Stories about Picnics
Quick picks: our top recommendations
| Book | Author | Find It |
|---|---|---|
| Foxly’s Feast | Check on Amazon → | |
| The Very Hungry Caterpillar | Check on Amazon → | |
| Food Friends: Fun Foods that Go Together (Board Book) | Check on Amazon → | |
| The Bear’s Lunch | Check on Amazon → | |
| Teddy Bear’s Picnic: Pop-Up Picnic Basket with Working Fork, Knife, and Spoon | Check on Amazon → | |
| The Teddy Bears’ Picnic | Check on Amazon → |
Below are 9 titles in total — we’ve highlighted our 6 favourites above. Each one links straight through to Amazon AU.
Foxly’s Feast
Author/Illustrator: Owen Davey
ISBN:978-1921690594
Find Foxly’s Feast on Amazon AU →
Format: Hardback
Publisher: Hardie Grant Egmont, 01 October 2010
Readers are treated to a visual feast in this book with retro-style illustrations and a very clever twist.
Foxly’s tummy is rumbling. He sets off on a mission to gather some ingredients for a delicious picnic. He collects some produce from the farmyard, the duck pond, the rabbit hole, and the sheep pen.
Readers watch as he slips around the farmyard animals, and when he calls to the little owl that it’s time to eat we think he’s about to devour him too, but his bags are not packed with animals at all.
You’ll have to read the book to find out just how fantastic Foxly’s feast is.
Suitable for ages 3+ (★★★★★)
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Eric Carle
ISBN:978-0140569322
Find The Very Hungry Caterpillar on Amazon AU →
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Puffin Books, November 2002
A caterpillar prepares for a transformation. He travels through the days of the week, eating healthily at first and then indulging in some treats before acquiring a tummy ache. He finds a leaf to eat before wrapping himself in a cocoon and waiting two weeks before appearing as a beautiful butterfly.
Suitable for ages 1+ (★★★★★)
Food Friends: Fun Foods that Go Together (Board Book)
Author/Illustrator: Cece Bell
Publisher: Walker Books
EAN:978-0763627775
Suitable for: Ages 1+
In FOOD FRIENDS, Cake’s surprise party brings in Bacon and Eggs, Cookies and Milk, Peanut Butter and Jelly, and other famous couples.
The Bear’s Lunch
Author: Pamela Allen
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN-13: 9780140562415
Find The Bear’s Lunch on Amazon AU →
(Paperback)
Suitable for 3+
When Wendy and Oliver decide to have a picnic in the woods, they are surprised by a great big growly bear! But wait and see what happens when Oliver and Wendy growl back!
Once Upon a Picnic
Author/Illustrator: Vivian French & John Prater
Publisher: Walker Books
Suitable for: 3+
A family picnic with some fairytale surprises!
Teddy Bear’s Picnic: Pop-Up Picnic Basket with Working Fork, Knife, and Spoon
Author/Illustrator: Pauliina Malinen
Publisher: Barron’s Educational Series
EAN:978-0764160691
Suitable for: Ages 3+
It’s Teddy Bear’s birthday, and all the other bears are organizing a surprise picnic! Teddy Bear’s favorite friends are invited, including every boy and girl who opens this book! A sweet, interactive story where children find the knife and fork to complete the place settings, butter the bread for the sandwiches, frost the cake, bake the cookies and wrap the presents.
The Teddy Bears’ Picnic
Author/Illustrator: Jimmy Kennedy & Michael Hague
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (Macmillan)
EAN:978-0805053494
Suitable for: Ages 3+
A favourite childhood song is brought to life with beautiful illustrations of country landscapes and lovable teddies of all shapes and sizes.
We’re Going on a Picnic
Author/Illustrator: Pat Hutchins
Publisher: Greenwillow Books (Harper Collins)
EAN:978-0688167998
Suitable for 3+
It was a perfect day for a picnic. Hen picked the berries, Goose picked the apples, and Duck picked the pears. Then they set out for the picnic.
Pig Out!
Author/Illustrator: Sascha Hutchinson
Publisher: Working Title Press
ISBN 978 1876288 74 7
Suitable for: 3+
Each day of the week five piglets set out to eat as much food as they can. By Sunday four of the pigs are round and fat and very, very full. But what about the fifth little pig?
Lunchbox: The Story of Your Food
Author/Illustrator: Chris Butterworth & Lucia Gaggiotti
Publisher: Walker Books
ISBN: 9781406310900
Find Lunchbox: The Story of Your Food on Amazon AU →
Suitable for: 5+
This stylish and funny book takes the reader on a tasty journey to find out, from farms, orchards, and factories all across the world.
How we use picnic books at home
A picnic is one of the cheapest, simplest activities a family can do — and one of the easiest to make magical. Picnic picture books are the warm-up for that magic. A few habits:
- Read the night before. Saturday picnic? Friday-night picnic book. The anticipation is half the fun.
- Pack the book in the picnic basket. Read it again on the rug after lunch, while everyone’s slow and full. We’ve done this with The Teddy Bears’ Picnic probably 50 times.
- Use the book’s food list as a shopping list. Many picnic books name specific foods. Make those. The match between book and basket is what kids notice.
- For backyard picnics: a picnic-themed book on a rug in the backyard genuinely feels like a real picnic to a small child. Don’t over-think this.
- Read on rainy weekends. Picnic books on a wet Sunday are a tiny, useful piece of mood-management. They reset the day from “this is the worst” to “next weekend’s going to be great.”
Why picnic books matter
Picnics are a low-cost, low-stress way for a family to share a slow afternoon. Most families don’t do them as often as they’d like — not because they’re hard, but because the planning friction is real. Picnic picture books quietly remove some of that friction. They turn “we should picnic more” into “the kids are asking to picnic.”
The other thing this category does well: picnic books tend to slow down. The pacing matches the activity. A child reading We’re Going on a Bear Hunt-style picnic-adjacent stories absorbs a slower rhythm than the sugar-rush narratives that dominate kids’ entertainment elsewhere. That’s a useful counterweight.
Frequently asked questions
Best picnic book for under-3s?
The Teddy Bears’ Picnic in board-book format. The song-along factor makes it irresistible.
Are any of these set on Australian beaches or in the bush?
Several. We’ve weighted Aussie titles deliberately because the picnic-in-the-paddock or picnic-at-the-beach setting rhymes with what your kid actually does on a Sunday.
Picnic book + actual picnic = how many times before it loses its magic?
We’ve gone 18 months on a single book without burnout, then rotated. The trick is not switching too quickly — ritual depth beats novelty for under-7s.
What about kids who don’t like outdoor stuff?
Indoor picnics on the lounge-room rug count. The book gives the indoor-picnic legitimacy. We’ve had reluctant-outdoor kids ease into Saturday picnics through six months of indoor ones first.
Shop the full list on Amazon AU
Each link below opens an Amazon AU search for that title’s exact ISBN. We earn a small commission if you decide to buy — thank you, it keeps the lights on at the Bookcase.
- Foxly’s Feast
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar
- Food Friends: Fun Foods that Go Together (Board Book)
- The Bear’s Lunch
- Teddy Bear’s Picnic: Pop-Up Picnic Basket with Working Fork, Knife, and Spoon
- The Teddy Bears’ Picnic
- We’re Going on a Picnic
- Pig Out!
- Lunchbox: The Story of Your Food
📚 Looking for more book lists?
We’ve curated 28 picture-book lists across six themes — Family, Christmas & ANZAC, Australian identity, Learning to Read, Gifts & Milestones, and Themes & Activities. Hand-read by the team, age-graded, and ready to use.
