Insects Homeschool Unit Study

Do you have a little one interested in creepy crawlies? Foster their interest and encourage learning with this fun unit study all about insects! Great for any time of the year, this study is perfect for grades PreK-5.

Insect Books

One of the best ways to learn about any topic is through reading! Search for some of these books at your local library, or add to your home library by purchasing through our affiliate links below.

Nonfiction Books:

Fiction Books:

Activity Books:

Insect Activities

Add some extra fun into your insect study with these activities!

Insect Snack Ideas:

  • Make Ladybug Pancakes: This easy and fun breakfast will have your kids ready to study insects first thing in the morning! To make the ladybug pancakes, simply make regular-sized pancakes (for the body and wings), along with smaller pancakes (for the head). Lay a regular-sized pancake on the plate for the body. Cut one of the small pancakes in half and add one of the halves above the pancake for the head. Cut a regular-sized pancake in half and spread it apart so only the top points are touching to make the wings. For the spots, you can either add chocolate chips or blueberries on top or baked into the pancake…though they’ll look less like spots if baked inside. If you want to get really fancy, add some red food coloring to some of your pancake mix and use the red pancakes for the wings. For an additional variation, use cut up strawberry slices for the wings and top with blueberries. There are so many ways to make this buggy breakfast!
  • Make a Butterfly Snack Bag: Take snack time outside or on-the-go with these simple butterfly snack bags. This quick snack is made with a small plastic Ziploc bag, a clothespin, pipe cleaner, and two small googly eyes. Add two snacks, like baby carrots and cheese cubes or whatever you’d like – one on each side of the bag. Zip the bag closed, keeping the snacks separated. Glue the googly eyes to the top of the clothespin. Cut two small pieces off of the pipe cleaner. Twist them into antenna and glue them to the top of the clothespin. Once your clothespin is ready, fold the zipped bag over until it’s a small rectangle. Add the clothespin to the middle, and your snacks are now the butterfly’s wings!Study of Insects
  • Have Some Butterfly Pretzels: Kids will love making this fun treat with small pretzels and small pretzel sticks. Dip the pretzel sticks and small pretzels into melted white chocolate or almond bark. Lay on parchment paper with the stick in the middle for the body and pretzels touching the stick on the side for the wings. Before the chocolate or bark hardens, add M&Ms in your choice of color along the stick. You can either use many colors or use one main color with one separate color M&M for the head. There are so many ways to do this. Just have fun and enjoy the treat!

Insect Field Trip Ideas:

Insect Experiments

Hands-on learning is an excellent way to help children retain information. This list is by no means exhaustive, but here are a few ideas for insect projects and experiments to get you started.

  • Yellow Light vs. White Light: For this experiment, you need a yellow bug light bulb (a bulb specifically marketed to not attract insects), a regular white light bulb in equal wattage to the yellow bulb, at least 8 sticky insect strips (fly strips), and a yardstick or measuring tape. To do this experiment, the bulbs need to be far enough away from one another so as to not skew the results; ideally, one would be on the front porch and the other on the back porch with no other light sources to contaminate the experiment. Measure six inches on both sides of the bulb and hang one of the fly strips on either side. Make sure the lights are both on at the same time and the strips are removed in the morning to get accurate results. After one night, repeat the experiment at least once more, perhaps rotating the bulbs from front porch to back porch and vice versa. Two nights should produce enough data for the experiment to be successful, but the more nights you extend the project, the better the results will be. Just make sure the bulbs are in the same position an equal number of times – so 2 nights, 4 nights, 6 nights, etc.minibeasts
  • Ant Food Preference: To perform this experiment, gather several different food options, whatever you may have on hand, and find an ant hill. Try to use a mixture of sweets, starches, and protein. Some examples could be fruit (strawberry slices, chunk of banana, grapes, etc.), sandwich meat, a dead insect (cricket, grasshopper, etc.), raw potato slices, bread, or anything similar. Place each food item an equal distance from the ant hill. It’s not a necessity, but if you can place the items on a small piece of white paper towel, it will help you be able to better see which foods the ants prefer. Watch for a while and record your results to find the ants’ favorite food!
  • Build a Bug STEM Challenge: For this project, you only need 3 materials: modeling clay, toothpicks, and pipe cleaners. Using the clay, make your insect. Be sure to make all 3 parts of the insect’s body. Use the toothpicks and different colors of clay to make the insect’s patterns, and the pipe cleaners to make the antennae and legs. You can place specific criteria for your child, such as: “Make sure the body is between 8 and 12 cm. Make the legs 6 cm long.” Or, just turn your kid loose and let them create an insect from their imagination.

Insect Videos

Allow screen time to work for you with these educational learning videos about insects!

Learn some exciting facts about insects with this video for kids!

On this episode of SciShow, Squeaks and Mr. Brown take a break from watering the garden to learn about insects and some of their jobs!

On this SciShow episode, learn insect facts with Squeaks as he takes a picnic by the pond!

Did you know some people EAT insects?! Learn how and why in these fun videos with Dr. Binocs!

Your older children will enjoy this BBC documentary on the Tiny World of Insects.

Insect Printables Download

Download our free 40-page printable pack here to use with your unit study!