7. Brain Food

Give a selection of learning books for now and later.

Inspire their imagination: Herve Tullet's charming book of discovery Press Here (Chronicle, $14.99, 2011) and his lift-the-flap books: The Game of Let's Go, The Game of Mix-Up Art, The Game of Patterns, The Game of Light, The Game of Finger Worms and The Game of Mix and Match (Phaidon Press, $8.95 each, 2011)

Spur their curiousity: Do You Know Which Ones Will Grow? By Susan A. Shea, paintings by Tom Slaughter (Blue Apple, $16.99) with questions that ask, What kinds of things can grow? and National Geographic Little Kids First Big Book of Why by Amy Shields (Random House, $14.95, 2011), filled with answers for all those questions kids ask as soon as they start to talk.

Nurture a love of animals: Steve Jenkins and Robin Page's adorable trio about the surprising things animals do, Time to Eat, Time for a Bath, and Time to Sleep (Houghton Mifflin, 2011, $12.99 each) Other ideas, Lois Ehlert's Lots of Spots (Simon & Schuster, 2010, $17.99). Cheerful cut-outs of animals draw the eye in, even from across the room.

Begin a collection of poetry: Pocketful of Posies: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes written and created by Salley Mavor (Houghton Mifflin, $14.95, 2010) and one of my very favorite books, Here's a Little Poem by Jane Yolen and Fusek Peters, illustrated by Polly Dunbar. (Candlewick, $21.99, 2007)

Teach the basics in a hip, new way: Go! Go! BoBo series by Basher: Colors and Shapes (Kingfisher, $6.99 each, 2011). Accompany this with Basher: ABC Kids (Kingfisher, $17.99, 2011). From the acclaimed Basher Science series come chunky board books and a book of ABCs that builds up first words.