Moving book for kids: picture books and a move story of their own

A good moving book for kids shows a child leaving one home and settling into another, with real feelings on both sides. For toddlers, try Frank Asch's Goodbye House or Eric Carle's A House for Hermit Crab. For preschoolers, The Berenstain Bears' Moving Day and Constance W. McGeorge's Boomer's Big Day are gentle, and Judith Viorst's Alexander, Who's Not (Do You Hear Me? I Mean It!) Going to Move is great for a child who is openly furious about it. Read a couple of these well before moving day, and think about making a short book about your own move, with your child in it.

Picture books about moving, by age

These are all real titles that most libraries carry. Ages are guides only.

Book	Author	Good for	What it does well
Goodbye House	Frank Asch	2 to 4	Little Bear walks through the empty house saying goodbye to each room
A House for Hermit Crab	Eric Carle	2 to 5	A crab outgrows his shell, moves into a new one and slowly makes it feel like home
The Berenstain Bears' Moving Day	Stan and Jan Berenstain	3 to 6	The bear family packs up and moves into the tree house, a calm, step-by-step look at moving day
Boomer's Big Day	Constance W. McGeorge	3 to 6	Moving day from the family dog's confused point of view, a gentle way in for kids who love animals
Alexander, Who's Not (Do You Hear Me? I Mean It!) Going to Move	Judith Viorst	4 to 8	Alexander refuses to move far away, says so loudly, and comes around slowly
Ira Says Goodbye	Bernard Waber	4 to 8	Ira's best friend is the one moving, useful if your child is the one left behind
The Moving Book: A Kids' Survival Guide	Gabriel Davis	6 and up	A workbook with checklists and pages to fill in, for older siblings

Two tips from reading moving books with small kids. First, read them more than once. A toddler gets the idea on the fifth reading, not the first. Second, let the book start the conversation instead of a speech: "Hermit Crab was scared of his new shell. Do you think our new house will feel strange at first?"

What child development sources suggest

ZERO TO THREE's handout for families, Helping Your Child Deal With Relocation, makes a point that is easy to forget in the chaos: babies and toddlers experience loss in a move too, missing their old home, friends, caregivers and playgrounds. Its practical suggestions:

• Explain the move before packing starts, in simple, reassuring language, and leave the door open for questions later.
• Describe the steps: the packing, the trip and what the new place will be like.
• Talk about what stays the same and what changes. Same family, same bed and stuffed animals, different room and park.
• Give older toddlers a job. They can hand you things to pack or fill their own box with safe, unbreakable items.
• Keep the comfort items with you. The handout stresses that special objects like a favorite blanket should travel in a bag or box that stays with the family.
• Look after yourself. Young children pick up on parents' stress, so a calmer adult helps the child too.

The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry's Facts for Families on moving adds a few steps that work for preschoolers: show them the new area with maps and photographs, point out something there they will like, let them help design or furnish their room, and help them stay in touch with friends from the old neighborhood. The same page notes that moves are harder when they come with other big changes, which is a good reason to hold off on extras like potty training or a new bed until things settle, if you can.

Make a book about your own move

Store-bought books show a bear or a crab moving. A homemade book shows your child, your boxes and the actual new front door. That makes it far easier for a small child to picture what is coming, which is exactly what the sources above are asking you to do.

You need a phone, a printer and a stapler. Aim for 8 to 10 pages, one short sentence each:

1. This is our home. A photo of your child in front of the current house or building.
2. My favorite places here. Their room, the park, the neighbor's dog.
3. We are moving. "Our family is moving to a new home." Add the reason in a few words if your child is old enough.
4. Packing day. A photo of your child holding a box. "I helped pack my toys."
5. My special bag. The blanket and stuffed animal that ride with the family.
6. The trip. A car, a plane, or the moving truck.
7. Our new home. A photo or a listing picture of the new place, and their new room if you have one.
8. What stays the same. "My family, my bed, my books, our bedtime song."
9. New things to find. A playground, a library, a bakery you looked up nearby.
10. Saying goodbye and hello. A photo with old friends, and a blank page for the first photo in the new house.

For a move, the ordinary pages matter most: their bed, their cup, the view out the window. Put those in. Read it at bedtime in the weeks before the move and keep it in the special bag on moving day. Afterward, the last page becomes a small celebration of the first night.

If you would like it to be a coloring book, you can trace each photo into line art at home; here is how to turn a photo into a coloring page for free. The longer how-to for a whole book is making a coloring book from photos.

Other ways to get a personalized moving book

If you do not have time to make one during a move (fair), there are a few routes. Photo book services let you upload your own pictures and write the text, which is basically the homemade version, printed nicely. Name-personalized storybooks put your child's name into a general story. Custom illustrated books draw your actual family. Colorkin makes that last kind as a coloring storybook: you send photos of your family and pets, and the pages are drafted with AI illustration tools and checked and finished by a person, so your child can color their own move. Any of these, or the stapled version, does the job.

Moves often come bundled with other changes. If there is a new school in the picture, see first day of preschool books, and if a new baby is on the way too, new baby books for siblings. More guides for transitions are under big moments.

Questions parents ask