books for kids Archives

10 Kids’ Picture Books about Bugs

April 19, 2016 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

Bugs are super popular with kids, especially during the warm months when we start to see more ants, bees, and other creepy critters around more often. Personally, I’m not a fan. But my boys (in particular) think they’re super cool!

So, I’ve worked up the nerve to start putting together a bug unit study. And part of that unit is reading some great picture books about bugs!

Here are ten kids’ books about bugs that are awesome for showing kids different kinds of insects and helping them learn about how they live and co-exist along with us.

10 Kids’ Picture Books about Bugs

If you try one of these, let me know which one is your favorite! And if I missed a great bug book, tell me your pick in the comments!

For more buggy fun, check out these posts!

And get more ideas for science learning from my It’s Science board on Pinterest!

50 Beautiful Spring Books for Kids to Read

April 7, 2016 by Selena Robinson 1 Comment

I absolutely adore spring…mostly because I detest winter. (Cold weather turns me into an actual bum.)

But once the days start to get longer and the weather starts to get warmer, I come alive! And it’s a wonderful time to explore changing seasons with our students.

This year, I want to put a greater focus on spring reading, so I put together a list of 50 spring books for kids!

These spring books for kids are great for talking about the change of seasons. They’re also a nice introduction to weather, spring animals, and plants!

Want to share more spring learning with your students? Don’t miss our All About Flowers printable unit study!

Share this list of 50 spring books for kids with early readers!

50 Engaging Spring Books for Kids

This list of books about spring includes both board books and picture books. So there are appropriate selections for preschoolers and early elementary students.

Some of the non-fiction books may even be good for upper elementary students, depending on their reading level.

How to Use Books about Spring with Early Learners

When you’re ready to share one of these spring books for kids with your students, try opening by asking the class what they already know about the topic.

For example, if you’re reading the book “How Do We Know It’s Spring”, start by asking questions like:

How can you tell springtime is here?
What does the weather look like?
What do the trees look like?
Are there any animals you see around us?

50 Engaging Spring Books for Kids to Read

As your students answer, help them remember what’s been said and then compare what they already know with what they learn from the book later.

If you are working on a spring-themed unit, share a book together and then complete a craft. Here are a few spring crafts that may work well with these:

50 Beautiful Spring Books for Kids to Read

This list of beautiful spring books for kids features picture books young readers will love! Both fiction and non-fiction selections are included.

Note: This list includes affiliate links. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.

Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert

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Flip, Flap, Fly!: A Book for Babies Everywhere

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A Rainbow of My Own by Don Freeman

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Cherry Blossoms Say Spring (National Geographic Kids)

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Storm Is Coming! by Heather Tekavec

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The Very Busy Spider (Step into Reading)

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Curious George Plants a Seed (CGTV Reader)

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Kitten's Spring (Kitten: Seasons)

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Scholastic Reader Level 3: Poppleton in Spring

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Spring Is Here, Corduroy!

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It's Spring by Linda Glaser

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Kite Day: A Bear and Mole Story

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And Then It's Spring by Julie Fogliano

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In Like a Lion Out Like a Lamb by Marion Dane Bauer

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Everything Spring (Picture the Seasons)

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Spring Stinks: A Little Bruce Book (Mother Bruce Series)

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Plants in Spring (All about Spring)

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National Geographic Readers: Seed to Plant

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The Tiny Seed/Ready-to-Read Level 2 (The World of Eric Carle)

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Mouse's First Spring (Classic Board Books)

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Let It Rain by Maryann Cocca-Leffler

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It's Spring! by Samantha Berger

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Weather in Spring (All about Spring)

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When Spring Comes by Kevin Henkes

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Little Blue Truck's Springtime by Alice Schertle

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Spring: A Pop-up Book (Seasons Pop-up)

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How Do You Know It's Spring? (Rookie Read-About Science: Seasons)

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Bear Wants More (The Bear Books) by Karma Wilson

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Goodbye Winter, Hello Spring by Kenard Oak

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Worm Weather (Penguin Core Concepts) by Jean Taft

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Fletcher and the Springtime Blossoms by Julia Rawlinson

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Lola Plants a Garden (Lola Reads) by Anna McQuinn

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Spencer Knows Spring: A Charming Children's Book about Spring by Tiffany Obeng

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A Little Book About Spring (Leo Lionni's Friends)

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Spring in the Forest (Lift-a-flap Surprise)

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Pete the Cat and the Cool Caterpillar (I Can Read Level 1)

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What Can You See in Spring? (Seasons) by Sian Smith

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Spring According to Humphrey by Betty G. Birney

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The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

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Happy Springtime! by Kate McMullan

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Llama Llama Very Busy Springtime by Anna Dewdney

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Spring is Here! by Heidi Pross Gray

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All About Weather: A First Weather Book for Kids

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A Windy Day in Spring (Springtime Weather Wonders)

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Snow Rabbit, Spring Rabbit: A Book of Changing Seasons

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The Thing About Spring by Daniel Kirk

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Spring Walk (Seasonal Walks) by Virginia Snow

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Finding Spring by Carin Berger

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Curious George: The Perfect Carrot (CGTV Reader)

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Spring is Here: A Bear and Mole Story by Will Hillenbrand

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Did you love this list of spring books for kids?

If you’re looking for more ways to talk about the season with your students, check out some of these spring learning ideas!

Get ready to welcome warmer weather with these fun spring crafts for kids to make!

These spring science ideas are wonderful for teaching science to the kids this year!

10 Amazing Geography Books for Home School

April 5, 2016 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

Geography was NOT one of my favorite subjects in school. It was boring and dry and I just wanted to run out of class and never return.

So I’m determined to make it one of the best subjects in our homeschool. And that means choosing great geography books for my kids to explore.

Check out some of these amazing geography books for home school! I love these books and we use several of them regularly with our children!

10 Amazing Geography Books for Home School

Of this list, my personal favorite is Hungry Planet. It is a truly eye-opening look at the way world regions, economy, and culture play a role in the food we eat. Plus, it’s an introduction to human geography, not just points on a map. Physical geography is important, but it’s how it affects us as humans that really impacts our society.

Do you have a favorite book for teaching geography in your home school? Share your picks in the comments!

Get even more ideas to make geography fun for kids!

For more geography fun, stop by and follow my Geography for Homeschoolers board on Pinterest!

This post is part of The Massive Homeschool Geography Guide from iHomeschool Network! Click over to read more geography posts from my fellow bloggers!

The Best Picture Books for Three Year Olds

February 1, 2016 by Selena Robinson 3 Comments

Piglet turned three last winter. And, while she’s always been part of our family storytime, she’s really started to take an interest in storybooks lately. She constantly asks “Can you read this to me?” It melts my heart every time.

Naturally, she loves picture books. So I started looking for the best picture books for three year olds that I could share with her. So far, these are her absolute favorites! And, since many of these were classics when I was a kid, they were my favorites back in the day too.

By the way, these are all books that I’ve actually read. Trust me, they’re pretty great.

Image c/o: vadimphoto1@gmail.com via depositphotos

The Best Picture Books for Three-Year-Olds:

Did I miss any of your favorite picture books for three-year-olds? Share your family’s favorites in the comments!

For more tips to make your kids into readers, check out my Reading for Kids board on Pinterest!

And catch some of our other book lists for kids below!

10 Kids’ Books about Monster Trucks

10 Children’s Books about Butterflies

10 Awesome Picture Books about Bugs

This post is part of The Massive Guide to Homeschool Reading Lists by iHomeschool Network! Click over to read tons of awesome booklists shared by my fellow homeschooling bloggers!

10 Picture Books about Firefighters

January 18, 2016 by Selena Robinson 2 Comments

My boys are seriously into firefighters right now. When they see a fire truck go by on the street, you’d think that the sky had started raining cotton candy. Even Piglet jumps up and down shouting “FIRE TRUCK, MAMA!”

We got to learn about firefighters with a firefighter unit study a couple of months back, but I wanted to read a few more kids’ books about them. Pooh is reading chapter books now, so we’ve started Flat Stanley and the Firehouse.

But Roo is still in the early reader stage, so I started searching for picture books about firefighters that he’d love. Here are 10 of them that are full of pictures and firefighting fun!

10 Picture Books about Firefighters

If you want to use these books as the basis for a unit, check out our Firefighter Unit Study!

And for more great children’s books, follow my Reading for Kids board on Pinterest!

This post is part of The Massive Guide to Homeschool Reading Lists by iHomeschool Network! Click over to read tons of awesome booklists shared by my fellow homeschooling bloggers!

Fun Kids’ Books about Farms

September 28, 2015 by Selena Robinson 2 Comments

Spring and fall are perfect times to talk about farms with kids! In the spring, new baby farm animals are born and in the fall, farmers get out in the fields to harvest their crops. So farms are pretty busy all year round!

As one of our homeschool unit studies, we’ve done a farm unit study before. During the unit, we read plenty of farm books for kids. After all, what better way to introduce farms to kids than by reading about them?

Today I’m sharing some fun kids’ books about farms that we’ve found! I hope you find some great ones to read with your family as well!

If you love these books, don’t miss our free Farm Do-A-Dot Shape Mats! They’re awesome for introducing toddlers and preschoolers to shapes!

Fun Kids’ Books about Farms

1. On the Farm by David Elliott

2. Pete the Cat: Old McDonald Had a Farm by James Dean

3. Mrs. Wishy-Washy’s Farm by Joy Cowley

4. Around the Farm: Play A Sound by The World of Eric Carle

5. Before We Eat: From Farm to Table by Pat Brisson

6. World of Farming: Jobs on a Farm by Nancy Dickmann

7. Farming by Gail Gibbons

8. Down On the Farm by Merrily Kutner

9. Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown

10. Farm Vehicles: My First Sound Book by Annette Rusling

And here are 10 more to choose from!

1. Thump, Quack, Moo!: A Whacky Adventure by Doreen Cronin

2. Down by the Barn by Will Hillenbrand

3. The Farm Book (A Golden Super Shape Book) by Jan Pfloog

4. Farmyard Beat by Lindsey Craig

5. A Year at a Farm (Time Goes By) by Nicholas Harris

6. Lullaby Farm by Stephanie Shaw

7. Biscuit’s Day at the Farm by Alyssa Satin Capucilli

8. National Geographic Readers: Farm Animals (Level 1) by Joanne Mattern

9. Tractor Mac Arrives at the Farm by Billy Steers

10. The Berenstain Bears Down on the Farm by Jan and Stan Berenstain

For more farm-themed fun, check out some of our farm learning ideas!

And find more tips to make your kids into readers on my Reading for Kids board on Pinterest!

This post is part of The Massive Guide to Homeschool Reading Lists by iHomeschool Network! Click over to read tons of awesome booklists shared by my fellow homeschooling bloggers!

Our First Grade Reading List Homeschool Picks

August 28, 2015 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

Well, we’re down to our final reading list for the new school year and it’s time to show off our books for first grade! Roo is reading much more fluently than he was last year, but he’s still not really a leisure reader. He’ll read when I tell him to, but he’d rather play than anything else. Of course, he is six. 🙂

But I really want to encourage him to develop the habit of reading for fun, so I’ve selected stories he can read on his own and stories we’ll read together. Here are our first grade reading list homeschool picks for this year!

Our First Grade Reading List Homeschool Picks

Roo, like many young boys, loves construction, so I included a book with that theme. I also included a couple of books that are funny, since those hold his attention the best.

Several of the books below will be part of unit studies we’ll be completing as a family, so they’ll fit in nicely with some of our themes.

1. Pete the Cat: Construction Destruction

2. Ocean Babies

3. Harry the Dirty Dog

4. Ramona the Brave

5. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

6. The Pigeon Wants a Puppy

7. The Complete Tales of Peter Rabbit

8. Aesop’s Fables for Children

9. The House at Pooh Corner

10. The Story of Ruby Bridges

11. Where the Wild Things Are

12. Curious George: Snowy Day

And those are our first grade reading list homeschool picks! Do you have any “must-read” books for first grade? Share your suggestions in the comments!

To see our other book suggestions for this year, check out our Fifth Grade Reading List and our Second Grade Reading List!

For more tips to make your kids into readers, check out my Reading for Kids board on Pinterest!

This post is part of The Massive Guide to Homeschool Reading Lists by iHomeschool Network! Click over to read tons of awesome booklists shared by my fellow homeschooling bloggers!

Our Second Grade Reading List Homeschool Picks

August 19, 2015 by Selena Robinson 2 Comments

Last week we shared our choices for Tigger’s fifth grade homeschool reading list. Today, I’m sharing our second reading list homeschool picks for Pooh!

Pooh is at a point in his reading journey when he’s definitely ready to take on some chapter books on his own. However, I still prefer to read most of our books together, so that he will slow down and really absorb the story. Sometimes he tends to rush through a book and only pick out the parts that are instantly amusing to him.

So we’ll be covering these books in-depth this year. Take a look at our choices for second grade below!

Choosing a Reading List for Second Grade

First grade was really a stepping stone that helped Pooh become a more fluent reader. And because we took a short break to try public school, he got a chance to read for his class pretty often. I really think that’s helped him step outside the box and take on more challenging books.

So I wanted him to read some books with me this year and some on his own as well. He likes mysteries and funny stories and this list features plenty of both!

Our Second Grade Reading List Homeschool Picks

1. Ramona and Her Mother

2. Oliver Twist

3. Tales of a Fourth-Grade Nothing (Yes, I realize the title character is in fourth grade. But I think Pooh will relate very well to Fudge…lol.)

4. Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Soccer Scheme

5. The Mouse and the Motorcycle

6. The Boxcar Children

7. What’s Cooking, Jenny Archer?

8. The Wind in the Willows

9. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

10. Flat Stanley’s Worldwide Adventures: The Intrepid Canadian Expedition

11. Freckle Juice

12. Geronimo Stilton: The Race Across America

And those are our second grade reading list homeschool selections! Unit studies for these books will be coming soon!

Catch our other reading list selections for this school year below!

For more tips to make your kids into readers, check out my Reading for Kids board on Pinterest!

This post is part of The Massive Guide to Homeschool Reading Lists by iHomeschool Network! Click over to read tons of awesome booklists shared by my fellow homeschooling bloggers!

Do you have any books you think second-graders should read? Share them in the comments!

Our Fifth Grade Reading List Homeschool Picks

August 14, 2015 by Selena Robinson 4 Comments

If you follow the Charlotte Mason method strictly, then you already know about what she called “twaddle”. Mason felt that kids should avoid books that had no educational or intellectual value. Instead, kids were to read “living books” – works that enlightened them and taught them new concepts.

Even though I love the CM method, I believe that there’s a place for “twaddle”. I’ve always been of the opinion that I want my kids to develop a love for reading. We can help them choose challenging selections later.

Eventually, however, it is definitely time to ease away from twaddle and into books that are designed to make kids think or dream. And that’s where we are with Tigger. So – here’s a look at our fifth grade reading list homeschool picks!

Choosing Our Reading List Picks

This year with Tigger, I wanted to encourage her to focus on some of the classics. She likes modern books like the Ramona series and “Smile” by Reina Telgemeier. And those are great books, but for her school reading list, she needs to be challenged.

During our public school experiment last year, Tigger got tested with the LEXILE reading system. Her score was within the 10th-grade range. However, she’s not quite ready for the advanced topics covered by high school books, so classics it is! I also added a few books featuring characters of color so she can have some figures to whom she relates.

I’ve only included 12 books on our “official” list, because I want her to finish one per month. We’ll be doing unit studies for each one (stay tuned!), so that will give us time to drop anchor and really explore each work.

Our Fifth Grade Reading List Homeschool Picks

1. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

2. Charlotte’s Web

3. Anne of Green Gables

4. The Blossoming Universe of Violet Diamond

9. Kidnapped

10. The Secret Garden

11. The Mighty Miss Malone

12. Where the Red Fern Grows

And those are our fifth grade reading list homeschool picks! To get a look at our other reading lists for this school year, visit the posts below!

Get even more of our homeschooling tips by following the board Homeschooling with Look! We’re Learning! on Pinterest!

What’s on your homeschool reading list this year? Share your picks in the comments!

This post is part of The Massive Guide to Homeschool Reading Lists by iHomeschool Network! Click over to read tons of awesome booklists shared by my fellow homeschooling bloggers!

Lovely Children’s Books about Butterflies

June 2, 2015 by Selena Robinson 2 Comments

Butterflies are one of my very favorite animals. They are beautiful to look at, fun to chase, and they go through one of the most amazing transformations ever observed by scientists. In the space of a few days, caterpillars turn into butterflies – completely different animals with elegant wings. It still amazes me.

The past few weeks we’ve been exploring butterflies with the kids, as you might have noticed from our Butterfly Identification Cards and our free Butterfly Unit Study, so I wanted to share some lovely children’s books about butterflies! Check these out to add to your booklist!

If you love these selections, check out this list of fun insect activities for kids you can try!

Lovely Children’s Books about Butterflies

1. The Butterfly Tree by Victor Biton

2. The Life Cycles of Butterflies by Judy Burris

3. National Geographic Readers: Great Migrations Butterflies by Laura Marsh

4. Caterpillars, Bugs, and Butterflies: Take-Along Guides by Mel Boring

5. My, Oh My, A Butterfly! (Cat In the Hat’s Learning Library) by Tish Rabe

6. Are You a Butterfly? by Judy Allen

7. A Butterfly is Patient by Dianna Hutts Aston

8. Velma Gratch and the Way Cool Butterfly by Alan Madison

9. The Illustrated World Encyclopedia of Butterflies and Moths by Sally Morgan

10. Butterfly Colors and Counting by Jerry Pallotta

Here are ten more butterfly books for kids to try!

1. National Geographic: From Caterpillar to Butterfly by Laura Marsh

2. Pinkalicious and the Little Butterfly by Victoria Kann

3. Butterflies by Seymour Simon

4. DK Readers: Born to Be a Butterfly by Karen Wallace

5. Fancy Nancy: Bonjour, Butterfly by Jane O’Connor

6. Flutterby, Butterfly: A Slide-and-Seek Book by Emma Parrish

7. Butterfly Eyes and Other Secrets of the Meadow by Joyce Sidman

8. A Butterfly’s Life (Time for Kids) by Dona Herweck Rice

9. Explore My World: Butterflies by Marfe Ferguson Delano

10. From Caterpillar to Butterfly (Let’s Read and Find Out Science) by Deborah Heiligman

Try these other spring learning ideas!

For more tips to make your kids into readers, check out my Reading for Kids board on Pinterest!

This post is part of The Massive Guide to Homeschool Reading Lists by iHomeschool Network! Click over to read tons of awesome booklists shared by my fellow homeschooling bloggers!