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I cannot claim to be a huge lover of creepy crawlies. In fact, I can trace my particular dislike of arachnids to the Arachnapobia movie trailer (I’ve still never seen that movie) and an incident when I woke up to a large spider on the outside of my mosquito net.
Wait—let’s back up a second. I had a mosquito net? Ya—you know, the full net that goes over your bed in areas where mosquitoes are the main vector of infectious disease? I had one of those over my bed in Delta, BC. That’s how much I hated mosquitoes. My Mom made me a protective net. She wasn’t protecting me from malaria. She was protecting herself from being awoken on a nightly basis by her daughter, insisting that she kill the mosquito in her bedroom. Yes. I made my mother get out of her bed, turn on my light and hunt down the itsy, bitsy mosquito in my room. And if she didn’t find it? As soon as I heard it buzzing again, I’d be calling her back.
Then there’s Papa Wolf, who took a bat to the beehives on his dad’s farm and … well you can probably imagine who got the short end of that stick. As a grown man, he was bitten by a venomous snake while hiking alone in Spain. A small-town bartender wound up calling an ambulancia for him, and he was hospitalized. The doctors were intrigued: Did he lie down to nap in the grass and get bitten in his sleep? No, señor, he picked it up!
Conclusion? I’d like my children to respect but not fear the creatures around them. I want to develop and foster Cub’s current curiosity about animals, and bugs in particular, and the best way to do that is with books!
We got Cub a magnifying glass, and he’s searching for things to “spy” with it on the daily. (His father also taught him how to make fire with it … much to my chagrin.) I would prefer that he doesn’t find critters to magnify inside the house, but there was something flitting about in the soil when we started our seeds indoors a couple of weekends ago.
Thanks to our new book collection, we know all about the characteristics of insects versus arachnids and were able to identify the tiny egg clusters on the bush outside our townhouse as ladybug eggs. Ants are a big deal right now, and Cub frequently has to drop whatever he’s doing (or whatever I want him to be doing) to observe them.
We have a bug jar, and I am required to catch bugs for him to observe. The day we caught two ladybugs was, conveniently (and purely coincidentally), ladybug-craft day at preschool. He brought the ladybugs in to show his classmates, and I felt like the best accidentally-on-purpose preschool mom ever! The other day, the bug jar even caught something all by itself. Cub ran outside on Saturday morning to see how the bugs in his bug jar were doing. I expected a severe meltdown, since I knew I had released said bugs the day before. Much to my surprise, a crane fly had flown into the jar, and Cub was quite pleased.
Here are the DK Books titles in our new collection:
This tiny little book is perfect for tucking in the diaper bag as a boredom buster. It was a great distraction while we were waiting at the doctor’s office and a good field-guide while we were out bug hunting!
DK Smithsonian: Everything you need to know about BUGS
Turns out I don’t know that much about bugs. There are even more bugs on earth than I ever imagined, as demonstrated by this map:
Now Cub and I can discuss the different branches of the arthropod family, which—fun fact—can be differentiated by the number of legs. You’ve got insects (six legs), arachnids (eight legs), crustaceans (ten legs) and centipedes or millipedes (30+ legs). A “bug” with no legs? Not an arthropod!
DK Smithsonian: Super Nature Encyclopedia
Readers of all ages seem to be fascinated by astonishing animals facts. Every kid can tell you the world’s largest mammal or the world’s fastest. Sure, cheetahs and blue whales are in the Super Nature Encyclopedia, but the most super creatures in this beautifully illustrated tome are the mothers. Hats off to the Naked Mole Rat, who can give birth to up to 33 babies at a time:
And the Common Octopus, who dies shortly after her baby eggs hatch, since she doesn’t ever leave their side … not even to eat!
We also learned that male Elephant Seals are five-times the size of females. Ouch.
Did You Know? Animals
Curiosity is perhaps the trait I am most eager to foster in my children. Curiosity feeds imagination and ingenuity, and I hope they continue to love learning new things as much as my husband and I still do. “Did You Know? Animals” is the perfect book for kids to stump the adults around them with 200 questions and answers about creatures great and small. One of my favourite diagrams is this one:
Cub has already started saying he doesn’t like spiders. I am hoping we can avoid a fear of spiders and instead inspire fascination. My husband, if I let him, would own a tarantula. I wouldn’t sleep well with a tarantula in the house, so I’m not opposed to my kids disliking spiders (that way, they can help me veto an 8-legged pet), but I would like to avoid being awoken by a blood-curdling scream due to a tiny spider in the bathroom.
Shop & Connect
Find your favourite DK Books titles using my affiliate link to Amazon.ca!
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kathy downey says
My child’s favourite bug is an Ant
Vincent says
We love ladybugs.
Amber Ludwig says
He loves worms!!
Shirley Tang says
Child’s favorite creature is probably Don’s dragonfly. As in Don Pteranadon.
Heidi Robbins says
My daughter loves roly-polies 🙂
Butter Spice says
The kiddos’ favorites are raptors and owls respectively. Very avian of them.
Israel y says
Loves Caterpillars
Lisa Williams says
My daughter’s favorite animals are elephants,she loves them,she wants everything in her room to be elephants and stuffed animals.
Amanda L says
My son loves cows!
Lauren says
My son likes orcas.
sabina Edwards says
LADY BUGS and dragonflies !!! I also have a question about the contest entry form…is it better to put down my pinterest as just my name or do you want the conplete pinterest url? I’m never certain which is best
stephaniepb says
My 9-year-old step-daughter is bug obsessed. 😉 She loves slugs!
Rebecca Enright says
I was going to comment on this post as a post that I LOVED and especially since it was one outside of some of the others I’ve seen from you and also as a follow up to your blog post this morning about showing mad love to bloggers, but now I see it is a contest and so my response won’t bring quite as big of a smile to your face!
Raena loves all animals. She has been fascinated by worms recently with the rainy weather bringing them out and about.
NickyJ says
She is just so thrilled whenever she sees any bug or animal that I really don’t think she has a favorite.
polly says
My grandson likes Roly Poly Bugs
Nancy Burgess says
My grandaught er loves butterflies
Rosanne Robinson says
My grandson loves dinosaurs.
Elishia says
She’s only a year old, but dogs, or “woof woofs” seem to be a favourite already,!
Wendi Niccole says
My daughter’s favorite animal is hummingbirds.
Lara says
My girls love horses, deer and unicorns (lol) best. But they love bugs too. I have always made an effort to show them insects, teach them to respect them, and explain what they do. I would love to add this book to our library, thank you for featuring it!!
Laura says
My nieces love dogs! 🙂
Susan Hartman says
Right now my grandson loves worms. Hes only2 and has been helping me dig holes!
Ashley F says
My daughter’s favorite animals are zebras!
Jennifer P. says
My daughter’s favourite animal is a cat.
Kate Hearn says
Lions, dinosaurs, bunnies (due to the baby ones in our yard)
Elaine R says
My grandson loves his pets- 3 dogs!
Debbie Bray says
Mine is a cat.
Sarah De Diego says
My two 6-year-olds love bees and butterflies but they like them all as evidenced by the menagerie that live freely in my house!?
Besos, Sarah
Journeys of The Zoo
Andrea Amy says
My kids love cats
Cathy Jarolin says
My Children’s Favorite Animal Is Dogs..
Robyn Bellefleur says
My daughter loves horses.
Darlene Owen says
My grandson loves aunts.
Darlene Owen says
whoops – ants
Karen Propes says
Zebras and butterflies.
LeAnn Harbert says
My granddaughter likes frogs.
Holly MacRitchie says
My daughters favourite animal is a dog
Nicole Sender says
My grandson loves spiders!
Sherry Compton says
My grandson likes puffins.
gale mccarron says
My Granddaughter loves snakes. I have no idea where she gets that from. ?
Judy Cox says
My 3 great grandchildren loves to play with any kind of bug and I can’t stand them. They dig for worms and hunt for rolly pollys!!
Laurie P says
Currently, my girl is all about butterflies and ants…..
Victoria Ess says
My niece likes butterflies!
Carrie says
My boys favorite animals are sharks
Robin Abrams says
They love the praying mantis
Linda says
My child’s favourite animal is the turtle and his favourite bug is the ladybug.
Jan Lee says
My great nephew seems to like snakes, ughhh lol 🙂
Janice Cournoyer says
Giraffs
nicky says
He loves ladybugs!
Lana Bradstream says
Right now, it is tigers.
Terri Irvin says
My eight year old granddaughter loves elephants and my ten year old granddaughter loves sea creatures. My six-year grandson loves anything about primates,
Jennifer Lo says
My kids love horse
Amanda Austin says
My son loves caterpillars and butterflies. Right now they are his favourite.
KD says
She loves tigers!
Anna says
He loves ladybugs most (and requests me to sing the French ladybug song). (He likes other animals too… he calls dogs and cats and birds “bow wow” !)
Stephanie Grant says
My son likes pretty much all bugs..he has a huge collection.
Nicole Lancaster says
My child’s favorite bug is a Praying Mantis.