10 Preschool Science Read Alouds

Over the past year I’ve done quite a bit of science-focused activities with my preschoolers. We’ve had the opportunity to include many science picture books into our units. Here is a list of 10 of our favorite preschool science read-alouds from this year.

We love the Are You an … series by Backyard Books! We have read (afflink) Are You an Ant? and Are You a Butterfly? These books are wonderful to introduce animal facts in a fun way to younger children.

(afflink)Garden Wigglers is a simple book that teaches all about worms. It introduces the parts of a worm and why worms are helpful. We read this multiple times during our (afflink)worm unit.

(affllink)Ten Little Caterpillars is my almost 2yr. old’s favorite book! She loves to find the caterpillars on each page. After reading this book several times, my 5 year old was able to name almost all the different types of butterflies mentioned in the book.  Wonderful book for a butterfly unit.

This is another favorite. We sang the song and learned about Bones while reading Dem Bones by Bob Barner. My little ones learned along with my older kids during our anatomy unit. We also used it for our Letter X unit.

Yes, another Bob Barner book! Bugs! Bugs! Bugs! is another of our go-to books. Using rhyme and bright, colorful collage illustrations, this book teaches young children that bugs aren’t all that bad!  The book ends with actual-sized illustrations of the creatures and a “Bug-O-Meter” that lists a few of their characteristics. We first used it in our letter B unit and still read it often.

Learning about birds? We have enjoyed reading Feathers for Lunch by Lois Ehlert.  A pet cat tries to get lunch but all he catches is feathers. This is a cute story plus nature-guide rolled up in one book. Lois Ehlert depicts 12 common birds in the story along with some fun facts at the end of the book. This is another book that we first used during our ABC unit that is still a favorite. (Letter F unit)

This was one of the main books we read during our gardening unit. (afflink) Jack’s Garden by Henry Cole is a beautifully illustrated story based on the House That Jack Built, Jack’s Garden doesn’t just tell a story but teaches as well. It has labeled drawings of garden tools, insects in the soil, seeds, clouds, parts of plants, plants, butterflies, birds, and other insects.

Of course we also had to re-read (afflink)Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert during our garden study too. I love the way she incorporates facts into her drawings. By looking at our list you might notice that we enjoy her books! Here’s a craft we did based on this book: Planting a Rainbow craft.

We’ve had (afflink) The Berenstain Bears’ Big Book of Science since my oldest was a preschooler. I like that we can use it as a simple reference book on almost any science topic we are discussing.

I had a hard time stopping at 10 books! There are so many wonderful picture books that can be used to teach preschoolers science concepts.

What are your favorite preschool science books?

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