Brilliant Nature Books for Curious Kids

From stories about birds to creatures who inspire our homes, here’s our list of favourite children’s reading this summer.

The Bowerbird by Julia Donaldson & Catherine Rayner

Found an empty nest on your nature walk? Or spotted some fledgings?

Birds are great inspirations for young biomimicrists. Birds build all sorts of interesting nests. The bowerbirds can be found in Australia and Papua New Guinea and their nests are amazing. The male bowerbirds build a ‘bower’ to attract a female. They collect objects to impress the female. All sort of interesting things can be found in their whimsical bowers. The satin bowerbird loves to collect blue things while other species look for anything shiny and interesting.

Built by Animals by Christiane Dorion & Yeji Yun

Love this book. Perfect inspiration for those rainy summer days!

Built by Animals is a brilliant book! Absolutely love this follow-up to the book Invented by Animals.

The World’s Most Ridiculous Animals by Philip Bunting

Animals have adapted to thrive on our planet in the most fantastic ways. Love the narrator describes the evolutionary reasons or advantages for the extraordinary characteristics in a funny and engaging voice. Wonderful illustration makes this book a real treat. Extra points for including the Sea Sheep, one of my favourite animals!

The World’s Most Pointless Animals: Or are they? It is on our wishlist. It looks great!

Funny Bums, Freaky Beaks: and Other Incredible Creature Features by Alex Morrs & Sean Taylo

The title is sure to spark interest! And the great thing is that this book continues to deliver. The visually appealing book has an underlying message that everybody and everything is strange in its own special way. Differences should be celebrated and they can ignite the most amazing ideas.

Little Inventors Go Green!: Inventing for a Better Planet by Dominique Wilcox and Katherine Megardon

What could be better than using Biomimicry to Invent for a Better Future? This activity book is the perfect inspiration for budding inventors. It is a follow-up to The Little Inventors Handbook: A guide to becoming an ingenious inventor.