This bug bingo printable deals 4 × 4 cards from 75 squares: insects, spiders, other small crawlers and the clues they leave, such as spittlebug foam and a snail trail. The list is sorted by where to look.
Read the full guide
Why the card starts at 4 × 4
A line takes four finds, which one slow lap of a yard can supply, and with no free square every mark is a real find. For one spot, Ready-made list has On flowers, leaves and stems. No water on your route? Select the last nine lines of the word list, Water strider to Pond snail, and delete them.
Not every square is an insect
An insect has six legs and a body in three parts. By that test the spiders, the centipede, the pill bug, the slug and the earthworm are not insects, and the Royal Entomological Society places the springtail outside the true insects too. To an entomologist a true bug is one order only, home to aphids, stink bugs, cicadas and water striders.
Look, do not collect: a find counts once a second player sees it. Roll a log toward you, then set it back as it lay.
After long grass or leaf litter, check everyone for ticks. Go out twice: bees and butterflies work flowers by day, most moths fly at night.
Give the clue squares full weight. A chewed leaf or an empty cicada shell stays put after everything with wings has flown.
Questions and answers
Do players have to catch anything?
No. Seeing it counts, and for the cricket and the cicada, hearing it counts. Wasp, paper wasp nest, centipede and backswimmer are look-only squares, as their clues say. To leave wasps or spiders out, delete those lines from the word list first.
Will these bugs live where I am?
Most squares are whole groups, such as ground beetle or hoverfly, so the card travels. Names are North American, with the British name in the clue: ladybird, shield bug, pond skater. No fireflies, cicadas or mantises near you? Type a local favorite over each.
Can a big group play?
Yes. Set How many cards to the head count, up to 60, and every card differs. Outdoors, pairs work well: one holds the clipboard while the other looks. Afterwards, press Call the game and read out the clue under each call, not the name.
All 75 squares
On flowers, leaves and stems 20
AphidsTiny and soft, often under leaves. Ants climbing a stem can lead you there: they tend aphids for honeydew.
BumblebeeRounder than a honey bee and covered in soft hair. Clover and lavender are good places to wait.
ButterflyIts antennae end in small clubs. Any kind counts.
CaterpillarThe larva of a butterfly or a moth. Turn over a leaf that has holes in it.
Crab spiderSpins no web. It waits on a flower with its front two pairs of legs held wide, like a crab.
GrasshopperShort, stout antennae. Walk slowly through long grass and watch what jumps, then check for ticks.
Green lacewingBright green with translucent wings, often with golden eyes. Its larvae hunt aphids.
Honey beeOn open flowers. Look for pollen packed into the baskets on its back legs.
HoverflyStriped like a wasp, but a harmless fly. It hangs in one spot in the air above a flower.
InchwormA geometer moth caterpillar. It walks by drawing its back end up to its front, in a loop.
Jumping spiderFour pairs of eyes, the front middle pair very large. Look on sunny leaves, walls and fence rails.
Show all 75 squares (64 more)
On flowers, leaves and stems, continued
KatydidA bush cricket in Britain. Leaf green, with antennae that can be longer than its body.
LadybugA beetle, called a ladybird in Britain. Check stems crowded with aphids: most kinds eat them.
LeafhopperTiny, on grass and shrub leaves. Its back legs are built for jumping, so it vanishes when touched.
MothFeathery or thread-thin antennae with no club at the tip. By day, check walls, fences and tree trunks.
Praying mantisSits still on shrubs and tall stems with its front legs folded as if in prayer.
Soldier beetleSoft and straight-sided, also called a leatherwing. Check open flower heads in summer.
Stink bugA shield bug in Britain. From above, the adult is shaped like a shield.
WalkingstickA stick insect, shaped and colored like a twig. It is the hard square on any card.
WeevilA beetle with a long snout.
Under logs, stones and pots 16
AntElbowed antennae and a narrow waist. One ant counts.
Beetle grubA pale, C-shaped larva in soil or under debris. Cover it again once you have looked.
CentipedeEach body segment has a single pair of legs, and it is quick. All centipedes are venomous, so look and do not pick up.
Click beetleOn its back, it snaps a spine into a notch with a click that can bounce it into the air.
CricketLong, slender antennae. Mostly active at night, so hearing a male chirp at dusk counts.
Daddy longlegsA harvestman: eight legs, but no spider. Its body looks like a single oval, and it has no venom glands.
EarthwormA segmented worm, not an insect. Look in damp soil under a stone.
EarwigPincers at the tail end. It is active at night and hides in small damp cracks by day.
Ground beetleMost are black and shiny, or metallic, with ridged wing covers. Lift a log and watch for one running off.
MillipedeTwo pairs of legs on most segments, and slow. It curls into a tight coil when disturbed.
Pill bug (roly-poly)A woodlouse. It is a crustacean, closer kin to crabs than to insects, and this family rolls into a ball.
Rove beetleShort wing covers leave more than half of its abdomen showing.
SlugA mollusk with no shell to hide in. It shelters where it is damp, under logs and planters for example.
SnailA mollusk with a coiled shell big enough to pull itself into.
SpringtailTiny, in damp leaf litter. A forked tail folded under its body snaps down and flings it into the air.
Wolf spiderHunts on the ground and usually spins no web. A mother carries her egg sac, then her young on her back.
In the air and at the porch light 14
Bee flyA furry fly that looks like a small bee. It holds its long tongue straight out and cannot tuck it away.
Blow flyShiny and metallic, often blue or green. Bluebottles and greenbottles are blow flies.
CicadaUsually heard, not seen: a very loud song from the trees, made with drum-like organs called tymbals.
Crane flyLooks like a giant mosquito and is called a mosquito hawk, but it does not prey on mosquitoes.
DamselflySlimmer than a dragonfly. Most kinds fold their wings along the body at rest.
DragonflyAt rest it holds its wings flat and away from its body.
FireflyA lightning bug, and a beetle, not a fly. It flashes mainly at twilight to attract a mate.
Gnat swarmA cloud of tiny flies dancing over a path or a pond. Mating swarms often form around dusk.
House flyRed compound eyes. It has taste organs on its feet, so it can tell sugar by walking over it.
June bugA brown scarab beetle that flies at night and is drawn to lights. Britain's cousin is the cockchafer, or Maybug.
MayflyTwo or three long tail threads, and front wings held upright at rest. Adults cannot feed.
MosquitoOnly females bite, and not in every species. All mosquitoes drink nectar.
WaspA narrow waist and a smooth body without a bee's dense hair. Watch from a distance.
Winged antA young queen or a male that has left the nest on its mating flight.
Webs, trails and other clues 16
Ant trailA forager that finds food marks a scent trail on the way home, and the others follow it.
AnthillWorkers heap soil or sand by the nest entrance.
Beetle tracks under barkMany bark beetles feed in a tree's inner bark. Look for grooves where bark has come off a dead log.
Chewed leafHoles or scalloped edges both count. Turn the leaf over: the eater may still be there.
Cocoon or chrysalisA chrysalis is the pupa of a butterfly. A cocoon is a silk case that many moth caterpillars spin.
Eggs on a leafCheck the underside. Leave the leaf on the plant.
Funnel web in the grassA flat sheet of web that is not sticky, with a funnel at one side where a grass spider waits.
Leaf mineA pale squiggle inside a leaf, left by a larva feeding between the leaf's two skins.
Orb webThe spiral, wheel-shaped web. Orb-weaver spiders are the usual builders in a garden.
Paper wasp nestGray or brown paper made from wood and plant fibers mixed with saliva. Look from well back, never touch.
Plant gallA swelling a plant grows around an insect. The Latin word galla meant an oak apple.
Shed bug skinThe empty outer skeleton left after a molt. Cicada shells on tree trunks are the easy find.
Snail trailDried slime, a silvery track you can often see on stone or concrete.
Spider egg sacA female spider wraps her eggs in a case of silk.
Spittlebug foamCuckoo spit in Britain. A froghopper nymph hides inside foam it whips up from plant sap.
Worm castA small mound of soil on a lawn. It shows where an earthworm is below.
At the pond or stream edge 9
BackswimmerSwims on its back, paddling with long fringed hind legs. It can stab a finger, so watch without scooping.
Caddisfly caseA larva inside a tube it built from silk with sand, gravel, twigs or bits of plant.
Diving beetleStores air under its wing covers and keeps coming back to the surface for more.
Dragonfly nymphThe young dragonfly lives underwater and hunts there, in some species for up to five years.
Mosquito larvaA wriggler in still water, even a bucket. It breathes through a tube at its tail, so it hangs at the surface.
Pond snailSome freshwater snails breathe with gills. Others have to come up to the surface for air.
Water boatmanRows under the surface with oar-shaped legs.
Water striderA pond skater in Britain. It walks on the surface of calm water. Look from the bank, with an adult beside any child at the water's edge.
Whirligig beetleSwims in fast circles on the surface. Each eye is divided, one part above the water and one below.
How this list was compiled: Written for this site on 2026-09-18 and 2026-09-19 as a list of insects, other small invertebrates and the signs they leave, grouped by where to look; nothing was copied from another bingo card or field guide. The list uses the everyday North American names and gives the British name in the explanation where the two differ (ladybird, bush cricket, shield bug, pond skater, cuckoo spit, Maybug). Every square is 30 characters or fewer. Every name and every fact in an explanation line was read on 2026-09-19 in the English Wikipedia article for that animal or sign (https://en.wikipedia.org): Coccinellidae, Honey bee, Bumblebee, Hoverfly, Butterfly, Moth, Caterpillar, Geometer moth, Aphid, Chrysopidae, Grasshopper, Tettigoniidae, Mantis, Pentatomidae, Leafhopper, Weevil, Soldier beetle, Rhagonycha fulva, Goldenrod soldier beetle, Thomisidae, Jumping spider, Phasmatodea, Woodlouse, Armadillidiidae, Earwig, Centipede, Millipede, Ground beetle, Slug, Snail, Earthworm, Ant, Springtail, Rove beetle, Scarabaeidae, Opiliones, Wolf spider, Click beetle, Cricket (insect), Dragonfly, Damselfly, Mosquito, Crane fly, Housefly, Firefly, Wasp, Yellowjacket, Gnat, Mayfly, Phyllophaga, Cockchafer, Bombyliidae, Cicada, Nuptial flight, Calliphoridae, Orb-weaver spider, Agelenidae, Froghopper, Leaf miner, Gall, Pupa, Exuviae, Ant colony, Snail slime, Paper wasp, Spider, Bark beetle, Worm cast, Gerridae, Corixidae, Notonectidae, Whirligig beetle, Dytiscidae, Caddisfly and Freshwater snail. Which animals are insects and which are not (six legs for insects; springtails six-legged but outside the true insects; centipedes and spiders in other groups), and the points about earwig pincers, mayfly tails and caddisfly cases, were also read on 2026-09-19 on the Royal Entomological Society's pages at https://www.royensoc.co.uk/understanding-insects/classification-of-insects/ (Dermaptera, Ephemeroptera, Trichoptera, Hemiptera, Odonata). Where-to-look hints are our own and are not field-guide identification: several squares are whole families, and kinds differ by region. The usual ways to win (a row, column or diagonal, four corners, blackout) were checked against https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bingo_%28American_version%29 on 2026-09-18. The tick line in the first tip follows https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/prevention/index.html, read 2026-09-19: ticks live in grassy, brushy or wooded areas, and the page asks for a full body check on return, your own backyard included; the Grasshopper square carries the same reminder. The adult at the water's edge on the Water strider square follows https://www.cdc.gov/drowning/prevention/index.html, read 2026-09-20: 'Designate a responsible adult to supervise closely and constantly when children are in or near water.' Licence: own work