Books about bugs for preschoolers
Preschool Books About Insects
Pick a bug any bug and most like you’ll have an eager preschooler ready with questions and observations. Let’s give those little creatures some love. We are exploring preschool books about insects today.
According to National Geographic, “insects have three pairs of jointed legs, segmented bodies, an exoskeleton, one pair of antennae, and (usually) one or two pairs of wings.”
First, let’s say that all true bugs are insects, but not all insects are true bugs. Some of these books include bugs that are not insects.
All About Insects Books for Preschoolers
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A Good Place by Lucy Cousins follows some insects around as they try to find a good home. Guess where that good place is? Yes, a garden.
Beetle Bop by Denise Fleming is a rhythmic read featuring all sorts of beetles from small to big and chewing and sawing beetles.
I was absolutely fascinated reading 13 Ways to Eat a Fly by Sue Heavenrich. Learn about all the different predators that eat flies and how they eat them as you can down from thirteen. A fascinating pick for older preschoolers.
A must series for insects is Elise Gravel’s The Disgusting Critters Series. It’s amazing. Here we have Head Lice. (I bet you just scratched your head.) Fascinating, funny, and informative. You can also check out The Cockroach, The Mosquito, or The Fly.
Backyard Books is also a great introductory science series for preschoolers. Try Are You a Beetle? by Judy Allen. The text has students imagine they are a certain animal and describes what the life of that animal entails. There is also Are You an Ant?, Are You a Grasshopper?, Are You a Dragonfly?, and many more.
My Awesome Summer by P. Mantis by Paul Meisel is a cute story about a summer in the life of a praying mantis told from the perspective of the creature. This one works well for older preschoolers.
Bug Hotel by Usborne is a fun lift-the-flap book full of facts and discoveries.
You can even learn how to make a home for your favorite insects.
I’ll give you three clues and you tell me the insect in Heads and Tails Insects by John Canty. A great pick if you are looking for an interactive read-aloud.
Get ready to be an insect detective from finding where insects live to how they make their homes. Check out Insect Detective by Steve Voake. A good pick for older preschoolers.
Nature Heroes Bella Loves Bugsby Jess French is a bit text-heavy for preschoolers, but the text is very conversational and engaging. Learn about social insects, types of bees, the butterfly life cycle and so much more.
Fly! by Karl Newsom Edwards is a quick and funny read about a fly who is trying to figure out how to move. Should it wiggle like a worm? Should it roll like a roly-poly? Hmmm…how does a fly move?
The Fly by Petr Horáček would pair nicely with Fly! mentioned above. This one is also funny. It’s about a fly trying to figure out why no one wants it around.
Home about a poem a day with Cricket in the Thicket: Poems About Bugs by Carol Murray. Learn fun facts about different insects in each poem. Did you know that cicadas spend up to 17 years underground growing into an adult? Wowzers!
Books About Bees
There are some amazing books about bees from how their hives work to how to relocate a whole hive. I have a whole list for you.—> Books About Bees
Butterfly Books for Preschoolers
Another insect that deserves its own book list is the butterfly.—> Books About Butterflies
Eric Carle Insect Books
Eric Carle has many books featuring insects. Here are a few and activities to go with them.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar (activities included)
The Lonely Firefly
The Grouchy Ladybug (activities included)
The Very Quiet Cricket
The Very Clumsy Click Beetle
Books About People Who Love Insects or Bugs
The Bug Girl: A True Story by Sophia Spencer is the story of a girl who was teased for loving bugs.
But, a bug-loving community came around to support her. Be you!
Evelyn the Adventurous Entomologist: The True Story of a World-Traveling Bug Hunter by Christine Evans is the story of a girl who loved bugs in a time when girls weren’t supposed to be into bugs or work. But, she turned her passion into a career.
Printable Book List of Preschool Books About Insects
Grab a printable list of the books shared above to take to the library or add to your lesson plans.
Enjoy reading about all the insects with your preschoolers.
19 Books About Bugs for Kids
Spring isn’t quite here but it’s never the wrong time of year to read and learn about bugs. Here are some of our favorite books about bugs.
Bugs Bugs Bugs! by Bob Barner is a good book for little ones interested in bugs, but not ready for a full nonfiction science book. The book gave interesting facts about the various bugs introduced. But, the coolest part of the book is the page with the life-size illustrations of all the bugs.
The illustrations are bright and fun and the length is perfect for toddlers and young preschoolers.
An Ant’s Day Off by Bonny Becker is an interesting tale about an ant who has lived his whole life never seeing the sky or anything beyond the tunnels he works. Until one day he decides to take the day off. The text was a little long for my son who kept flip flopping on my bed. But he didn’t want me to close the book either. The story was solid, though. My favorite part was when he tried to return to his tunnel and the guard he expected to give him heck? Was supportive and shared that he too has taken a day off.
Ace Lacewing: Bug Detective by David Bierdrzycki is such a fun read. I started it thinking it would go over my son’s head but he sat listening to it the whole time. The mystery begins with a missing Queen bee and will have you guessing who is behind her disappearance as Ace tries to solve it. There was a lot of humor that was lost on my then 2-year-old.
But the fun Dick Tracy like illustrations kept him happy while I snickered at the jokes he missed. Very fun read for kids that aren’t yet ready for a chapter book but outgrowing pictures ones.
Percival the Plain Little Caterpillar by Helen Brawley is one of my son’s favorite books right now, due to the fact that there are shiny and shimmery pictures throughout! The story does leave something to be desired. The message seems to be that being plain is bad and the only fix for poor Percival is when he turns into a beautiful butterfly! When reading this to my class I would often interject with questions to my students about what they thought was cool about Percival, and that combated the undesirable message that you have to be beautiful to be worthy.
Bob and Otto by Robert O. Bruel is a lovely story about 2 friends who must part ways, in this case, because one is a caterpillar who needs to build a chrysalis and the other an earthworm who needs to dig deep into the ground.
What I like about this book is that it goes on to explain that the earthworm’s digging is vital for the trees to grow so that the caterpillar can eat the leaves and turn into a butterfly. I like the lesson about how we all play a part!
The Crunching Munching Caterpillar by Sheridan Cain is another story about a caterpillar who is not happy about his lot in life. There is a fair bit of language that some parents would object to. This caterpillar hears often that he is too fat to fly. So that poses a few challenges to parents like myself who are trying to instill healthy body images as well as using respectful words with others in our children. I have dealt with this book in two ways. First by saying that the caterpillar is getting fat. But that’s a good thing for him. That he will be able to sleep for a long time in his chrysalis and needs that fat to live. Also, I have simply replaced fat with big, a word that is much less ugly to many people’s ears.
The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle is more than a cute book about a crabby bug.
The Ladybug is looking for a fight. Each hour she finds a bigger and bigger animal to fight with until a whale slaps her unintentionally! I loved using this book to teach telling time, as there is a picture of an analog clock on each page. I would use a play clock and as I read each page ask one child to come and set our classroom clock. Also, don’t be put off by the fact that the ladybug tries to pick fights. No animal takes her up on her offer. You can spin that into a great lesson about not giving into people who are trying to pick fights.
The Very Busy Spider was a favorite of my son’s from the get-go. We have the board book edition and what I love about it, is that the spider web in it is raised and offers a sensory element to reading the story. This is a story of hard work, persistence, and also helps reinforce animal sounds. Perfect for toddlers!
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle is a classic, that most preschool teachers like myself can recite from memory.
It really is a fantastic book. Not only does it explain the life cycle of a caterpillar/butterfly. But it is also useful for a lesson about the day of the week and healthy eating! It was a childhood favorite of mine and if the fact that he fell asleep holding his “Pillar” is any indication. It is already one of my son’s favorites too!
The Very Lonely Firefly by Eric Carle is one of my son’s favorite books to read before bed. Not so much because of the story but because the board book version has flashing lights at the end! The story is all about a firefly looking for another firefly but mistaking all different light for a friend. Toddlers love this book because it gives them a chance to be bossy and say “No that’s a flashlight” to the firefly. The text is the right length for little guys but not boring for older kids. I need to mention the little lights are really quite magical in a dark bedroom. Especially if you are in a place that doesn’t have fireflies!
The Very Quiet Cricket by Eric Carle is another favorite the story is all about a little cricket who is trying and trying to chirp like the others to talk to all the bugs talking to him but he can’t! Whenever I read it to children ( and it was a classroom favorite too) I would wiggle my shoulders like I was trying to rub my wings together just like the cricket.
Kids latched on to that and I loved seeing them so engaged by the repetitive but never boring book. I thought that seeing 12 little 3-year-olds wiggling was precious but one little 3-year-old is pretty cute doing it too! Of course, there is a “surprise” at the end that toddlers and preschoolers alike will love.
Diary of a Spider by Doreen Cronin is a very clever book with some pretty funny bits of humor. Older preschoolers will love it. The overall theme is that spiders aren’t all nasty and that they have fears too. What a great lesson for kids that are at the age where they are not as eager to share their fears because they don’t want to look weak or unable to handle things themselves.
Beetle Bop by Denise Fleming is a beautifully illustrated book with a melodic rhyming text and fantastic descriptive words. Color-saturated pages feature images from a bug’s prespective. So feet, birds, and lizards all seem huge to the reader. They start to see what it might be like to be so small! It was very reminiscent of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids My son loved this book and so did I!
From Caterpillar to Butterfly by Deborah Heligiman is part of my favorite nonfiction for kids series “Let’s Read and Find Out Science”.
I always grab these books at garage sales and thrift stores. In this edition, you follow a classroom of students observing a caterpillar as it metamorphosis into a butterfly. A classic spring activity for preschool age children to discover and learn about life cycles. Also a perfect match for your own Insect Lore Live Butterfly Garden which I highly recommend and will be doing this year with my son. Reading nonfiction with your preschoolers is important as it teaches them seamlessly that writing and reading is not just for stories but for information too.
Miss Spider’s Abc Book by David Kirk has the most vivid and beautiful illustrations. The text is simple and flows well. However, the value is in the illustrations. They cover all sorts of bugs and are so bright that they will appeal to your child!
Beetle McGrady Eats Bugs! by Megan McDonald isn’t really too much about bugs, it’s really about overcoming fears. Beetle McGrady wants to be a fearless pioneer and she sets out to prove that by eating an ant.
She doesn’t quite reach her goal, at least not right away. I liked how Beetle was disappointed in herself and instead of continuing to sulk when an opportunity to try again arose, she took it.
Two Bad Ants by Chris Van Allsburg is a very interesting story of two ants who decide not to return to the colony and hang out in a sugar bowl eating instead. Of course, nothing is as it seems and they have quite an adventure trying to avoid all the dangers of a kitchen. Only realizing in the end that being a part of a colony isn’t so bad! This is a cute book for preschoolers. They will love trying to guess what each new adventure the ants face really are… They include a toaster, hot coffee, and an electrical outlet.
Buzz by Eileen Spinelli is a really sweet tale about a little bee who loves everything about being a bee, especially flying! When she finds out that bees should actually not be able to fly? She lost the confidence in herself and her favorite thing about being a bee.
Luckily that is not where this adorable tale ends and your children will love it. My son came running into the kitchen where I was reading this to my daughter who screamed at me until I let her hold the book so she could touch the adorable little bee.
I Love Bugs!by Phileomon Sturges is a rare find. Though listed as fiction but I consider it as nonfiction. But it is really a great factual book about bugs for older toddlers/young preschoolers. It is really hard to find simple, short books that include facts and this one is perfect. It doesn’t go into the life cycles of butterflies or how lightning bugs light up. But it does use descriptive words with bright and charming illustrations. Great for the under 3 crowd, and useful for older kids too!
What are your favorite books about bugs?
For more quick tips on helping your child learn to read check out my book; Raising A Rock-Star Reader. Get loads of fun ideas for families, book lists, and advice for parents.
Books about insects for children
- CHILDREN'S KRAKOW
- ONE CHILDREN'S DAY IN KRAKOW
- READING TRACKER
- TRAVEL
July 17, 2020
Every parent has a thousand questions to answer about the world around them. This fate did not escape our family, so every day we plunge into the world of insects, mosquitoes, beetles and other inhabitants of fields, meadows and forests. nine0013
How does a butterfly work and how do different species differ from each other, what does a honeycomb look like, where does an ant live and what do insects eat? The answers to these and hundreds of other questions about insects can be found in the encyclopedias and books in this collection.
Stefan Kasta.
My book of butterflies
The book tells how a butterfly works and how different species differ from each other. It describes more than thirty species of fluttering beauties, thanks to which the book can be used as a guide to butterflies. nine0013
Reichenstetter Friederun. Enas-Book. Informative stories.
This is my favorite series and started our passion for insects. Colorful educational stories tell about the inhabitants of the meadows, bees and ants. Excellent illustrations and a fascinating story about little creatures:
• Where the ant lives.
• Ladybug and other inhabitants of the meadow.
• How a bee lives.
Irina Gurina. How does a butterfly appear? nine0026
A thin book about miraculous transformations from chrysalis to butterfly.
Marlie Delae.
Marusya on vacation: At the dacha.
Stories about the girl Marusa on vacation in the countryside. The narrative of the book is fascinating about what insects live in the forest, and how important it is to protect nature. nine0029 Light and simple text, read in one breath. Nice pictures, pages in a strong thick cover.
In this book, our beloved Marusya goes to her friend Anya's dacha. It turns out that Anya's dad is an entomologist, he studies insects. Together with Marusya and Anya, the reader will learn a lot of interesting things about insects, examine bugs under a microscope and through a magnifying glass, and visit the festival of insects.
- nine0004
Anne Moeller: Nests, holes and pots. How insects take care of their offspring
We all know very well what anthills and honeycombs look like.
But what kind of houses do other insects build for their babies?
A potter's wasp makes real clay pots, a dung beetle rolls sheep dung into balls, and a weevil rolls leaves into a cigar-like tube. About how beautiful and reasonable the "architecture" of these dwellings, tells the book of Anna Möller. nine0013
Mike Unwin. Who lives in our country house. Insects
On the pages of this book the reader will have to guess who is hiding in the picture under stones, leaves or underground. Following the "riddle" is the answer and interesting facts about the insect. nine0029
Jenkins Page.
About tails, noses and ears. Interesting facts about animals
Wonderful book, 32 pages. The first spread depicts noses / ears / eyes / paws with the question of why this part of the body is needed and to whom does it belong? The next spread shows an image of the animals to which the body parts belong. nine0029 An exciting reading game, the whole family guesses the animals and looks at the pictures. Insects include spiders, crickets and mosquitoes.
Angela Weinhold. Who are insects.
This encyclopedia contains many interesting facts from the life of insects: who are insects, how they see, hear and touch what they eat, how they are born and live.
The information is presented easily, captivatingly and very colorfully. And, of course, a lot of opening windows is a joy for any child. nine0029
Dolphin Urvua: My little discoveries.
Workbook
The book tells about the world around us: plants, insects, animals, continents and the Cosmos. It contains more than 50 exciting games and tasks. The child gets acquainted with nature, develops mindfulness, makes crafts and draws. nine0013
Dianna Aston. The beetle is always careful
This book will introduce the little reader to beetles! They live everywhere: underground and on its surface, in water and in the air. But meeting them is not so easy: the beetles are careful. nine0013
In this book, you can look at beetles from different parts of the world and find out how they are born, how they are arranged, how they move and what they eat. Each spread contains interesting facts and beautiful illustrations.
Dianna Aston. Butterfly is not in a hurry
In this book, the child will get acquainted with the most beautiful insects on our planet - butterflies. It is worth noting the beautiful illustrations of the book and the interesting presentation of facts about the life of butterflies. nine0029
Studying insects with my child, finding new books and encyclopedias on the topic, examining bugs in the grass and hunting for butterflies - for me this is an easy way to be with my child, spend time together and enjoy communication. nine0013
Reading books becomes the easiest step to quality communication.
The child sits nearby, listening to his mother's voice, which sounds only for him.
He feels that he is significant and important to the parent. And in the family there is a place for him where he is heard and seen, with his interests and questions to the world. And this feeling of importance helps the baby to spread its wings and ask even more questions about life, find the strength to explore itself and the space around. nine0013
Read with your children and explore the world around you. Let the summer bring you warm joint memories, the energy of learning and creativity together with your child.
7 Best Books for Insect Lovers
We have already told you what to buy for your little insect lover on AliExpress. But a bee costume and a beetle eraser are, of course, fun, but what if the kid is more serious and wants to explore the world of insects, and not play it? There are many useful books and encyclopedias for this. And today we have collected the best of them for you. nine0013
The most visual, interesting, bright and colorful books for those who love insects in our collection together with Real Insects & Ko.
And we'll start with the magazines " REAL INSECTS &KO ".
This is a real find for those who want to learn as much as possible about the world of bugs, spiders and other insects.
Each magazine contains a lot of interesting facts with detailed descriptions of what this or that insect looks like, where it lives, what it eats, who its enemies and friends are, etc.
Each magazine comes with a real insect in a protective transparent capsule. So, you can start building your amazing collection!
"Insects and other small animals"
Very bright and colorful encyclopedia about insects of all possible types. The book has three large sections: "Insects", "Spiders" and "Butterflies". Each section has chapters on a specific topic. Where spiders live, how butterflies learned to disguise themselves, which of the insects jumps the farthest, etc.
The illustrations accurately convey the structure and characteristics of insects, and interesting facts supplement children's knowledge of entomology. nine0013
Big book about insects and more
A book for little insect lovers. There is much less information here, but there are a whole bunch of bright pictures. Various tasks are waiting for children - find all the bugs in the picture, count the butterflies, etc. Many small details allow parents and children to return to looking at the book with pleasure. This is almost Wimmelbuch, but still with useful facts!
"The rarest, most beautiful and amazing insects in the world"
Another detailed encyclopedia about the life of insects with interesting and rare facts. With this book, the child will be able to learn about record holders in the world of insects, study their structure with the help of illustrations and learn a lot of information about different species. Here, whole spreads are devoted to one insect, for example, a morpho butterfly or a gray long-horned barbel.
Museum of Living Insects
Stunningly beautiful book with watercolors by Anne de Angelis. Do not expect realism from the drawings - enjoy them, they are beautiful, but you won’t be able to see the structure of the beetle with the help of them. There are chapters on winged and wingless insects, poisonous and good, huge and small, in general, all sorts. With this book, the child will learn a lot of new things and will definitely want to learn even more about insects. nine0013
Insects in 30 Seconds
This book is for preschool children. Cute pictures and interesting tasks will interest kids. We will learn a little about butterflies and, of course, draw them. We read about camouflage and try to find all the bugs in the picture. 30 articles on various insects will allow the child to get acquainted with this wonderful world, but not get tired of it. The book is written in easy and understandable language for children.
“Beautiful and dangerous.
