We started our unit by reading Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin. Diary of a Worm is a humorous picture book written as a diary from the perspective of a young worm. Through short, funny entries and playful illustrations, the worm shares his daily life, from digging in the dirt and spending time with his family to dealing with human-sized challenges—like dodging being stepped on. The story gives readers a worm’s-eye view of the world while slipping in fun facts about worms and their importance in nature.

After reading the story, the kids reordered the events from the story and did a retelling.

On Tuesday, we read I Love Bugs! by Philemon Sturges. I Love Bugs! is a lively and colorful picture book that celebrates all kinds of bugs—from crawling ants and buzzing bees to fluttering butterflies and whirring dragonflies. Told from the perspective of a young boy who is fascinated by insects, the story uses simple, rhyming text and vibrant illustrations to showcase the diversity and wonder of the bug world. It’s an enthusiastic ode to creepy crawlies of all shapes and sizes.

While we read this book, I pointed out the bugs on each page. After reading, the students had to match their bug vocabulary to the image.

On Wednesday, we read the book Bugs! Bugs! Bugs! by Bob Barner. Bugs! Bugs! Bugs! is a bright and engaging picture book that introduces young readers to a variety of insects through simple text and bold, colorful collage-style illustrations. The book names different bugs—like butterflies, ants, and fireflies—and highlights a few fun facts about each. It also includes a helpful chart at the end that compares the bugs and reinforces learning.

After reading the story and using the chart at the end of the book, I chose an insect and read the characteristics about it without saying the name. The kids had to draw a picture of the insect that was being described.

The final of our reading insect activities for preschoolers was our alphabet, emergent readers. This week’s focus was the letter I for insect. The students tracked the print as they read through the book.

Our first literacy activity for the week was an insect letter match. The kids placed the upper and lower-case letters on the flower matching cards.

Our second literacy activity was our letter writing tray. I filled up a shallow tray with colored rice, and the kids took their time going through the cards, writing out each letter in the rice. I allowed them to use their hands or a small paintbrush to write in the rice. They shook the tray to erase it.

On Wednesday, we practiced beginning sounds. We said the name of each insect out loud. Then we pointed to the beginning sound for each insect and used our dot marker to mark our answers.

On Thursday, we worked on syllables. We said the name of each insect aloud and placed it onto the correct clipboard.

The final of our literacy insect activities for preschoolers was our letter I dot markers. The students used their dot markers to find all the upper and lower-case letter I’s on the sheet and then colored the images of the insect and inchworm.

For our insect activities for preschool, we did 5 days of math activities beginning with caterpillar-counting clip cards. These clip cards focused on identifying and counting the numbers 0-10. The kids used their fine motor skills to clip clothespins to the cards to show which number they chose as their answer.

On Tuesday, we studied nonstandard measurement. We used colored cubes to measure the insects on the task cards. The kids lined up the cubes, counted them, and recorded them on the sheet.

On Wednesday, we talked about patterns and made our own. We talked about ABAB and ABCABC patterns, then the kids cut and pasted the correct image to complete the pattern.

On Thursday, we discussed shapes. These shape activities are differentiated insect activities for preschoolers. A simpler activity is to match the insect shape to the bug jar cards. You can make it more complex to match the magnifying glass to the correct insect.

Our final math activity in our insect unit was a bug sort. The students sorted the insects into the correct jars based on their characteristics.

On Monday, I put out our sensory table for the week. It was an insect-themed table. I used colored rice for the base of the table. I scattered plastic insects on the table. Then I put out our scoopers so the kids could interact and play with the table.

On Tuesday, we did some science and studied the life cycle of a ladybug. We talked about the life cycle and read a story about ladybugs. Then the kids cut out the life cycle steps, glued them onto the worksheet, and colored them in.

On Wednesday, we went on a nature walk. We took the list of insects with us and crossed off the insects we found. When we got back to the classroom, I hid the cards around the classroom and had the students find the cards and cross off the remaining insects.

We did art on Thursday by making a butterfly craft. We made butterflies out of coffee filters. These turned out so cute and would make a great decoration for the classroom!

The final of our insect activities for preschoolers was fingerprint bugs in a jar. We used stamp pads to make fingerprint bugs, but you could also use paint. Once the fingerprints dried, we went in and added wings, feet, antennae, etc.