Books About Bees

Buzzzz! My girls were terrified of bees, until we read all these Books About Bees and learned about them. Now they understand their role in our ecosystem, and they have realized that they aren't anything to be afraid of. We read these books as part of our Preschool Theme Week About Bees, Butterflies, and Other Bugs. I hope your kids enjoy some of these choices!

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Are You A Bee? by Judy Allen

Are You A Bee? teaches children about honeybees by addressing them as if they themselves were bees. It is an interesting approach, and might spark your child's interest. The illustrations are soft and dreamy. I recommend this book for older toddlers and preschoolers.

Look Inside A Bee Hive by Megan Cooley Peterson

This book is a great choice for toddlers or young preschoolers. The text is very simple, but still informative. Each page spread has a large, bright, detailed photograph that children will find fascinating.

The Case of the Vanishing Honeybees by Sandra Markle, part of children's book review list about bees

The Case Of The Vanishing Honeybees: A Scientific Mystery by Sandra Markle

The stunning photograph on the cover of this book should be enough to make you add it to your library list! The Case of the Vanishing Honeybees is definitely not a book that your average toddler or preschooler will want to sit and listen to. It is very wordy, complex, and deals with some challenging scientific issues. BUT there are some really great pictures inside, and it thoroughly details the current problem of honeybee decline. I read some pages to Lena and summarized some of the longer, more technical pages. She eventually got really into it and wanted me to read her all of it, even the parts that I thought would go over her head. I recommend this book if you have an elementary aged child, or an older preschool who is particularly interested in bees.

Horsefly And Honeybee by Randy Cecil

This is just a cute little story about two critters who have to learn to work together for their own common good. It's quite simple, and a good story for toddlers and young preschoolers. I found it particularly applicable to my girls' sibling relationship-- sometimes they will choose to have me take away a toy from both of them in order to avoid having to share it!

The Big Honey Hunt by Stan Berenstain

It's the very first Berenstain Bears book! Brother (who doesn't even have his name yet in this book!) and Papa are sent on an errand by Mama to go and get some honey. Instead of simply stopping at the store, they go on a massive honey hunt, getting into all kinds of tight spots along the way. This book has a cute rhyming text that your kids will love. The illustrations are a bit unrefined compared to the more modern book, but that makes them especially charming. Older toddlers, preschoolers, and early elementary children will enjoy this book.

These Bees Count! by Alison Formento

These Bees Count! was our favorite book about bees. It is about a class field trip to a honey farm. The children learn all about how bees do their job and how beekeepers take care of them. This book is also a counting book, so there's a great opportunity to get a little math practice in. The text is fairly simple, but goes into more detail than some of the other 'easy' books. The illustrations are nice and bright. Your older toddler or preschooler will enjoy this choice.

UnBEElievables: Honeybee Poems And Paintings by Douglas Florian

I love using poetry to reinforce a theme that we are studying! I usually have to hunt around to find some poems on a certain topic, but this book provided over a dozen bee poems about their anatomy, different roles in the hive, the queen, and more. Its nice to present information in a different way, and this collection of bee poems does the trick. The illustrations are cute, too-- the bees all have friendly little smiles!

The Honeybee Man by Lela Nargi

The Honeybee Man is a charming story about an old man who keeps beehives on his roof in Brooklyn. He treats the bees with love and care, just as if they were his children. It gives a great deal of information about bees in a nice story format. The story ends when the honeybee man gives away jars of Brooklyn Honey, made from all the flowers and shrubs, to his neighbors. I loved that this story showed beekeeping in an urban environment.

What If There Were No Bees? by Suzanne Slade

What If There Were No Bees uses a clever way to show how bees are a part of so many ecosystems. The illustrations show black shadow outlines where bees should be. Subsequent pages show the same black shadow outlines of flowers, then more and more plants and animals that rely on bees as a part of their food system. It's a great way to show children how animals and plants rely on on another and how interconnected nature is. I recommend this book for older preschoolers and elementary students.

The Beeman by Laurie Krebs

If you're looking for a fairly simple book about beekeeping for your younger preschooler or toddler, The Beeman may be just the right choice. In this story, grandpa is a bee keeper, and children are introduced to the clothes, supplies, and procedures of beekeeping through him.

If you're looking for even more ideas to use for an insect theme preschool week, check out the What Can We Do With Paper And Glue Pinterest board below for tons more preschool craft and learning ideas about bees, butterflies, and other bugs.