Best Crochet Toy Pattern Books: Amigurumi, Baby Toys and More

Crochet is the ideal medium for making soft, cuddly, fun toys for your kids (or grandkids, or siblings) to play with. You can crochet amigurumi toys, baby toys, dolls, doll clothes, teddy bears and more. The following are my picks for the best crochet toy pattern books that are currently available:

1. The Woobles Crochet Amigurumi Pattern Book: Make Gifts for Every Occasion

The Woobles Crochet Amigurumi for Every Occasion by Justine Tiu -- Text © 2022 Justine Tiu, Photography © 2022 Weldon Owen International

The Woobles book is just as cute as can be, but that isn’t even the best part about it. The best part? All the projects are intended for new crocheters, so they are not only adorable — they’re also super easy to make. A big part of what makes them easy is the suggested yarn for crocheting them; it’s called “Easy Peasy Yarn”. The thing that makes it so easy to work with: It is really chunky, and thus it’s totally easy to get a grip and hold onto it. This is a book I’d highly recommend to crochet beginners and also to more experienced crocheters who sometimes want to just chill and relax with an easy, no-brainer project.

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2. Amigurumi, an Adorable Collection: Heroes, Animals and Monsters to Crochet

Amigurumi: An Adorable Collection, a Crochet Pattern Book Published by Leisure Arts

Amigurumi, an Adorable Collection: Heroes, Animals and Monsters to Crochet, published by Leisure Arts

This book is a compilation of 37 different crochet patterns for making a variety of amigurumi-themed projects including stuffed animals, super hero toys, crocheted monsters, animal-themed kids’ scarves, and a set of stacking rings for baby. This book is my top pick for the best value amigurumi pattern book I’ve reviewed as of 8-11-2019. It is an excellent and worthwhile book, with a whole bunch of super cute and appealing patterns included.

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3. Busy Baby Boxes

Busy Baby Boxes Book by Jessica Boyer, Published by Leisure Arts

This affordable booklet is packed with fun patterns for making captivating little finger puppets and adorable activity cubes. I’ve made some of the finger puppets in this book, and they turned out super cute.

The book includes patterns for making 2 different activity cubes. One of them is a barnyard scene at a farm. The activity cube is shaped like a barn, and the finger puppets are all farm animals like cows, chickens and pigs. The other activity cube is an enchanted fairy forest, complete with fairy finger puppets, woodland creatures, and a magic wand for your child.

If you’re looking for creative and clever crochet project ideas that will be the hit of the next baby shower, or that will keep your own little one amused for as long as a baby’s attention span permits, this is exactly the book you should be adding to your pattern stash right now.

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If you’re thinking that’s a really SHORT list of the best crochet toy pattern books, you’re absolutely correct. I was pretty picky about the titles I chose to add to the list. The choices are limited in large part simply because I insist on actually reading the books I recommend, and I try really hard to connect you with books that will genuinely meet your needs — and delight you. I’m not picking books off Amazon at random and recommending them based on their cover art. I’m really scrutinizing the contents — and usually even crocheting one or more projects from the books before I recommend them.

So, yes, it’s a short list, but a carefully vetted one. If you were hoping for a bit more choice in your selection, I invite you to read on to the related resources below — and I hope this information will be helpful to you as you make your purchasing decisions.

Related Resources

Voodoo Maggie’s Adorable Amigurumi Crochet Pattern Book

Voodoo Maggie’s Adorable Amigurumi: Cute and Quirky Crocheted Critters by Erin Clark, Published by Tuttle Publishing

If you’re interested in amigurumi crochet patterns, and you’re an experienced crocheter, this is a book you might be interested in. The book gives you patterns for making little tiny amigurumi animals, as well as cute fantasy creatures like dragons.

This is a good book, but I didn’t include it on the list of best amigurumi crochet pattern books (above) for a couple of important reasons: One is that it doesn’t appear to have been tech edited, and there are some little things here and there in the book that are missing, confusing or conflicting. The other is that gauge information is not included, so you can’t necessarily rely on the yarn amounts to be exactly accurate if your gauge is different than the author’s (which you won’t have any way to know).

But if you can get beyond those problems, I think the book is worth considering — because the projects are really cool ones. Also, there are bunches of wonderful work-in-progress pictures that could really help you understand the process of crocheting amigurumi if you are new to the technique.

Overall, I wouldn’t consider this to be one of the best amigurumi pattern books available, but I DO consider it to be a worthwhile purchase for the people who are well equipped to deal with its less-than-perfect aspects.

Arne and Carlos Favorite Designs:

Arne & Carlos Favorites, published by Trafalgar Square Books. This book features Scandinavian style knitting and crochet patterns for Christmas ornaments, Easter eggs, dolls, doll clothes, adult clothing and accessories and more. Click the photo to shop for this book on Amazon.

Arne & Carlos Favorites, published by Trafalgar Square Books. Among other things, this book includes bunches of fun crochet doll patterns plus clothing patterns for dressing the dolls.

This book doesn’t belong on the list of best crochet toy pattern books for a couple of reasons. The first reason is that the book isn’t just a toy pattern book; it also includes many other types of projects, ranging from crocheted blankets to knitted slippers. The other reason is that the toys in this particular book are all knitted, not crocheted.

But, if you enjoy knitting, and you want to make some new toys, this book is well worth your consideration. There are patterns for making colorful knitted birds; ultra-creative dolls you can customize; doll clothes for the dolls; a Fair Isle knitted teddy bear; adorable toy mice; and more. If you knit for the holidays, this is likely to become a go-to book in your reference library — because it contains bunches of Christmas and holiday-themed patterns, plus numerous patterns for gift-worthy everyday items.

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