Get ready to explore the past...the prehistoric past. During June, @kidlitpicks dug into prehistoric life, dinosaurs, fossils, and those who speak for creatures long since past.

An American Paleontologist named Robert T. Bakker once said, "It's very simple why kids are crazy about dinosaurs -- dinosaurs are nature's Special Effects. They are the only real dragons. Kids love dragons. It's not just being weirdly shaped and being able to eat Buicks. It's that they are real." He is completely correct, children and adults alike are fascinated by the mammoth sized creatures that tower over us in museums. We are always in awe of the creatures that once roamed the Earth 230 MILLION years ago!

A special shout out to Leah from @astoryaday for giving us the idea to celebrate all things prehistoric! And though you might see a few of the same books in this list (can we help it if we all love the same books??), we've added in few extras shared by our featured contributors to help you build out your own list of prehistoric books! Enjoy!

T. Veg: The Story of a Carrot-Crunching Dinosaur, by Smriti Prasadam-Halls and Katherina Manolessou

“Written in rhyme and illustrated in bright colours—neon bright—this book is a romp, a stomp, a roar.” -- Summer from @readingisourthing

The Curious Case of the Missing Mammoth, by ​​Ellie Hattie and Karl James Mountford

“The flaps generally blend in with the rest of the spread so it's extra special to seek them out to see what's underneath." -- Mel from @spiky_penelope

This is one of BookBairn's favourite books to read with visitors. She often invites our friends and family to join her on the 'beautiful chair' and read this one. Its a magical story of how a bare winter tree is transformed through the seasons. But with a difference. Little fingers have to act out certain actions to make the tree change. Tap the pink blossom buds to make them open, wiggle you fingers to make the leaves change colour, shake the book to make the leaves fall off. It's just so clever how it teaches little ones about the seasons, tell a magical story and get them joining in. BookBairn loves these sorts of books where she feels like she is influencing the story. To check out our favourite interactive books you can find them all here.

What's bigger than a digger? Bigger than a dinosaur? A diggersaur of course! BookBairn loves this one! And who can blame her? It's a toddlers ideal combination - diggers and dinosaurs. With bouncing rhythmic rhyming introductions to each diggersaur, brilliant illustrations and opportunities for discussing colours and numbers it truly is a brilliant read! If you fancy winning a copy of this toddler-friendly story check out our original blog post and our social media (competition closes 8.7.17).

We only received this book at the weekend but BookBairn has read it dozens of times and I had to find a space for it on the Favourites Shelf. This is such an adorable story about two children, Ruby and Benji, learning to share their coloured blocks. The timing couldn't be more perfect for little BookBairn who is now entering the phase of toddlerhood where sharing is particularly hard, and of course she now has a little brother to share with! I adore the illustrations in this one too as they are deceptively simple and use primarily only red and blue colours making the children's valued blocks all the more important. But do they manage to compromise and share? And left on a cliffhanger when Guy shows up with his green blocks. Leaving it open for little ones to discuss what they think will happen next. No wonder BookBairn loves it so much - it's great fun!

And a new addition to the Favourites Shelf feature is The Wee Page Turner's favourite. It's not really appropriate to shelve this one as we play with it a lot. Black and white high contrast illustrations from one of my favourite illustrators, the littlest reader in our house is captivated by the creatures. He also loves the mirror! 

*Some of these books were sent to us by publishers for review and others are ones that we have borrowed from the library or purchased ourselves. These are our geniune re-reads so all opinions are our own.

There is an abandoned yellow digger on a local woodland walk near our house. Toddler jackpot right? And being the book-loving mummy that I am I took a very appropriate book along with us.

'Diggersaurs' combines the fascinations of most children under 5: diggers and dinosaurs! Firstly I want to talk about the illustrations in this book because they are just ingenious. Brilliantly blending dinosaur species with construction vehicles, Michael Whaite has created characters that are irresistible. Did you ever notice that crane with their long necks resemble the diplodocus? Or that the jaws on an excavator look like T-Rex's sharp teeth? Each character is such a clever mix of dino and digger and is illustrated in bright and bold colours, making them perfect for discussing colours. When I asked BookBairn which was her favourite she said "I like the yellow and orange best. [The Wee Page Turner] likes green. Mummy what's your best colour?" What a great discussion starter! Each diggersaur is also labelled with a number consecutively from one to twelve. So it's also great for talking about numbers too. One of the other delightful things about the diggersaurs is that they aren't gender specific so they can be both boys and girls which is great because we all know little girls like dinosaurs (and diggers) as much as little boys do!

The background illustrations are equally as fascinating. Each page has two tiny builders - a boy and a girl - who get up to little adventures of their own. It's so clever that the diggersaur is undoubtedly the star of the show but the background details are still worthy of attention. 

The text is written in rhyming couplets over two pages and is full of bounce and rhythm. It is a brilliant story to read aloud! Both Daddy and I love reading it and I think even the digger enjoyed hearing the story too.

This is truly a wonderful book! And perfect for toddlers who love diggers, dinos and a good story (which in my experience is pretty much all children under the age of five!).

*UPDATE* This competition is now closed and the winner has been notified!

***We have a been sent an extra copy of this brilliant book to giveaway. If you would like to win a paperback edition of Diggersaurs, please comment below. (Additional entries will be available so keep an eye out by following us on Twitter, Instagram and on Facebook.) UK residents only please. Competition closes 8.7.17.***

But fortunately reading has resumed! I can only assume it was a phase. Now she wakes up and the first thing she wants to do is read a book. She drags them across the house to find me to read them to her. She makes a huge book mess! Phew!

And who do we have to thank for this return to reading? That blasted Peppa Pig. I'm generally not one for TV character books but I've got to give this one it's dues because it reignited her interest in reading. I've never bought any TV character books because quite honestly I do not like them. I find them boring. The illustrations are straight out of the TV show and the storylines are too. When you've watched them over and over the last thing you want to do is read them over and over. But we have acquired some as part of the Puffin Summer Reading #ByBook project last year and as gifts. BookBairn often chooses them from the library too because she recognises the characters and likes them.

So I don't like them. But I do see their value. And how valuable they have been to me this week. My lovely best friend and mama-extraordinaire from '3's a crowd' put it better than I could:

So yes, all books have their place. Personally if I'm going to read a book over and over again I'd prefer it was one that I enjoyed. But at the end of the day BookBairn chooses what we read and after my recent experience I'm just glad that we are reading. No matter what it is we are reading. Character books have their place on our shelves too.

Our favourites are undoubtedly Peppa Pig, Hey Duggee and Bing. I also like that BookBairn an extend her enjoyment of these stories using apps. The Peppa Pig book we have here has a great app 'Peppa Goes Around the World' is brilliant as the story is read aloud to her and she can make the characters do things before they move on to the next page. Hey Duggee's 'Sandcastle Badge' app is also well used in our house.

Do you have any favourite character books? And how do you feel about them?

*DISCLAIMER We were sent both the Hey Duggee and the Peppa Pig book from the publisher and won the Bing book in an online competition. We have read several others from the library. I purchased the apps myself.

We all know that very famous series of touch and feel books that are a great way to get little ones to explore and read books. But we sometimes want something a little more substantial. And these are great because they are a good non-fiction introduction for little ones. They have simple facts and are laid out in a typical non-fiction style book using photographs rather than illustrations. But they are at an accessible level for toddlers and babies. And they have touch and feel elements thrown in to keep those little hands busy. 

These are certainly some of our favourites but as I say they are by no means an exhaustive list. do you have any recommendations for new baby gifts? Also if anyone is interested in writing a guest post for our feature please get in touch using the contact details at the top of the page.

To read all the guest posts in our Baby's First Books series click here.