fun to do kids costa rica   Travel for Kids
     
     
   

Costa Rica

Costa Rica

Traveling through Costa Rica with kids, it's a treasure trove of animal life, volcanoes and rain forests. Animal life includes not just crowd-pleasers such as turtles, boa constrictors, toucans and macaws. One friend says, "Kids love the insects. There is such a diversity of life growing on the jungle floor. My girls sat for hours watching leaf-cutter ants or a snake eat a frog (it was a slow process)."

    Central Valley
    Caribbean Zone
    Around Arenal
    Monteverde
    Pacific Coast
family tours costa rica
multigenerational tour

Costa Rica is a fantastic nature and cultural experience for families.

Whether it's a night time walk in the rainforest, hiking on a volcano, whitewater rafting and kayaking, ziplines in the jungle, visiting a coffee farm or learning how chocolate is made, this tour company will arrange a custom itinerary and unforgettable trip to Costa Rica:

    Quivertree Family Expeditions
kids books costa rica
     
the umbrella  
The Umbrella
Jan Brett

In the cloud forest, a tree frog drops into a leafy green umbrella, then a toucan leaps in, followed by a kinkajou, baby tapir, and quetzal bird. And what happens when an impulsive monkey tosses the umbrella in the river? A delightful Costa Rica rain forest story. (Board book)

Another board book: Pop-Up Peekaboo! Rainforest

 

     
Red-Eyed Tree Frog
Joy Cowley, Nic Bishop

A bright green frog looks for his dinner – will it be an iguana, katydid, or boa snake (whoops, the frog is nearly a snack for the snake), but a nice crunchy moth is tasty. Stunning photographs. (Picture book

 

 
red-eyed tree frog
     
Over in the Jungle picture book costa rica  
Over in the Jungle
Marianne Berkes, Jeanette Canyon

A rhyming story with gorgeous collages takes you into the tropical rainforest. “Over in the jungle, wearing wings of shiny blue, lived a morpho butterfly, and her little morphos two.” (Picture book)

 

     
Goodnight, Little Sloth
Amanda Wood, Vikki Chu, Bec Winnel

A little sloth takes life slowly, swaying in the breeze, munching on leaves, taking long naps. But from his branch he watches life in the rainforest – a butterfly hatching, spider weaving its web, lizard walking on water, hummingbird like a flying jewel, orchids blooming one after the other. Delightful story. (Picture book)

 

 
goodnight little sloth
     
one tiny treefrog  
One Tiny Treefrog
Tony Piedra, Mackenzie Joy

Ten wiggly tadpole eggs fall off their leaf , plunging into the river, hiding from predators like dragon flies and fish, while they grow into froglets, then leap out of the water up into the trees, where the red-eyed treefrogs live, high up in the rainforest. Wonderfully illustrated. (Picture book)

 

     
Rain, Rain, Rain Forest
Brenda Z. Guiberson, Steve Jenkins

As the rain splashes down in the rain forest, a sloth slowly makes his way through the branches, morpha butterfly flutters by, poison dart frog tucks her tadpoles inside a bromeliad, toucans glide through the mist. Gorgeous collage illustrations. (Picture book)

 

 
Rain, Rain, Rain Forest
     
The Parrot Tico Tango picture book rainforest costa rica  

A greedy parrot snatches fruit from his friends – a dreamy sloth, quizzical monkey, sharp-eyed snake, timid frog, cozy jaguar, and watchful iguana – but his big beak gets him in trouble. A rhyming story with bright collages, fun for little ones. (Picture book)

 

     
The Forest in the Clouds
Sneed B. Collard III, Michael Rothman

An excellent guide to Monteverde cloud forests – the birds, especially the bellbird and quetzel, butterflies, plants, nocturnal animals and those hard-to-see camouflaged animals. (Picture book)

 

 
The Forest in the Clouds animals rain forest costa rica kids books
     
The Scarlet Macaw Scandal Nancy Drew mystery kids oso peninsula Costa Rica  

Three mysteries with Nancy Drew and her best friends in Costa Rica - the rainforest and wildlife are amazing but someone is poaching endangered scarlet macaws and a dead sea turtle ends up in an eco-friendly resort (Chapter books)

 

     
Tortillas and Lullabies:
Tortillas y cancionitas

Lynn Reiser, Corazones Valientes

Fabulous paintings by six Costa Rican women ("Corazones Valientes") tell a story of generations of families, making tortillas, gathering tropical flowers, washing clothes and singing songs at bedtime. In English and Spanish. (Picture book)

 

 
costa rica english spanish kids Tortillas and Lullabies
     
postcard from costa rica  
A Postcard from Costa Rica
(Magic Postcards)
Laurie Friedman, Roberta Ravasio

A magic postcard transports Carlos and Camila to Costa Rica. They hike in the rain forest, excited to see colorful frogs, macaws, hummingbirds, and toucans, visit a wildlife sanctuary with butterflies and howler monkeys, raft down a river, zip line across tree tops, ride horses around volcano, and snorkel with tropical fish in the warm ocean. (Easy reader)

 

TfK Blog
TfK Blog