Learning about ants with your kids? These ant books for kids are perfect resources for an ant unit study!
When learning about the world of bugs and insects with your kids, books are wonderful resources. Not every child is comfortable observing these tiny critters up close.
Sometimes once a child learns more about a topic, they are less afraid. Books, crafts, and even coloring pages are great resources to add to a unit about ants!
I have personally read each one of the books on this list. Only educational books about ants made it onto the list. Great for multi-aged settings, these books are great for ages preschool, kindergarten, elementary, and even middle school.
If you are looking to order a book, click on the Amazon or Bookshop links found within each review.
Local libraries are also wonderful resources. They carry a wide range of books if you are looking to borrow some instead.
I like to provide my readers with information about how to use these books to teach science. To jump ahead to the books, simply click on a title from the list below.
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As a thank you for being a reader of this blog, make sure to download your copy of the ant bookmarks. Downloadable PDF available at the bottom of this post.
Free printable bookmarks featuring black and white ant designs are perfect to use when reading these books!
Age Range
- Preschoolers
- Kindergartners
- Elementary
- Middle School
When exploring science with your kids, its okay to mix in books written for different age groups. Younger children can learn from the images in books geared towards older kids.
While books written for younger kids can help simplify concepts for older children. Plus, I have found that nonfiction children's books can even be used with kids as old as middle school.
Even as an adult, I learn new things from books written for preschoolers to age 7. There really is so much that can be learned through great books!
If you are looking for more educational books for your kids check out these additional posts:
The Life and Times of the Ant
Charles Micucci's book The Life and Times of the Ant is a great book for kids of all ages.
Filled with information about ants, this informational text contains a lot of valuable information. Recommended for preschoolers to age 7, however, even older children can learn from this text.
Learn about the history of ants, why ants are important, how they survive, and much more! Book includes a table of contents and a glossary.
Are You an Ant?
Judy Allen's book, Are You an Ant? is a beautifully written children's book about the life cycle of an ant. Written in story format, it follows the growth of an ant colony from one lone queen ant. It then goes into how ants gather food and tend to the nest.
Illustrations created by Tudor Humphries are beautifully done. If your child is afraid of ants, this story can help make them less scary. This may be classified as a book for ages 5-8, but even older children can learn from this book!
Ants for Kids: A Junior Scientist's Guide
Written by Beverly Gerdeman, PhD, Ants for Kids: A Junior Scientist's Guide to Queens, Drones, and the Hidden World of Ants is an information packed book!
If you are studying ants with your elementary or middle school aged kids, this book is a must read. Complete with an index and glossary this book makes a perfect resource book for kids of all ages.
Learn about the history of ants, inside the ant hill, and more through real life photographs and text.
At 72 pages long, you may want to look at different sections at a time with your kids verses reading it in one sitting. Highly recommend this book.
One Hundred Hungry Ants
Elinor J Pinczes children's book One Hundred Hungry Ants follows a colony of ants on its journey to a picnic. Unlike the other books on this list, this one does not focus on facts about ants.
However, I still recommend this book as it can get your child interested in math. The 100 ants are divided in different ways throughout the story!
Your children can even predict how the ants will be divided next as the story progresses. Written in verse, this story is also great for exploring this type of writing with older children.
Ant Cities
The Let's Read and Find Out Science book, Ant Cities is written by Arthur Dorros. This non-fiction book is packed full of information about ants. Perfect for an ant unit study!
Written with kids in mind, your children will learn all about what happens within an ant hill. Big and colorful illustrations bring the text to life.
Suggested for kids ages 5-9, but really any aged child will benefit from this book. A great resource to use when learning about ant vocabulary terms and different types of ants.
Anthill (Boardbook)
Petra Bartikova's board book Anthill is absolutely adorable! If you are like me and enjoy board books that have a little bit more substance, then you will love this book.
This might be a board book, but elementary aged kids will really enjoy this book. Bright and colorful illustrations show what it is like to be an ant. How the colony survives, different jobs ants keep, and how they construct an anthill.
Plus there is a bit of humor mixed which makes this book fun to read alongside your kids. Did I mention, the first few pages are cut out in the shape of an anthill!
National Geographic Reader: Ants
Filled with real life images of ants, National Geographic Reader: Ants is a true informational text.
Filled with scientific vocabulary, yet written with kids in mind. Facts about ants, different species of ants, and ant habitats.
Not just for young children, the real life photographs in this book are great for kids of all ages. I think its worth mentioning, if your child is afraid of ants, they may find the close up photographs a little scary.
Additional Bug Themed Activities
We are pretty passionate about bugs and insects over here! We have a collection of coloring pages with bug themes along with more books and printables!
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Downloadable Ant Bookmarks
Don't forget to get your copy of the printable ant bookmarks. Black and white images perfect for your kids to color! For additional ant designs check out our ant coloring pages!
Lindsey
We homeschool and my Kindergartner is actually learning about insects right now. Thanks for all the ant recommendations to go along with our study!
Brandi
This is great! If you were to recommend your top 2 books for ages 6 and under, which 2 would you reach for?
Julie
Great question...Are You an Ant? and Anthill are both fun for younger children
Julie
Your welcome! Insects are so much fun for kindergartners to explore
Rachel
I always trust your suggestions so all these books are on the kiddos list for today's library trip ❤
Julie
That is awesome! Local libraries are the best, hopefully they have a few of them from the list.