Bryn Savage

Wimmelbücher are picture books where the child looks for different things in a large picture (like Where’s Waldo) and they are extremely popular in Germany. The best Wimmelbücher to facilitate language learning include text that help give the child additional German language input.

Here are some top Wimmelbücher series: 

1. Sachen Suchen is a great, classic series and includes a brief text for each image. The text describes the image, suggests things to find, and shows the names and genders of the objects the child is supposed to find. Luckily, this series is very available on both Amazon.com and the secondhand market. When my son was 1-2, we got a huge amount of use out of these titles: Kindergarten, Bauernhof, Meine Fahrzeuge, Frohe Weihnachten.

1. The Jahreszeiten (Seasons) Wimmelbücher by Rotraut Susanne Berner are fun and whimsical. The books have a large format, which is very immersive. The stories follow the inhabitants of a small town through the year and also include text in the back of the book that you can use as a jumping off point. These books have also been translated into English, so be careful to note which language you are purchasing. We especially like the Winter Wimmelbuch.

1. The “Komm, wir…” series by Constanze von Kitzing is great for ages 2-5. It follows a diverse preschool class on their adventures. It’s nice because the children are all treated as individuals and reappear in all the books. Over time you get a sense of their personalities. However it does not have the same basic information such as the names and genders of different objects, which Sachen Suchen provides. The first three titles in the series are Komm, wir zeigen dir unsere Kita, Komm, wir zeigen dir unseren Wald, Komm, wir zeigen dir unseren Bauernhof. 

1. The Mimi’s Kunterbunte Welt series portrays diversity in multiple dimensions (physical ability, race, religion, sexual orientation, etc.) Unfortunately it does not include text, making it harder for less confident German speakers to support kids’ language acquisition. Publisher page.