—and offers up examples of delicious onomatopoeic words readers and listeners will delight in repeating as they mimic the kids’ activities. . . . This exuberant British import, written in staccatolike prose emulating the rapid patter of raindrops, is a rainy-day winner. The colorful, energetic digital illustrations appropriately resemble watercolors. . . . Jump right into this joyful charmer." —Kirkus Reviews