Warm days and cool nights make summer the perfect time to play outside, but not just for us! Take bugs, for instance. They love summer too. For this reason, you will see them everywhere this time of year.
But what is a “bug?” Merriam Webster defines a bug as “an insect or other creeping or crawling small invertebrate.” ASU (Arizona State University) School of Life Sciences expands this definition a bit further: bugs are insects, but not all insects are bugs. “The key difference between true bugs and other insects is their mouth parts. True bugs suck. That’s right, the true bugs have specialized mouth parts used to suck juices. Mostly they suck fluids from plants, but there are some true bugs, like bed bugs, that feed on animals.”
For most of us, the word “bug” is basically a catchall term for any small critter that bothers us! But if you can get beyond the “ewwwww!” and study them up close and personal, bugs are fascinating critters.
Whatever your definition, learning about bugs can be an awesome family activity! Here are just a few of the resources we have on hand at DBRL to get you started.
Check out these books for younger kids:
- “Ants” by Mari C. Schuh
- “The Big Book of Bugs” by Yuval Zommer
- “Creep and Flutter: The Secret World of Insects and Spiders” by Jim Arnosky
- “Bloodsucking Fleas and Ticks” by Christine Honders
- “Ugh! A Bug!” by Ned Crowley
Older kids will enjoy these reads:
- “Show-Me Bugs, An Uncommonly Colorful Guide to 50 Cool Bugs in Missouri” by Michael Reinke
- “100 Things You Should Know About Bugs” by Steve Parker
- “Mosquito” by Heather Miller
- “Crickets and Grasshoppers” by Elaine Pascoe
- “Bugs, A Close-Up View of the Insect World” by Christopher Maynard
- “Bugged: How Insects Changed History” by Sarah Albee
DVDs:
