We have had and awesome summer so far but things are starting to wind down and homeschool for us will be starting soon and we’ll be kicking off our science with a unit on bugs! My goal this year is to really deep dive on my kids interests and really engage with them and make learning fun. At the end of this post I have included some fun printable resources that I have made to go along with our unit like a bug shop (or click the links to access them now!) , a FREE bug scavenger hunt and bug themed fitness cards! 

The Best Insect Books

 My kids absolutely love reading insect books and exploring all the ones that are  jam packed with fun facts about their favorite insects.  I, personally, love to stay away from these creepy crawlies but I do it for my kids, ha!   I have compiled a book list of our favorite books and some of the fun activities we will be incorporating in this unit.  My kids are considered early elementary age but I will have a 4th grader this year and these books still keep his attention!

The Big Book of Bugs  

This might be my Favorite It is full of beautiful illustrations and a fact-filled book!  Your kids will love the giant size of this book and all of the fun bugs that are contained in these pages.  My kids love to pick out their favorites from it and draw them for art. From big insects to tiny insects, this book has a good variety of a flurry of bugs of every shape! We will also collect sticks, leaves, rocks, acorns, flowers and all kinds of items from outside and try to recreate some of the bugs in this book! 

How about some busy ants?

How about some busy ants? Your young kids will love counting the ants in this book,  One Hundred Hungry Ants, and the catchy tune in the book, I Saw An Ant On The Railroad Track. If you have young readers, they can read the silly book, Underpants For Ants. Even my 3rd grader loves to open up this book up and give it a read. 

Before I go further, I should add that I do love Paper Pie books (formerly Usborne) so there will be a fairly good amount of them in this post. They have a wonderful array of non-fiction educational books full of fascinating facts or great ideas for activities for kids. 

Phonics Readers From Paper Pie

Other Phonics Readers by them that are full of tiny creatures that we own and use are Bug In A Rug, Snail Brings The Mail, Bee Makes Tea and Spider in a glider.  Each one has a cute story that will keep your young children engaged and wanting to read more! 

Other readers that we love are below: 

National Geographic Readers Level 1 Spiders 

Eric Carl’s, The Very Busy Spider in level 2 Step Into Reading

Tiny Tales, Shell Quest, Level 3 I Can Read Comics

Tiny Tales, A Feast For Friends, Level 3 I Can Read Comics

Usborne Young Beginners, Bugs 

 The Good and the Beautiful Level 5 Nature Reader, Arthropods and Insects

Step into a spider’s natural world or go on an adventure with a friendly snail! These great books are full of adorable photos that your kids will want to pick up and read! We have also enjoyed a subscription to the National Geographic Kids magazine that is fun way for your older kids to learn about the natural world around them.  They contain all kinds of nature and not just insects. 

How about the life cycle of butterflies? 

The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle will always be a great pick to add to a line up of preschool books! Your little learners will love this interactive book and learn about the life cycle of a butterfly in a fun and great way! 

Senorita Mariposa is a beautiful book that reads in English and Spanish! It tells about the migration of Monarch butterflies with vibrant illustrations. 

More picture books that are a great addition to your library:

​The Bee Tree is a fun book about honey bees with lovely illustrations.  

Give Bees A Chance is a fun engaging book with interesting facts about bees.

​In the Tall Tall Grass, by Denise Fleming good for little entomologists who want to get down and explore the tiny world of bugs in their habitat. 

Bug Hotel is one of my kids favorite books that shows you how to make a bug hotel in your own back yard and walks your kids through how to make the perfect home for each little little creature in your backyard!

Funny Bugs is a new book to our home library that my kids requested and we will be adding to unit this year.  I can already tell by skimming through it that this will likely become my children’s favorite of their insect books! This is great for younger children and older children and will want to send your kids outside on a bug hunt for these unique bugs! It’s a wonderful world of bugs that highlight the uniqueness of each one. 

The last few books I want to share are fun activity books! You can find these on Paper Pie but most are able to be found through amazon as well. 

Magic Painting Bugs and Magic Painting Butterflies 

All you need is a cup of water and a paintbrush and your kids can make beautiful black and white images come to life with lots of color.  I even sit down and paint these myself!

Fingerprint Activity Bugs 

​This book contains fun scenes that your kids can fingerprint on and the draw a fun fingerprint bug to add to the scene! Side, if you already have an ink pad, you can just hand your kids a sheet of paper and do this without a book too! Use a pencil or pen to draw legs and eyes and let those bug creations come to life! 

100 Bugs To Fold and Fly 

My boys love making paper airplanes to fly around.  

Other Activities About Bugs

For our core unit, we will be using The Good And The Beautiful’s Arthropods study.  I love adding extras to our units! There are so many options for insect books. Hopefully this list has given you some ideas.

My kids are huge on being creative and using their imagination so I created a Bug Shop for my young entomologists. They love doing dramatic play and so I wanted to create something that they could play together and pretend. It has everything your kids to open up a pretend small shop including fun bug money! Click on the image below to take you the listing to purchase the bug shop!

I was a former Physical Education teacher and an important thing for me is getting kids up and moving. I created these fun bug movement cards that you can do at home with your kids.  Play some fun music and have them play this little movement game! This is a great way to incorporate physical education into your school day! Click on the image below to take you to the shop to purchase these cards!

Nature Trails and Scavenger Hunts

Create a nature trail and use this FREE bug scavenger hunt below to find all of the little critters living in your own backyard! Your children will be motived to get outside and explore! Who will they find where? A grasshopper in the tall grass? A butterfly sitting on a beautiful flower?

​We love adding music to our lessons, watching youtube videos and doing lots of art!  My kids are currently 8 and under so incorporating lots of play is how we plan our day with the added in core lessons.  

Do you have to include insect books or any of this to your studies to be a successful homeschooler?

Absolutely not! You can easily follow a pre-planned curriculum with your kids and give them a great education. My passion is adding in a ton of fun things for my kids so this is why I share.  It’s purely for encouragement for those who want to dive deeper and add more! These are also wonderful additions to students in the classroom or for children at home looking for something to read or play on a quiet, rainy day.  

God Bless! 
Jenna