🌈 Name Your Colors and Critters Too – A Flip-Flap Adventure That Reads Like a Game

I wanted to share a children’s book 🌈 Name Your Colors and Critters Too – A Flip-Flap Adventure That Reads Like a Game we received in exchange for this review. Inside this post is may affiliate links if you click on the links I will make a small percentage off the products you purchase.

I don’t know about for your family but there are some children’s books that feel like you’re just reading them… and then there are the ones that feel like you’re playing them. That is what Name Your Colors and Critters, Too did for my family.

Name Your Colors and Critters Too is a flip-flap board book from Workman Publishing (an imprint of Workman Publishing, part of Hachette Book Group), and this children’s book doesn’t behave like a traditional storybook at all. It’s more like an interactive adventure where families don’t just turn pages—they discover, peek, flip, and reveal what’s hiding underneath.

Name Your Colors and Critters Too is sturdy like a board book, but with a playful structure that makes it feel like something in between a puzzle, a guessing game, and a story you build as you go. This book is small enough to fit in a bag to take when running errands.

In the story they start by describing an insect and its color like a ladybug, or a shiny beetle, or the leaping grasshopper Charlie and David liked.

Then you peek under leaves and discover bright little insects hiding in plain sight. The story is simple, but there’s something really engaging about the story because kids aren’t just listening… they’re participating which is hands on learning one of the easiest ways for Charlie to learn when he was #Homeschooling.

And honestly, the “flip the leaves back into place” part at the end is something I didn’t expect to love as much as I did. Once you reach the rainbow bugs at the end, you actually go backwards, flipping everything back into place one by one. I’ve never seen a book do that before—it literally lets you “reset” the story. It’s like the book never really ends, it just loops back into itself.

That alone makes Name Your Colors and Critters Too feel special and makes the story go on and on. Another fun fact is the boo can also be read side-to-side. Have you ever seen a children’s book like this one?

The illustrations are bright and friendly in the way younger kids respond to immediately. A red ladybug resting on a leaf feels calm and familiar. An orange butterfly stood out to me right away because butterflies always end up meaning something more in our home and on my blog.

There’s a pink mantis in the breeze, which made me think of Suzanne—who would have absolutely loved that detail. A white cabbage moth which is a insect I’d never heard of flutters through Had you heard of a white cabbage moth? A yellow bee buzzes by, and of course that made me think of David because anything honey-related always does.

Then there’s a green grasshopper… and I’ll be honest, those are a hard pass in real life in my world, but in the book it’s all very cute and contained where it belongs. A purple beetle, a blue dragonfly, and even black ants near the end round out the rainbow of critters.

Each page feels like a color lesson, an insect lesson, and a little bit of storytelling all mixed together in a way that never feels overwhelming for younger readers. This is a great addition to #Homeschooling when studying animals #insects or #bugs.

What I really like about this book is how flexible it is. It doesn’t just go forward—it goes forward, backward, and side to side in engagement. Kids can interact with the story differently every time they pick it up, which makes it one of those books that doesn’t get old quickly.

I can easily see Name Your Colors and Critters Too in a preschool or kindergarten classroom library where kids are learning colors, early science concepts, and just how to interact with books in a hands-on way. Name Your Colors and Critters Too would also be perfect tucked into a summer basket for kids getting out of school, especially when parents are looking for something that isn’t just screen-based entertainment.

And honestly, I also think Name Your Colors and Critters Too is a really thoughtful end-of-year teacher gift idea—not another mug, candle, or gift card, but something that actually stays in the classroom and gets used.

There’s something sweet about giving a book that teaches without feeling like it’s teaching. This children’s book feels like play first… learning second… and memories somewhere in between all living inside this FlipFlap book.

🌼Name Your Colors and Critters Too is the kind of book I would keep on a shelf where little hands can reach it easily. Not because it’s fancy, but because it invites curiosity. And in a world where kids are often rushed from one thing to the next, a children’s book that slows them down long enough to peek under a leaf and notice a beetle or a butterfly feels kind of important.

From my porch to yours—this one earns a quiet little spot in the “worth keeping” pile

💛 Would I recommend it?

Yes—especially for: