Living lists is a series that I started to grow with my children. Below is a list of books we are using to explore nature in pre-k & Kindergarten, and we will continue to grow this list as the year goes on. See our lesson (theme) page to see these books in action or follow us on Instagram. Thank you for using our picture links as a free way to support our blog!

A living list of books to bring us a little closer to nature:

Forest Books:

The Woodland Book 

A beautiful Usborne book great for littles! It has a bright color palette with plenty of details to keep children interested as you read!

Woodland Creatures

Woodland Creatures is a good introduction to animals you might find hiking out in the woods or for kids who love animals. Be aware that it does introduce the idea of the food chain, with snakes and owls that eat other little creatures.

Little Fox in the Forest

Little Fox in the Forest is on the top of my list, not for “reading”, as it is a silent book (a book without words), but for storytelling. The silent story format leaves room for imagination and allows kids to create their own stories at bedtime. My kids create the dialog for their silent books and change it around every night.

SERIES:

Botanicum

This series by illustrator Katie Scott is phenomenal! Beautiful illustrations that pull you in and are enticing enough to sit out on the coffee table for kids (and adults!) to pick up at any time. You can even get an activity book to go along with your text. I would say the activity book (linked below) is more geared towards artistic children than actual worksheets to test knowledge, though.

Animalium

by Jenny Broom (Author) & Katie Scott (Illustrator)

Animalium is my 4-year-old’s favorite book to steal. If you have an animal-obsessed child at home, or if you are just looking to dive into animals for your homeschool, this is an amazing introduction to the animal kingdom. I would recommend this activity book for anyone teaching the food chain or animal kingdom.

AND, if you still need a little more artistic exploration time, Animalium also has a coloring book! Just putting that out there for those artsy types. 😉

Nature Anatomy

Nature Anatomy has much of the same feel as Food and Farm Anatomy. It dives into understanding the behavior of birds, the anatomy of insects and flowers, the phases of the moon, ecosystems, life cycles, cloud formations, and much more. This is probably the most useful book from Rothman to introduce a variety of science topics.

The Julia Rothman Collection: Farm Anatomy, Nature Anatomy, and Food Anatomy

If you simply can’t choose in the fantastic series, you can buy the whole collection slightly cheaper than buying each book 1 by 1. The collection comes with 10 prints of Rothman’s beautiful artwork to hang around your homeschool area. I love getting these books for kids’ presents, and parents seem interested in them as well. I highly recommend this series for anyone with a curious cat at home.

Dianna Hutts Aston Books

Dianna Hutts Aston has made books that are both calming to look at and also extremely inviting to explore. There are short read sentences on each page as well as longer explanations. This ensures that the book grows with your child as they become more able and excited to investigate nature in depth.