Insect Coloring Pages
Every insect has six legs and a body in three parts: a head, a middle called the thorax and a tail end called the abdomen. That's how you can tell a ladybug is an insect but a spider isn't!
A few of the creepy crawlies on this page aren't technically insects at all, so count their legs and see if you can spot them.
Ants
An ant can lift things many times heavier than its own body, which is a bit like you carrying a car home from the shops. Ants live in big families called colonies, and every ant has a job, from looking after the babies to guarding the door...
Bees
When a honeybee finds a patch of good flowers she flies home and dances about it. Her wiggly dance tells her sisters which way to fly and how far to go, so the whole hive can find the snack...
Beetles
About one out of every four kinds of animal on Earth is a beetle! Their hard front wings aren't for flying. They work like a lid that snaps shut over the thin flying wings tucked underneath.
Butterflies
Butterflies taste with their feet! When one lands on a leaf it can tell straight away whether it's a good spot to lay eggs, all without taking a single bite...
Caterpillars
A caterpillar's whole job is eating. It grows so fast that it bursts out of its own skin several times before it's ready to turn into a butterfly or moth...
Centipedes
Centipede means "hundred feet" but no centipede has exactly a hundred legs. Their legs always come in an odd number of pairs, so some have far fewer and a few have more than three hundred! That's a lot more than six, so centipedes aren't insects either.
Cockroaches
Cockroaches spend a lot of time cleaning themselves and pull their antennae through their mouths to keep them spotless. They can also flatten their bodies to squeeze through cracks you'd never guess a bug could fit in.
Crickets
Crickets keep their ears on their front legs, just below the knees! Only the boys chirp. They make the sound by rubbing one wing against the other.
Dragonflies
Dragonflies were zipping around long before the dinosaurs, and some of their ancient cousins had wings wider than your arm is long. Today's dragonflies are smaller but they can still hover in one spot and even fly backwards...
Fireflies
Fireflies aren't flies at all. They're beetles that make their own light! Each kind of firefly blinks in its own pattern, like a secret code that helps them find each other on summer nights.
Flies
A fly's big eyes are made of thousands of tiny lenses that let it see almost all the way around its head. That's why it's so hard to sneak up on one with a fly swatter!
Grasshoppers
A grasshopper's ears aren't on its head. They're on the sides of its tummy, tucked under its wings, which is a pretty strange place to keep your ears...
Ladybugs
When a bird tries to eat a ladybug, the ladybug squeezes a stinky yellow liquid out of its knees. Birds learn fast that spotted shells taste awful, and gardeners love ladybugs because they gobble up the tiny bugs that nibble roses...
Mosquitoes
Only girl mosquitoes bite. They need a little blood to make their eggs, while the boys spend their days sipping sweet nectar from flowers.
Praying Mantises
A praying mantis gets its name from the way it holds its front legs folded up like hands in prayer. Those legs are really snap traps for catching other bugs, and the mantis can turn its head to look right over its shoulder while it waits.
Snails
Snails aren't insects at all. They're molluscs, which makes them cousins of clams and octopuses, and they have thousands of teeny teeth on a tongue that works like a file.
Spiders
Count the legs and you'll see why spiders aren't insects. Spiders have eight legs and just two body parts, which makes them arachnids, a whole different group of creepy crawlies.
Worms
Worms have no legs at all, so they're definitely not insects! An earthworm breathes right through its skin, which means it has to stay damp to stay healthy.
More Insects
