Our favourite: children's books about nature
Along with gardening with our little one, reading is one of our very favourite things to do together. We love to read books, curled up, turning the pages and watching her tiny dimpled hands point to all the things she loves the best. We can’t resist a good children’s book and collect them wherever we go: bookshops, of course, but also charity shops, NCT nearly new sales, and hand-me-downs from friends with older children.
Our daughter’s favourite type of books are the ones she calls “learning books” – books that teach her more about the world. Best of all, we all adore beautifully produced books with good illustrations that are a joy to look at, as well as to discover fascinating things from…
So, we’ve put together a round-up of some of our very favourite “learning books” about gardening and nature. These are the ones we return to time and again, to admire the drawings, check up on a plant, or just enjoy the rhythm of the words.
I am the seed that grew the tree
Selected by Fiona Waters, illustrated by Fran Preston-Gannon
A gorgeous book of poetry that has a poem for every day of the year, always related to nature. It has a huge range in, everything from the classics (‘I wandered lonely as a cloud’) to contemporary poems and doggerel. A poem about a caterpillar tickling the wall always makes us laugh…
It’s a huge and heavy book, so is best to read with younger children (it has been dropped on toes a few times in this house…) but our daughter has loved it ever since she was a baby. Each page has plenty of colourful and beautiful illustrations alongside the poems, and it’s always nice to look up the poems on birthdays and read them together.
Grow
Riz Reyes and Sara Boccaccini Meadows
I adore the illustrations by Sara Boccaccini Meadows, so when I found out on her Instagram that she had illustrated a children’s book, I couldn’t pre-order it fast enough… When it arrived, it didn’t disappoint.
It’s quite unusual as it’s a first growing guide for children that talks about individual plants and relates them to their wider plant families. So, it tells you all about lettuce and how to grow your own, but also about the other plants in the same family. The illustrations are amazing, just as I’d anticipated, but the accompanying information is incredibly detailed and useful, perhaps especially so for a children’s book. Worth noting that it’s published in America, so the names are all American names (zucchini instead of courgette, for example) – but this in itself can lead to lots of interesting conversations with kids about how things are named and differences in language…
An absolute favourite of ours, perfect for kids and adults too.
RSPB’s Nature guide to wildlife
By Catherine Brereton, illustrated by Kate McLelland
A gorgeously illustrated “spotter’s guide,” this helps children (and adults!) identify all different kinds of wildlife, from common animals to native trees and plants. It’s a book that would be great for older kids, who can use it as intended, but the gorgeous clear illustrations appeal to younger children too. Our daughter loved it when she was little, as she liked to look at all of the pictures of animals.
It’s got plenty of information, but not to a point of being overwhelming. And it’s a good compact size, so you could take it along with you for an adventure in the woods, the seashore, or just in the garden.
The extraordinary gardener
By Sam Boughton
A perfect picture book for younger children, this is about a kid with a big imagination, who dreams of a better world than the grey city he lives in. He plants a seed and is inspired when a tree starts to grow. Before long, he has greened up his entire apartment block.
This is a beautiful story, that really captures the wonder and magic of growing things. Another one that we read over and over again.
Kew’s Lift and look: flowers and plants
By Tracy Cottingham
This lift-the-flap book is great for babies and toddlers. The book is solid and robust, with thick pages that can’t be too damaged by small hands! It’s part of a series, which includes trees and fruit and veg, but this is one of our favourites as the flower pictures are so appealing.
It’s a super simple book, with eye-catching illustrations of some of our favourite flowers and plants. Perfect for starting some basic plant identifications!
Bird sounds
By Sam Taplin, illustrated by Federica Iossa
Another great book for babies and toddlers. We find all the Usborne books excellent, and this is no exception. And this one is a particular wonder, as it’s a book that makes noise, but isn’t annoying! It’s small and concise, with some cute pictures of birds, press-the-buttons to hear their calls, and tactile pages with cut aways and peep holes. A great introduction to starting to recognise bird calls, and identify birds by the sounds they make (not just for children, we learnt a few new bird noises from this book too!)
Why do we need bees?
By Katie Daynes, illustrated by Christine Pym
Another Usborne book, this one is part of a series, that answers simple questions for children in an engaging and informative way. We love so many of the other books in the series as well, like Why does it rain? Or What is poo?
It’s another turn the flap book, so is great for younger children, but it has lots of detailed information in it, answering the question of why bees are important. And I particularly appreciate that it doesn’t just focus on honeybees, which so many other books mention to the detriment of all of the other bees!
It’s got really sweet illustrations, and some myth busting questions (“will I get stung?”) – alongside a simple explanation of why bees are so important. Though it touches on the importance of bees to the food chain, it doesn’t scaremonger or leap to worst case scenarios, as some other books we’ve seen do, so it’s still great for a bedtime story, without worrying your child before they go to sleep.
The only downside to this one: the cardboard used for the flaps is not hugely sturdy, so encourage your kids to handle with a bit of care…
Betsy Buglove saves the bees
By Catherine Jacob and Lucy Fleming
Another of our favourite bee books, this is a lovely picture book for children aged 4-8, all about Betsy Buglove, who – true to her name – is a lover of bugs. Her neighbours next door plan to pave over their garden and when Betsy discovers that the little boy who lives there, Stan, is afraid of insects, she sets out to show him how great they can be.
A very sweet book, that includes some practical actions that children can take to help maintain bee’s habitats and a strong call for more planting and less paving! (A cause we are always behind…)
Bee
By Britta Teekentrup
Okay, so we have a lot of books about bees! This is our final bee book recommendation, another really sweet book that looks at bees and their importance. This is a cut away book, great for babies and toddlers, with each page leading through with a picture to the next one. It’s a rhyming book with detailed illustrations on each page, so plenty to see and spot. A great introduction to pollination…
Tad
By Benji Davies
Another picture book, this one is an all-time favourite for our daughter. A sweet story about a tadpole who is growing up more slowly than his brothers and sisters. Tad shows the amazing metamorphosis from tadpole to frog, and will be relatable to any child who sometimes feels frustratingly small…
Finn’s garden friends
By Rachel Lawston
A picture book about a boy who goes to live with his grandfather and is sad because he no longer has a garden. But his grandfather takes him to the allotment, where he discovers all of the plants growing, but also the visiting animals too.
This book is great for kids to show that growing and nature comes in all sorts of different spaces – not just back gardens but allotments too. And its message about respecting all wildlife that visits (even foxes!) is one that resonates with us…
Slow down
By Rachel Williams and Freya Hartas
A beautiful book about slow moments in nature. Each double page spread talks through a slow, but important, thing happening — dew collecting on a leaf, a tadpole turning into a frog, the dawn chorus.
As with all of these books, this has gorgeous illustrations to go with the text. We love it for kids, but also for adults too, it’s the perfect reminder to be mindful and present, not rushing through life, but stopping to smell the roses — or watch a fiddlehead fern unfurl in the sunshine.
