If you’ve ever thought about buying black and white books for babies, then you’re in just the right place! This complete guide to monochrome baby books for girls and boys answers all the questions you might have about black and white pictures for babies. Plus which ones are best to buy in book form.
As well as outlining why infant books in black and white might be the best idea ever, we also cover all you need to know about these black and white newborn books. Including all the black and white books for babies benefits you need to know about!
Also addressed are questions around when you can start sharing monochrome books with your baby, and how long it is before they’re seeing everything in glorious technicolour. We also recommend 10 of the best black and white picture books for babies, including board, cloth and sensory options.
Keep reading to find out why you should be buying the best black and white books for babies!
Click here to shop for black and white books for babies
10 of the best black and white books for babies
Aussie Baby Animals
Best for Australian wildlife
- By: Julia Murray
- Type: Board book
Aussie Baby Animals is among the best black and white board books for babies, and will introduce them to our native wildlife species too. An Amazon best seller, this book showcases Aussie creatures including dingoes, echidnas, emus, kangaroos, koalas, kookaburras, quokkas and wombats.
Click here to take a look at the Aussie Baby Animals book
Aussie Water Babies
Best for native marine life
- By: Julia Murray
- Type: Board book
This book covers marine creatures, aka Aussie Water Babies. It’s a slight variation on the wildlife theme featured above, and is also a board book. This version will introduce your little one to brolgas, clownfish, platypuses, little penguins, saltwater crocodiles, green sea turtles and great white sharks.
Click here to view the Aussie Water Babies book
Hello Baby Animals
Best for worldwide wildlife
- By: Julissa Mora
- Type: Board book
With mostly images and a little light text, Hello Baby Animals is among the top black and white books for babies by age. Its pages are packed with clear, high contrast patterns, plus a few words so infants can get a feel for the written word. And the spoken one, of course, if you read the captions aloud.
Click here to check out the Hello Baby Animals book
First Baby Days: Night Night
Best for shiny foil
- By: Mojca Dolinar
- Type: Board book + shiny foil
First Baby Days: Night Night is one of the best black and white books for newborn babies for bedtime reading. The theme is all about heading to bed – but there’s also something unique really making this book stand out. On the board pages there is shiny foil as well as smooth cardboard, which really helps to capture and retain your baby’s attention.
Click here to see the First Baby Days: Night Night book
Baby’s Very First Black and White Little Library
Best for a boxed set
- By: Stella Baggott and Fiona Watt
- Type: Board book box set
Why buy one of the best black and white picture books for babies when you could have four? The Baby’s Very First Black and White Little Library box set includes books with the topic of Animals, Babies, Faces and Going Out. The hard board pages mean you can prop these books around for babies to check out at their leisure, such as during tummy time or perhaps on their bedside table.
Click here for the Baby’s Very First Black and White Little Library boxed set
Tummy Time: A High-Contrast Fold-Out Book with Mirror
Best for a built-in mirror
- By: Mama Makes Books
- Type: Board book + colour + mirror
If you’re looking for something a little different among black and white contrast books for babies, then how about this Tummy Time one that’s tailor made for tummy time? This time spent off their back is great for babies’ muscle and motor development. And this book is perfect, as it has a mirror embedded into the pages. There’s also some colour splashed around in this book, as well as real life photos of other infants.
Click here to buy Tummy Time: A High-Contrast Fold-Out Book with Mirror
Baby Touch: Animals
Best for a pop of colour
- By: Ladybird
- Type: Board book + red
If you find all that black and white art for babies a little boring, why not opt for a monochrome board book with a dash of added colour? We like the Baby Touch: Animals book because it contains red, and this is apparently often the first colour that infants can make out. From trusted publisher Ladybird, this is in fact one of a series including a yellow Faces book and a blue Vehicles book.
Click here to see the Baby Touch: Animals book
Indestructibles: Taste the Fruit
Best for weaning preparation
- By: Lizzy Doyle
- Type: Board book + colour
Add an injection of colour into your life with the Indestructibles: Taste the Fruit black and white baby board book. This one’s good for getting your infant ready for weaning, as hopefully the attractive fruity pictures will whet his or her appetite. As with all Indestructibles titles, this book is made to be rip-resistant and waterproof, so it can be drooled on, handled without care and even washed.
Click here to take a look at the Indestructibles: Taste the Fruit book
Baby’s Very First Cloth Book: Faces
Best for a cloth book
- By: Jo Lodge
- Type: Cloth book + colour + crinkle + mirror
If you want to find the best black and white cloth books, try Baby’s Very First Cloth Book: Faces. This soft book offers it all – a mirror as with the Tummy Time book, plus crinkly pages that your little one will love to grab. It comes gift boxed and is thus ideal for a special occasion, and again is one of a series.
Click here to view Baby’s Very First Cloth Book: Faces
Baby’s Very First Cloth Book: Farm
Best for farm animals
- By: Jo Lodge
- Type: Cloth book + colour + crinkle + mirror
Find plenty of black and white shapes for babies in this book, which like the Faces version is made from soft, crinkly cloth. Baby’s Very First Cloth Book: Farm is also full of high contrast images, and has colour, a mirror and crinkly pages like the Faces book. Your little one can learn all about farm animals thanks to this one, which whets their appetite for trips out into the big wide world.
Click here to view Baby’s Very First Cloth Book: Farm
Black and white books for babies FAQs
Are black and white books better for babies?
Black and white books are indeed better for young babies than colour ones. The high contrast images in these monochrome books make it easier to capture and keep your baby’s attention.
They can also support your infant’s brain and eyes during their initial months. Use of these books can help young eyes to focus, and boost your baby’s concentration skills. This makes for a more rewarding reading experience – for both of you.
Why are black and white books good for babies?
Black and white books are good for babies because they can encourage cognitive development, assist with optic nerve development, and ensure they’re not over-stimulated. This means your baby can learn about the world at their own pace, without feeling overwhelmed.
The obvious contrasts between black and white also act as an optimal stimulant, helping their visual system to develop.
What are the benefits of black and white books for babies?
Even before they’re born, babies can see the contrast between light and dark. After birth, the contrast between black and white is therefore much easier for them to make out. Though the world is still rather fuzzy to them, monochrome shades really do stand out.
The benefits of black and white books include gentle visual stimulation, helping with focusing and boosting concentration. Reading a book together can also be a bonding experience.
When should I start black and white books with my baby?
You can introduce black and white books to your baby from birth, so the sooner the better! Such books are ideal for newborns.
During that all-important tummy-time is ideal for placing these high contrast books where your infant can see them. Or you could look at them together while having a cuddle.
What are the best black and white books for babies?
The options regarding black and white for babies in book form include board books, soft books and sensory books.
Top products for the Australian market include Aussie Baby Animals and Aussie Water Babies, plus more international books such as First Baby Days: Night Night, Hello Baby Animals, Baby Touch: Animals, Tummy Time, Indestructibles: Taste the Fruit, Baby’s Very First Black and White Little Library and the Baby’s Very First Cloth Book series.
How long do babies see in black and white?
Babies can see colours to some degree from birth. The ability of an infant to detect and distinguish colours develops gradually during their first few months of life.
A baby can tell apart some strong colours at around two months. By four months, though, some shades are not yet intense enough for them to make out properly. At around five months, their colour vision is becoming fairly well developed.
Which black and white books will you buy?
Whether you buy black and white soft books for babies or opt for a board book instead, there are lots of benefits to sharing these with your newborn child. There’s really only one way to find out how your little boy or girl will take to these bound black and white prints for babies, though – and that’s by treating them to their first high contrast book.
With extras such as mirrors, crinkly pages, shiny foil and pops of colour, books containing black and white images for babies are a real winner. What’s not to love about enhancing your child’s visual skills, focus, concentration – and fun? Looking at a book together can also be a bonding experience – and can help ward off boredom during tummy time too!
