Bugs Bugs Bugs! – Free Printable
Recently, one of our preschool posts called Bugs, Bugs, Bugs has been getting a lot of page views. I thought I would add a couple of fun tracing sheets to that unit. And, I also thought I would highlight some of the free PreK printables we have tucked away on the blog! So, this is quite a packed post if you have 3-5 year olds!
The free bug tracing pages include snail, ant, bee, grasshopper, spider and others critters.
This packet also includes the various preschool activities we did at that time, like the ladybug and butterfly art project below. The ladybug wings are attached with a brad and open up. Cute, right?!
In the packet I also included some “What comes between” math activities that you might not have come across here on the blog.
Download these free activity pages here: Bugs Bugs Bugs Activities – Worksheets Packet
A few cute books for kids in the 2-5 age range include (affiliate links):
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar
- The Grouchy Ladybug
- Ten Little Ladybugs – which disappear one by one
- The Very Lonely Firefly
- Wiggling Worms at Work
- An Earthworm’s Life
- Diary of a Worm
- Spiders (by Gail Gibbons – we’ve loved all over her books!)
- Are You a Spider?
- Diary of a Spider
- There’s a Bug on My Book
You might also want to check out the pictures of the butterfly and insect lapbook I made with DD when she was quite small! At that post, you’ll find links to some of the lapbook pages we included.
I also made a preschool math lapbook several years ago that we used a lot. It included a “catch the butterfly – odd/even game” that was quite the hit! You can get that free pdf here: Free Math Lapbook
One of the games ED loved when she was 3-5 was the Snail’s Pace Race. This is perfect to play with a bugs unit! It is a cooperative game where the players work together to move all 6 snails to the end of the row.
I was going to share a couple more games, but before I do that let me talk about a couple other activities we did relating to bugs. When the kids were in PreK, we regularly brought out the vertebrate-invertebrate sorting cards. The kids would separate these into the right categories. (First, working on vertebrates and invertebrates… then moving on to the 5 animal groups). Our vertebrate-invertebrate Montessori cards are free to download:
Once the kids were a bit older (age 5 to 8 or so), we began to talk about the different animal characteristics. We also spent time talking about the different invertebrate groups. Plus, we did activities about domesticate vs. wild animals, animals tracks and more. You can find more about our Animal Packet here:
And another activity we did was talking about Animals around the World. (I won’t include a picture since it doesn’t include bugs, but if you’re interested you can visit that post!)
A couple more hands-on activities we did about bugs included studying earthworms, studying Planarian, and also watching mealworms go through their life cycles. My kids loved those hands-on studies!!
Going back to PreK board games that our family enjoyed. Another game my daughter loved is an award winning cooperative game called Hoot Owl Hoot! (affiliate link)
The first game is called Hoot Owl Hoot. The object is for the players to get all the owls home before the sun comes up. (The sun is at the top and moves across as players come across a sun card.) This is a game like Candy Land which only requires that the kids recognize their colors. They have to fly the owls around the game board from color to color back to their nest before the sun comes up.
The other game we’ve been playing a lot is called Lost Puppies. (affiliate link) Again, it’s a cooperative game where all the players work together to get the puppies home.
Each player takes a turn flipping over a card. If the player flips over a night (star) card it has to be placed on the corresponding number on the game board. Players use a flashlight card to remove the night/star card from the board. To take the puppy home there has to be a clear path (with no night cards in the way).
These games are wonderful because they are not competitive–no winner or loser. And with the age of my girls (4 and 6) they can play them happily together independently. Still, I can easily recommend these games to the younger crowd as well (say 2 1/2 and up).
We have a cute Pet Pack that your kids might like if they are doing number families, addition and subtraction:
The kids also played a lot of Dino Math Tracks when they were little. We played this a lot with all three kids… and it helped introduce the idea of place value. You can find out more about it here: Dino Math Tracks Game (affiliate link)
If you have a dinosaur lover, they might have fun with the activities included in our Dinosaur Packet (for ages 3-7):
One last thing, when my kids were younger, they really loved making snake and lizards out of pony beads. There are instructions at this post: How to Make Pony-Bead Snakes and Lizards
Disclosure: Please note that some of the links above are affiliate links, and at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you decide to make a purchase.
Other related posts you might be interested in:
- A Huge List of Activities to do with your preschooler (100+ Activities) A free printable:
- Preschool at Home: Activities you can do with your 2-4 Year Olds, Fine Motor Skills
- Preschool at Home: Learning Letters
- Preschool at Home: Alphabet Activities
- Felt Play: Make your own Felt Board
- Preschool at Home: Handwriting
- Preschool at Home: Science for 2-4 Year Olds
- Preschool Montessori: Vertebrate and Invertebrate Study and Free Cards
- Preschool at Home: A Few Math Ideas for the 2 1/2-3 year old crowd
- Preschool Math Activities (K4) Montessori Math and More
- Preschool at Home: Lapbooks
- You might also be interested in the post: Homeschool Preschool Year in Review which was a recap of many of our preschool activities this past year.
- Preschool Geography: Activities for learning about where we live in the world, Montessori world map work and more
- Preschool Geography: Maps and More
- The Seven Continents and World Landmarks
- If your child knows their letter sounds, they may be ready to learn to read. Visit this post, Teach Your Child to Read, for fun ideas that help your child learn to read!
Sh Ch Th Word Sort Activity (Free)
Here was another Whales and Bubbles Sight Word Game I made for her with -in and -it words. It is also FREE to download!
Free Coin Counting File Folder Game
Visit this post, Teach Your Child to Read, for fun ideas that help your child learn to read as well as some of the readers my kids used… Funny enough, my three kids all gravitated towards different sets! LD really liked the Bob books, DD loved Animal Antics, and ED read through the entire set of Sam readers!!
Be sure to check out our other preschool posts. This page has links to dozens of our preschool posts. It also includes links to lots of our free Montessori printables and more.
See you again soon here or over at our Homeschool Den Facebook Page! Don’t forget to Subscribe to our Homeschool Den Newsletter. You might also want to check out some of our resources pages above (such as our Science, Language Arts, or History Units Resource Pages) which have links to dozens of posts. Don’t forget to check out Our Store as well. 
~Liesl
