Best Usborne books for summer: holiday reads, sticker books and travel activities

Summer is the best time of year for kids to enjoy the sunshine, but it also helps to have a few easy, cheerful books ready for quieter times after lunch or just before bedtime. Whether you’re packing for a journey, filling quieter afternoons at home or looking for screen-free ways to keep children happily busy, the right summer books can make the holidays feel easier for everyone. Our summer titles include sticker books, puzzles, crafts, card games and short stories, so it’s simple to match the book to your child’s age, interests and energy level. Adult support still matters, especially with younger children, but these books are designed to make shared holiday time feel relaxed rather than pressured.

Summer books for little ones who love stickers and spotting things

For younger children, summer books work especially well when they invite plenty of looking, choosing and chatting. Little First Stickers Holiday is ideal for nursery-aged children who enjoy busy scenes and simple sticker play. Kids are invited to help animal characters pack for adventures and travel to places from the seaside to the mountains, which gives parents and carers lots to talk about together while children place the stickers. It’s the sort of book that feels just right for the start of the holidays, when children are excited about trips, days out and all the things they might see along the way.

Another lovely choice is Little Sticker Dolly Dressing Summer Fun, which takes familiar summer moments such as building sandcastles, walking in the woods and eating ice creams, and turns them into a playful dressing-up activity. It includes over 200 stickers, 10 scenes to complete and an on-the-go format, making it especially handy for travel bags and café stops. For children who like imaginative play as much as stickers, this is an easy book to reach for again and again.

Little Children’s Holiday Activity Book is a good step up for children who want a bit more variety in one place. This book is packed with a colourful mix of puzzles, spotting activities, drawing and colouring pages. That makes it useful for families who want one compact book to dip into during the day rather than several separate activities spread across the house.

Best summer activity books for creative afternoons

Some summer days call for quieter, table-based activities, especially after a busy morning out. Summer Fun is a strong choice here, with easy ideas to draw, paint and craft alongside simple picture puzzles. It’s designed to help entertain young children during the holidays while also supporting hand-eye coordination and concentration, using everyday materials for the craft ideas. This summer themed activity book is particularly useful when you want an activity that feels seasonal and cheerful without needing lots of preparation.

This kind of book can be especially helpful for families with mixed summer routines. On sunny days, children can try a quick activity before heading outside; on rainy days, it can become the backbone of an afternoon indoors. Because the projects are simple, it also lends itself well to gentle adult involvement rather than lots of set-up or supervision.

Travel books and games to pack for journeys

Journeys are often where the best summer activity books earn their place. Travel Snap is a boxed set of 52 illustrated cards for the classic family game of snap and other matching games. The travel-themed images include trains, planes, cars and boats, and the game helps children practise turn-taking, rules and winning and losing. For families heading off by car, train or plane, it is a compact option that feels properly reusable rather than disposable.

For children who enjoy puzzle books, Lots of Summer Holiday Puzzles is another strong pack-along option. It’s full of mazes, spot-the-differences, wordsearches and games, and is a great companion for long journeys during the summer holidays. This broad mix is useful because children can move between different puzzle styles depending on their mood and energy.

Word Puzzles for the Summer also deserves a place in a holiday bag, especially for children who prefer words, codes and riddles to drawing or stickers. It includes word searches, anagrams, secret messages and riddles, with summer-themed pages designed for road trips, airports and quiet afternoons at home. For confident puzzlers, it is the kind of book that can make waiting time feel much shorter.

Summer story books for winding down

Not every summer book needs to be about keeping children busy. Sometimes the best holiday read is one that helps everyone slow down. Stories for Summer brings together twenty new summertime stories with adventure, humour and a touch of magic. This collection is especially suited to developing and newly confident readers, thanks to its lively illustrations, descriptive language and pacy storytelling.

This makes it a lovely choice for quieter moments in the day: a chapter after swimming, a story before bed, or a few pages read aloud in the shade. Because it is a collection, it also works well for families who want the satisfaction of finishing something in one sitting without needing to commit to a longer novel. For children building reading confidence over the holidays, that can be a very welcome balance.

How to choose the right summer book for your child

For travel, card games and compact puzzle books tend to work best, so Travel Snap, Lots of Summer Holiday Puzzles and Word Puzzles for the Summer are particularly useful. For younger children at home or on days out, sticker and activity books such as Little First Stickers Holiday, Little Sticker Dolly Dressing Summer Fun, Summer Fun and Little Children’s Holiday Activity Book offer plenty of quick wins. And for bedtime reading, Stories for Summer gives you something more cosy and read-aloud-friendly.

The best summer books are rarely the flashiest ones. They are the books children genuinely return to: the one that comes out in the back seat, the one that helps fill an unexpected rainy hour, or the one that becomes part of their bedtime routine for a week or two in August. With a small stack of well-chosen Usborne titles, it becomes much easier to keep summer days feeling bright, busy and manageable.

Frequently asked questions about summer books

What makes a good summer book for children?
A good summer book fits easily into holiday life. That might mean stickers for a café table, puzzles for a journey, simple crafts for home, or short stories for bedtime. The most useful titles are the ones that are easy to pick up and enjoy in short bursts.

Which summer books are best for travel?
Compact, repeatable activities tend to work best on the move. Travel Snap, Lots of Summer Holiday Puzzles and Word Puzzles for the Summer are especially well suited to journeys because they are designed for quick, portable entertainment.

Are summer activity books still useful if children are reading independently?
Yes. Even confident readers often enjoy a mix of formats during the holidays. Story collections such as Stories for Summer can sit happily alongside puzzle and activity books, giving children different ways to relax, think and play.

Find your family’s summer favourites

Whether your child loves stickers, puzzles, craft activities, card games or short stories, these Usborne summer books can help make the holidays feel a little easier and a lot more enjoyable. Explore the titles above and choose one or two that suit your plans, so you have something ready for journeys, rainy afternoons and those quieter moments that summer brings.