Ultimate List: 30 Best Bug Books for Kids | Bug Book Activities
This book list is filled with favorite bug and insect books for kids. If you have a bug-obsessed toddler, a classroom of curious preschoolers, or you’re a new parent raising an environmental steward, I thought of you. I searched for quality children’s books for our youngest book and bug lovers.
Bug Board Books
Hello, Garden Bugs
By Duopress Labs & Julissa Mora
Book Extension Activity
- For Infants/Toddlers:Â Encourage the baby or toddler to say “hello” to the bugs on each page.
- For Preschoolers:Â Draw on black construction paper with a white crayon.
The Amicus Book of Bugs
By Isobel Lundie
Book Extension Activity
- For Infants/Toddlers: Contact paper collage with fabric (inspired by the collage-style illustrations).
- For Preschoolers: Contact paper collage with fabric (inspired by the collage-style illustrations).
City Bugs
By Antonia Banyard
Book Extension Activity
- For Infants/Toddlers: Talk about emotions and how children in the book are feeling.
- For Preschoolers: Go on a walk and take photographs of bugs.
Yoga Bug: Simple Poses for Little Ones
By Sarah Jane Hinder
Book Extension Activity
- For Infants/Toddlers: Try poses from the book.
- For Preschoolers: Try poses from the book.
The Ants Go Marching!
By Dan Crisp
Book Extension Activity
- For Infants/Toddlers: Act out the moves from the song.
- For Preschoolers: Go on a nature “march” outdoors.
The Very Busy Spider
By Eric Carle
Book Extension Activity
- For Infants/Toddlers: A book basket with toy animals for the characters in the book.
- For Preschoolers: Yarn and glue collages.
Backyard Bugs (Hello, World!)
By Jill McDonald
Book Extension Activity
- For Infants/Toddlers:Â Explore the book with a magnifying glass.
- For Preschoolers:Â Take a magnifying glass outside and look for bugs.
Find more ideas: Ultimate List: 110 Backyard Activities for Kids
Smithsonian Kids Butterflies and Moths
By Scarlett Wing
Book Extension Activity
- For Infants/Toddlers: Explore the touch + feel spots on the pages.
- For Preschoolers: Go on a texture scavenger hunt.
Happy Bug Day (Colors with Andy Warhol)
By Mudpuppy & Andy Warhol
Book Extension Activity
- For Infants/Toddlers: Match the colors to objects in the room as you read.
- For Preschoolers: Draw with ink pens and the paint over with watercolor.
Hello Honeybees
By Hannah Rogge & Emily Dove
Book Extension Activity
- For Infants/Toddlers: Explore how to make buzzing noises.
- For Preschoolers: Build honeycombs out of blocks.
30 Play-Based Bee Activities
Baby Bug
By Wednesday Kirwan
Book Extension Activity
- For Infants/Toddlers: Talk about how the story matches your baby or toddler’s life.
- For Preschoolers: Add this book to a classroom dramatic play center and connect the story to caring for baby dolls.
The Itsy Bitsy Spider (Indestructibles Book)
By Maddie Frost
Book Extension Activity
- For Infants/Toddlers: Itsy Bitsy Spider fingerplay
- For Preschoolers: Act out the rhyme with toy spiders.
The Very Lonely Firefly
By Eric Carle
Book Extension Activity
- For Infants/Toddlers:Â Explore lights + shadows using electric tea lights. For younger infants, you can seal the lights in a clear plastic jar.
- For Preschoolers:Â Play with bug toys on a light table or on rope lights.
The Grouchy Ladybug
By Eric Carle
Book Extension Activity
- For Infants/Toddlers: Talk about times that you and your baby/toddler have felt grouchy.
- For Preschoolers: Talk about things we can do when we feel grouchy.
Never Touch the Bugs!
By Rosie Greening & Stuart Lynch
Book Extension Activity
- For Infants/Toddlers: Explore the silicone touch + feel spots on each page.
- For Preschoolers: Explore different ways to count down from 5 – on our hands, in the song 5 Little Ducks, when we eat snacks.
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Will Ladybug Hug?
By Hilary Leung
Book Extension Activity
- For Infants/Toddlers: Talk about why it is okay to say “no” and practice shaking your head “no!”
- For Preschoolers: Talk about asking before we touch or hug someone else. Share how it is okay to not want a hug.
What Did Busy Bee See?
By Oakley Graham & Lemon Ribbon
Book Extension Activity
- For Infants/Toddlers: Explore the textures and try tracing the book.
- For Preschoolers: Make a winding line on the floor with masking tape and follow it.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
By Eric Carle
Book Extension Activity
- For Infants/Toddlers: Explore play food while reading the book.
- For Preschoolers: Cut out pictures of food from a magazine and pretend to feed a caterpillar.
Some Bugs
By Angela Diterlizzi & Brendan Wenzel
Book Extension Activity
- For Infants/Toddlers: Emphasize the rhyming throughout the book.
- For Preschoolers: Talk about different bug homes and then go on a bug-themed nature walk.
Hello, Bugs!
By Smriti Prasadam & Emily Bolam
Book Extension Activity
- For Infants/Toddlers: Explore the light and reflection on the metallic parts of the book.
- For Preschoolers: Make collages with metallic gift wrap and colorful cellophane.
Never Touch a Spider!
By Make Believe Ideas Ltd., Rosie Greening, & Stuart Lynch
Book Extension Activity
- For Infants/Toddlers:Â Investigate the textures of the pages and connect them to the story.
- For Preschoolers:Â Hide toy spiders around the room. Carefully catch them in jars and practice setting them free.
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Bug Books
The Thing about Bees: A Love Letter
By Shabazz Larkin
Book Extension Activity
- For Infants/Toddlers:Â Tape a toy bee into a muffin tin or on the table. Your child can “save” the bee by peeling the tape.
- For Preschoolers:Â Fill a pie pan with marbles and a shallow layer of water. Bees can safely land on the marbles for a drink.
Bugs! Bugs! Bugs!
By Bob Barner
Book Extension Activity
- For Infants/Toddlers: Count the bug legs aloud as you read.
- For Preschoolers: Make a Bug-O-Meter chart like the one from the book, using bugs from your backyard.
Bugs on the Rug
By Johnette Downing
Book Extension Activity
- For Infants/Toddlers: Read the book with a bug puppet and act out the bug movements.
- For Preschoolers: Use puppets or toy bugs to act out the movements in the book.
Caterpillar to Butterfly
By National Kids
Book Extension Activity
- For Infants/Toddlers: Review the stages from the book—first a caterpillar, second a cocoon, third a butterfly.
- For Preschoolers: Roll up in blanket cocoons.
In the Tall, Tall Grass
By Denise Fleming
Book Extension Activity
- For Infants/Toddlers: Read the book outdoors and explore how grass feels.
- For Preschoolers: Walk barefoot in the grass.
Firefly Home
By Jane Clarke & Britta Teckentrup
Book Extension Activity
- For Infants/Toddlers: Dim the lighting in the room and shine a flashlight at the wall. Talk about what you observe.
- For Preschoolers: Turn the lights off and explore with flashlights.
Pattern Bugs
By Trudy Harris & Anne Canevari Green
Book Extension Activity
- For Infants/Toddlers: Match patterns in the book to patterns in the room.
- For Preschoolers: String beads and talk about making patterns.
Mrs. Peanuckle’s Bug Alphabet
By Mrs. Peanuckle & Jessie Ford
Book Extension Activity
- For Infants/Toddlers: Point out letters in the book that are also letters in your child’s name.
- For Preschoolers: Use the bug facts in the book to inspire a short story. Ask your preschooler to help add to the story.
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Little Kids First Big Book of Bugs
By Catherine Hughes
Book Extension Activity
- For Infants/Toddlers:Â Talk about the many colors of bugs while looking at photographs.
- For Preschoolers:Â Learn the different things that bugs eat. Search the backyard, park, or local trail looking for bug foods.
The Importance of Teaching About Insects + Bugs
We want a world where children value spiders, rescue moths, and wonder at lighting bugs. What starts with gently holding earthworms grows into a lifelong passion for saving bees.
Honestly, I can’t put it better than Shabazz Larkin, the author of The Thing About Bees: A Love Letter, has already done it in his book.
“Without those little buzzers, the world wouldn’t know what to do.”
Shabazz Larkin
What is BookShop.org?
Most of the books on this list are linked to BookShop.org. BookShop.org is an online bookstore that supports independent, local bookstores. They provide an ethical alternative to purchasing books on amazon (I said what I said).
Check out your local library, garage sales (online or in-person), and secondhand stores to complete the nature section of your children’s bookshelf.
Thirty insect books later, we finally made it to the end of the list. I hope you found some new books worth reading to your baby, toddler, or preschooler.
If you have time, I’d love to know what some of your favorite bug-related activities are for kids. Comment below and let’s spark some inspiration.
