Insects for Kids: Ants, Bees, Beetles and Crickets

Eight insects children can find in a garden or a park: the ant, the bee and the wasp, the beetle, the cricket that chirps at night, the praying mantis, the fly and the moth. All insects have six legs and three body parts, head, thorax and abdomen, and most have wings.

There are two hidden tricks in this grid: ant is also inside mantis, and bee is also inside beetle. Only the words standing on their own count, so look carefully.

Insects Vocabulary: 8 Words to Find

Words run across, up and down; 3 of the 8 read backwards. The longest word is Cricket, with 7 letters.

Ant: A small insect that lives in colonies, sometimes of millions, with a queen, workers and soldiers.
Bee: A flying insect that collects nectar and pollen from flowers. Honeybees live in hives.
Beetle: An insect whose hard front wings close like a case over its back. There are around 400,000 known kinds.
Cricket: A jumping insect related to grasshoppers. Males chirp by rubbing their wings together.
Fly: A small insect with only two wings, like the housefly.
Mantis: The praying mantis, an insect that holds its front legs together as if praying, ready to snatch prey.
Moth: An insect related to butterflies, usually active at night, with feathery or thin antennae.
Wasp: A flying insect with a narrow waist that can sting more than once.

How to Solve the Insects Word Search

Watch the double finds: "ant" hides inside "mantis" and "bee" inside "beetle", but the short words also appear on their own, running down. "Cricket" is the only backwards word, with the only C and K. "Fly" and "moth" run upward.

Bug Hunt Activities for Kids

Go on a bug hunt with a magnifying glass and tick off each insect you find.
Count the legs and body parts on a picture of each insect.
Ask children whether a spider is an insect: it is not, because it has eight legs.