The Very Hungry Caterpillar Archives -Imaginations Running Wild-

Here are a dozen great bug books for your preschooler to enjoy! Preschoolers love bugs and exploring outside. Feed their natural curiosity with these stories about butterflies, ladybugs, ants, bees, caterpillars, dragonflies, lightning bugs, and other insects. There are so many cute bug stories available, that I made additional booklists for LADYBUGS and BUTTERFLIES! At the end of this post are some fun bug crafts that you can make at home 🙂

12 Bug Books

1. Ten Little Ladybugs by Melanie Green —

When my son was 3 years old, this was one of his favorite books! He still loves ladybugs 🙂 This book hits all of a preschooler’s requirements for an entertaining read–it has a rhyming story, bright pictures, and stuff to touch! The story starts with 10 ladybugs, but one by one, they wander off. Read this and find out where they are all going.

2. Leo the Lightning Bug by Eric Drachman —

This story about a little firefly named Leo who is having a hard time getting his “light” to come on. He practices and practices, only to be ridiculed by his friends. However, Leo is determined and sets out to practice again. A a storm comes and lightning strikes across the sky. Leo mistakenly thinks that he made the light!

3 A Good Place by Lucy Cousins —

Four bug friends–a bee, a ladybug, a beetle, and a dragonfly–are looking for a good place to live. Each bug has different requirements for their home. The bee wants flowers, the ladybug wants leaves, the beetle wants dead wood, and the dragonfly wants water. The friends keep trying different spots, but nothing is quite right. Will they ever find a good place to live? You betcha! Butterfly comes along and brings to an amazing garden that has everything they need. Great pictures and humor make this bug book a winner!

4. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle —

This story is a preschool favorite! The fantastic illustrations coupled with one of kids’ favorite bugs captures little ones’ attentions. The caterpillar eats more and more each day until it eats so much that it gets a tummy ache! Soon the caterpillar prepares for its transformation into a butterfly. Get ready to be wowed by the beautiful butterfly picture at the end. This is a must read if you haven’t read it yet. Borrow it from your local library or watch this read-aloud from Brightly Storytime Eric Carle has several other bug stories to enjoy too: The Very Clumsy Click Beetle, The Very Quiet Cricket, The Very Lonely Firefly, The Very Grouchy Ladybug, and (even though not technically a bug, but kids call spiders bugs) The Very Busy Spider.

5. Waiting for Wings by Lois Ehlert —

Lois Ehlert is an amazing author and illustrator! This is a sweet, gently story about a flower garden awaiting the arrival of the beautiful butterflies. The book uses a rhyming format to teach about a butterfly’s life cycle in short, but informative text. My son and I love the pictures throughout this book. They are so bright and vibrant! This book not only uses color well, but it also utilizes paper as an artform within the book. There is a smaller book inside the book, and less wide pages that utilize the larger pages’ artwork. This artistic style makes reading this book more of an experience. At the end, there is a section that shows each caterpillar, it’s chrysalis, and matching butterfly. My son and I love to look at this part — it’s perfect for young biologists.

6. The Honeybee by Kristen Hall–

This is a truly educational book wrapped up in gorgeous pictures. In this book preschoolers will learn about the importance of bees, how honey is made, and a year in the life of a bee. In addition to all of the great things your preschooler will learn about bees, this book also provides a great look the four seasons and lends itself well to conversations about changes in weather and hibernation. The end of the book provides bee facts for further discussion.

7. Ant and Grasshopper by Luli Gray–

This book has bright, exciting pictures that will capture preschoolers’ imaginations! Based on the Aesop’s Fable of the same name, this book shows that it is important to work hard and plan ahead, but that it is also important to be a good friend and enjoy some fun!

8. The Bug Book by Sue Fliess–

Preschoolers will love this rhyming book filled with fantastic, real bug pictures! Sue Fliess managed to pack a quick fact about most of the bugs into this short book. The pictures are the real seller here — children can see up close how many legs bugs have, a look at wings, and different camouflage.

9. Bugs! Bugs! Bugs! by Bob Barner–

With bright, bold pictures and short, rhyming text, young children will really like this book! Learn the names of several different kinds of bugs and something special about each bug. I love that the end of this book sows the bugs in actual size, as well as a spread about how many legs each had, whether they can fly, and whether they can sting. This is a quick read, but be prepared to read this one multiple times!

10. Inch by Inch by Leo Lionni–

An inchworm convinces the birds not to it by proving its usefulness in measuring various parts of the birds. When the inch worm meets a hungry nightingale, the bird asks the inch worm to measure its song. How is the inchworm supposed to do that? Check this one out from your library to find out the inchworm’s cleaver plan!

11. What the Ladybug Heard by Julia Donaldson —

This is one of my son’s favorite stories! He loves ladybugs and was really excited to read this story about two robbers who are outsmarted by the ladybug. All of the farm animals follow ladybug’s plan and the two thieves are stopped! This book is so funny and has great pictures that my son loves looking at.

12. The Very Impatient Caterpillar by Ross Burach —

Preschoolers can relate to caterpillar who is finding it very hard to be patient when good things are to come. This is such a funny story about a caterpillar who just can’t wait to turn into a butterfly. The book provides a good look at the metamorphosis process that caterpillars go through to turn into butterflies.

Check your library for these and other bug books. To help cover the costs of this site, I joined Amazon’s Affiliate program. If you buy a book through one of my links, then I may get a small percentage of the sale (at no additional cost to you). Thank you for your support! Happy Reading 🙂

More Bugs!

Bug Crown: print and color these bug pictures and glue them onto your own construction paper crown to make a Bug Crown!

Egg Carton Ant: paint an egg carton and add some pipe cleaners to make your own cute ant craft.

Mosaic Butterfly: make a beautiful mosaic butterfly from scraps of construction paper.

Toilet Paper Roll Bee: your preschooler will love making this cute bee craft out of an empty toilet paper roll!

Butterfly Note Holder: Create a cute butterfly note holder on a clothespin and then write a name, a message, or draw a picture on the note to customize it.

I love summer fruits! Strawberries, watermelon, and raspberries are favorites in my house. We have a raspberry bush in our backyard and the berries taste amazing! All of our snacking reminded me of some fruit-themed crafts and books. My preschooler made a construction paper strawberry and a paper plate watermelon. They were both fun to make and he really liked adding his fingerprints to the crafts.

STRAWBERRY CRAFT:

I love handprint crafts. They are like a time capsule for your little one. You can look back at them and see how small their hands were.

This craft was pretty quick and easy to make. Supplies needed are red and green construction paper, brown marker, scissors, and glue.

1) First, I drew a strawberry shape and my son cut it out. He added the seeds with a brown marker.

2) Next, I traced his hands on green paper and then I cut out the hand prints.

3) My son glued the handprints on top of his strawberry, and ta-da, now we have a cute strawberry craft to hang in his room!

WATERMELON CRAFT:

Isn’t this watermelon craft cute? It looks good enough to eat! My son made this at preschool and was so excited to share it with me when he got home 🙂

To make your own watermelon craft, you need a paper plate, green and dark pink construction paper, glue, and black finger paint.

1) First tear up pieces of green and pink paper. This is fun for kids because how often are they allowed to tear things apart!

2) Cut a triangle shape out of a paper plate to be your watermelon slice.

3) Glue the green paper along the rounded edge of the plate. Then glue the pink paper on the remainder of the plate. Let your project dry.

4) Using washable, black finger-paint, have your child add the seeds with their finger.

BOOKS:

We’ve been eating so much fruit lately, it reminded me of Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar, as the caterpillar eats his way through the story. This book is dear to my heart — I remember it from when my brother and I were kids and I am excited that I get to share it with my son.

This is a must read if you haven’t read it yet. Borrow it from your local library, watch this read-aloud from Brightly Storytime, or buy it on Amazon so you can read over and over again.

To help cover the costs of this site, I joined Amazon’s affiliate program. So if you buy a product through one of my links, then I get a small percent from the sale (at no additional cost to you). Thanks for your support! Happy reading 🙂

We also enjoy reading The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear by Don and Audrey Wood. This is an older story, but still cute. Kids will be on the edge of their seats as they listen to the story about the mouse who has to protect its strawberry from a hungry bear. Reading this one together is great fun! Check your local library for this book, or you can get it on Amazon here.]

MORE CRAFTS!

My son and enjoy making crafts together! He is so creative 🙂 Check out my CRAFTS Page for more fun ideas and how-tos to spark your kiddo’s imagination. I love pairing books with crafts! As part of my weekly preschool schedule, we read books together and make a craft that goes with it. It is a fun way to help extend the learning 🙂

Tag: The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Bug Books