For more insect ideas, check out my friend Annie's post!
"Creepy Crawlers"
The fourth theme I chose for my son was insects. Here are the activities we did throughout the week. You don't do them all in one day, you space them out so throughout the week you are talking about your theme here and there, a little at a time.
Field Trips:
1. We went to Butterfly Wonderland! It is a little pricey, but a great hands-on experience with some beautiful insects. My son could have spent hours more in the atrium!
2. We didn't go to an insect museum as the Phoenix one closed a few years ago, but if you are in an area that has one, go check it out!!!
3. Go for a walk in your yard or neighborhood and I bet you could find lots of different insects. Talk about what they are doing or where they are going. Describe what they look like! We do this on a daily basis, as my son loves bugs.
Scorpions!!
A functional beehive
2. We didn't go to an insect museum as the Phoenix one closed a few years ago, but if you are in an area that has one, go check it out!!!
3. Go for a walk in your yard or neighborhood and I bet you could find lots of different insects. Talk about what they are doing or where they are going. Describe what they look like! We do this on a daily basis, as my son loves bugs.
1. We "caught" toy bugs with our bug net, and studied them in the bug jar. Hide the bugs inside or out, and have your child find them all and catch them with the net! You can sort by color, size, or type of bug.
2. We got a bug identification book at the library and identified all of our plastic bugs. I thought this would be a little over my son's head, but he was fascinated by this and wanted to find out the names of all the bugs. Days later he still remembered them all, even though I didn't!!
3. Bug sensory bin. We played with the bugs in the beans, as well as in some sand.
4. We got this bugs that have sticky feet and "crawl" down windows. They were really fun and provided a lot of entertainment!!
They are window walker bug toys, similar to these on amazon:
5. Act out the metamorphosis of a butterfly- we had to do this SO many times throughout the week, it was a favorite activity for sure.
Super easy and cheap. The wings I just cut out of one posterboard, and I put thick ribbon through two holes on each wing (towards the center) to make two arm loops! The antennae I made out of 4 pipe cleaners.
6. Painting fingerprint bugs! I added the finishing touches once the paint was dry.
7. Play COOTIE! One of my favorite childhood games, and only $5 at Walmart.
Food:
2. We got a bug identification book at the library and identified all of our plastic bugs. I thought this would be a little over my son's head, but he was fascinated by this and wanted to find out the names of all the bugs. Days later he still remembered them all, even though I didn't!!
3. Bug sensory bin. We played with the bugs in the beans, as well as in some sand.
4. We got this bugs that have sticky feet and "crawl" down windows. They were really fun and provided a lot of entertainment!!
They are window walker bug toys, similar to these on amazon:
5. Act out the metamorphosis of a butterfly- we had to do this SO many times throughout the week, it was a favorite activity for sure.
Caterpillar
Chrysalis
Butterfly!
6. Painting fingerprint bugs! I added the finishing touches once the paint was dry.
7. Play COOTIE! One of my favorite childhood games, and only $5 at Walmart.
Food:
There is a lot on Pinterest, we did a few basic activities. We didn't end up doing "ants on a log" (raisins on a peanutbutter celery stick) or ladybug crackers (ritz crackers with cream cheese and half a cherry tomato on top, with olive slices as eyes), but those were some cute ideas I had originally planned on doing.
spider cookies spider sandwich (carrot legs)
spider cookies spider sandwich (carrot legs)
butterfly pasta!
Dirt dessert!!!
Songs:
Baby Bumbleebee
Itsy Bitsy Spider
Beehive
Ugly Bug Ball
Itsy Bitsy Spider
Beehive
Ugly Bug Ball
Books:
Go to your local library and check out all the bug books they have. Once again, we got a ton. Some we already had, too! The Little Squeegy Bug and The Bugliest Bug were our favorites!!
Movies:
We had popcorn and watched A Bug's Life one night. We got busy, but I had also planned on watching the Bee Movie and some more Planet Earth to learn about insects.
This was a fun theme. As adults we often think of all the bad things about bugs, but really most are very useful and don't hurt us. What a fun way to learn to appreciate all critters (except maybe scorpions and mosquitos...)!
Movies:
We had popcorn and watched A Bug's Life one night. We got busy, but I had also planned on watching the Bee Movie and some more Planet Earth to learn about insects.
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