 |
| They're movin' on up... |
Last summer one of our very favorite activities was growing our own butterflies, and when our caterpillars arrived in the mail last week, we all decided to dive right into learning more about creepy crawlers as we wait for them to eat and grow. Now, I have to be completely honest--bugs really bug me. I am learning to embrace them, especially those helpful garden pollinators. I know I am bigger and stronger but I am not braver. I also don't want to unnecessarily impose my feelings on other, shorter members of the family. I know that learning and playing about something that frightens you is a great way to lessen fear and increase understanding, so we are learning through play with some great indoor and outdoor activities that will surely get your wings fluttering!
Suggested Materials: You certainly do NOT need all of this, and we actually found a great young naturalists backpack kit available for checkout at our local library that contained a variety of ways to observe, catch (and release), read and learn about bugs and insects! Use what you have on hand, check dollar stores and secondhand shops for the rest or borrow from friends!
- magnifying glasses
- magnifying bug boxes
- binoculars (bugs can be far away, too!)
- jars, bug containers or critter containers for catching (and releasing) bugs
- butterfly nets
- playdough (or make your own)
- pipe cleaners, google eyes, small loose craft parts
- paper, markers/crayons, scissors and other art & craft materials
- tempura paint
- butcher paper
- white coffee filters
- spray bottles
- fly swatters
- Borax & school glue for bug slime
- plastic bugs (we found ours at Dollar Tree)
- artificial flowers
- shredded craft paper in black and yellow (or the colors of your choice)
- yellow, black and white pompoms
- recycled containers
- small tongs
- optional butterfly growing kit--we like the Insect Lore kit available from Amazon
- books about bugs and insects from your local library or personal collection
- a camera to capture creepy crawlers in action!
- your nature journals to capture memories and important discoveries
OUTSIDE ACTIVITIES
 |
| Check out that Japanese beetle! He can stay here as long as he likes, just stay away from our vegetable garden! |
Creepy Crawlers Scavenger Hunt: Grab your nets, containers, magnifying glasses and critter cages. It's time to get out there and observe our creepy crawling (or flying) friends in action! Don't forget to look up and down, to lift up and peer under rocks, to check out your flower garden and even areas that are particularly soggy and dark. Bugs and insects are EVERYWHERE. Look at the grass for a while and observe how it moves--creepy crawlers are busy at work down there and even though you may not see them, you can observe signs of their presence. Can you find an ant hill? Dig up a worm? Can you hear a cicada or a cricket? Can you spot a firefly at night? Perhaps you will take a list of bugs to search for with you or record a list in your nature journal of those you can find. Please remember that if you do capture a little critter to also let it go back into nature when you are done observing. Also remember to take proper precautions around bugs that may sting or bite, including proper clothing and coverage and not handling bugs that can be harmful to humans!
Plant a Pollinators Garden: Choose a variety of flowers that attract helpful pollinators to your garden. Zinnias, marigolds, morning glories, milkweed, dill and more will all attract butterflies, bees and even hummingbirds to your yard. You can start from seed or purchase starter plants (this time of year, many are discounted). Then step back and observe the wonder of their wonderful work...Spot That Pollinator: One of our favorite offshoots of the Creepy Crawlers Scavenger Hunt has been observing pollinators at work in our garden and in gardens around town. We use my camera phone quite a bit to record our findings. Talk about how some bugs and insects are helpful to plants and gardens even though others are considered to be pests. Can you spot a helpful ladybug? A busy bee? Some fluttering butterflies and moths? Where do you notice them and why do you suppose that is?
 |
| Can you spot the bumblebee? |
 |
| Can you spot the monarch butterfly? |
Fly Swatter Painting: Outdoor messy art is one of my favorite things about summer weather! Get out, get messy, get hosed off and come in good and tired for bedtime. I don't necessarily encourage promoting the use of fly swatters in their traditional purpose with young children, but they are great for swatting and splashing colorful washable tempura paint on butcher paper set either flat on the sidewalk or taped to an outdoor wall. If you do have a hose hook-up and a wall, sidewalk or fence you don't mind painting directly on before hosing it down, you can even go paperless.
INDOOR OPTIONS
Since the caterpillars arrived, so has the rain! While waiting for those six very hungry little caterpillars to eat and eat and grow and grow, we have been busy (mostly inside) playing and learning about butterflies, bugs and insects. The boys made a welcome sign and named the caterpillars, and then it was time for some of these fun games and activities:
Pollinators Sensory Bin: We used shredded craft paper, pompoms, our plastic bug collection, some artificial flowers and recycled containers and tongs for this whimsical sensory table. Y gets a kick out of tossing the paper shreds (everywhere) and still likes to try out the tongs even though he's not quite there yet with his fine motor skills. S loves to pretend the pompoms are food for the bugs and use the tongs to collect them in containers for the bugs to eat.
Bug SLIME: Ah, what's summer without slime? And you really haven't gotten totally creepy and crawly until you're also slimy. We made up a batch of green slime and the boys had such a great time! In the past, we have used slime in our sensory table, but seeing as it was occupied housing our bees and butterflies and other pollinators, we opted for a couple of plastic trays (and no brothers fighting!) and some plastic bugs to share. Making bug prints in the slime is so much fun! S also loves to use a playdough knife with EVERY type of dough, so I added a couple of those in as well.
Butterfly Collage Decoration: We have a collection of these butterfly die-cuts from Dollar Tree a few years ago, but you can also trace and cut your own butterfly shape from construction paper. I especially love to use this as an opportunity to teach about symmetry with beginning cutters. Trace or draw the outline of half a butterfly onto folded paper and cut the shape out away from the fold. When it is opened, it will reveal the shape of a butterfly! We used glue and a variety of small loose parts from our craft stash.
Coffee Filter Butterfly Decoration: We have a collection of these pinned to the wall going up our stairs and they are so beautiful! Use washable markers to color at least a few colors onto the white coffee filter. Next, use a spray bottle with water to wet your coffee filter. The colors will bleed and blend into very colorful butterfly wings. Once the paper filter is dry, you can wrap a pipe cleaner around the center to form antennae and you've got yourself a butterfly! Or two. Or two dozen...Playdough Invitation to Create a Bug: Pipe cleaner legs and antennae, googly eyes, beads, rhinestones and other small loose parts are all part of the fun that goes into building your own bug. It can look like a real bug or be entirely your own creation. We used a large blob of [very colorful] store-bought playdough (I know so many of you are cringing at the sight of mixed colors right now!), but you can also make your own playdough if you prefer [or stick to only one color at a time!].
Want to do more?
- Check out our other play activities about bugs & insects, bees and butterflies..
- Ask the Experts! Many garden centers, farms, science museums or botanical garden centers have living bee hives, live butterfly gardens or exhibits or at least some knowledgeable folks to answer questions about creepy crawlers. Check out some of these places in your local community to learn more--and don't forget the library!
- Print and laminate your own Beautiful Bugs Playdough Mats from Picklebums to go along with your playdough invitation.
- We are loving this huge free printable pack, "I is for Insects" available from Scribd. We added several of the action rhymes and activities to our Ever-changing Book:
 |
| Here is the Beehive Action Rhyme and Felt-board Set (we use both with and without a felt board) |
 |
| Bug & Insect Action Cards--such a fun way to get moving indoors or outside! |
- Lazy Day Coloring Book Art is a great way to spice up a rainy afternoon and use some art materials you likely have on hand. I love using "adult coloring books" with young children (and adults). We found some really beautiful floral designs at Dollar Tree. Even though I'm sure many would balk at me using coloring books at all (what about PROCESS ART???), I think they have their place. Certainly the fine motor aspect of coloring within a designated space is useful as children develop, but I also love to include some materials besides the classic crayons or colored pencils. We got out our watercolor pencils and some bee and butterfly stickers to design some pollinator gardens to hang inside! Y liked to use a foam brush with water and go over his pencil marks (almost to their exclusion!) and S liked to dip the pencils right in the water and observe the vibrant color. The boys each stuck on some butterfly and bumblebee stickers (Y needed help) and we hung them to dry and look at instead of gazing longingly out the rain covered windows...
As I am finishing up this post, our seemingly sunny afternoon has given way to more rain and thunder! So happy for our garden, so sad for our plans to do fly swatter painting outside--but alas, the great indoors is full of other ways to have fun playing about creepy crawlers and we even have six very hungry caterpillars to watch as we wait out the weather. We'll be back soon! Until then...
No comments:
Post a Comment