Insects are the world’s most diverse group of animals, with about a million species already found and named. Because of their generally small size they often escape our notice as we go about our daily lives. However, you really don’t have to try too hard to find them – even in the heart of our largest cities. Insects live in houses, back yards, parks and vacant lots. They are even more abundant in fields, woodlands, streams and lakes in the countryside. You’ll see them feeding on flowers, munching on leaves, hiding under stones, tunneling through soil, and dancing over water, each species with their own special and important place in the natural world. Insects serve as food for fish, birds, amphibians, mammals, and many other kinds of animals. They eat vegetation, converting it into high-energy animal foods, they parasitize each other, and they pollinate many of the food crops we eat. Insects convert dead plants and animals back into the essential nutrients of life, and they till the soil, keeping it suitable for plant growth. In fact, it’s hard to imagine how the rest of the living world could survive if suddenly insects were prevented from doing their many important tasks in the environment. For that reason, they are considered ‘the little things that run the world’.

Here are colouring pages of 6 different kinds of insect that can be easily found in the spring and early summer: dragonflies, ground beetles, ants, honey bees, cat fleas, and monarch butterfly caterpillars & adults. Stay tuned for another batch of insect colouring pages later this summer!