Preschool Corner / Weekly Wrap-Up – Bugs!

We finished our bug unit a couple of weeks ago, but… life intervened and I haven’t had a chance to write it all up until now. 

I use the term “bugs” to mean any creepy crawly thing, so although we talked about how spiders are not really insects, we still included quite a few spider-ish activities. 

I wrote about the bug books we read in this post,  and a couple of bug crafts we did here and here, in case anyone is interested. :)

To begin, I set up a sensory bin that was full of Easter grass, and hid 20 plastic bugs in it.  M had to find them, then use the tweezers to pick them out and place them on the grid.  I also had his little bug viewer out in case he wanted to examine some of them more closely.  (The grid was used so he would know when he had found all the bugs).M has been using his bug viewer (Target!) quite a bit outside – capturing bugs and them looking at them.  I’m… let’s say – not exactly a bug person… and somehow I always end up worrying about them escaping and getting on me and forget to take pictures.  But, believe me, M has spent plenty of time outside looking and learning about real bugs (even telling caterpillars that they are going to turn into butterflies – so sweet!), there just aren’t many photos to prove it. :)

We talked about the names of the various insects, then sorted them by color onto a color wheel:
For a fine motor skill, I showed M how to wrap bugs up in yarn… like a spider wraps them up in order to save them for eating later.  He had so much fun with this!  He had a little spider web and a plastic spider from a community center activity we’d done recently.   So he played for a very long time, pretending a bug would get in the web, then he’d wrap it up, then along would come the spider and eat them all up.  It was getting pretty gory, let me tell you, and M had a ball with this ! :)
At our nature center M did some pond dipping with the other kids… using a net to scoop up interesting things and then examining them in a bowl.  My pictures weren’t great, but he caught a damselfly, a dragonfly nymph, and a tiny snail, along with lots of plant life:      We also saw this lovely spiderweb, which fascinated him: 
I found an amazing bug book at a garage sale over a year ago.  It includes a tray of bug parts that snap onto each page.  You can create the bugs that are described, or use the pieces to make a weird bug creation all your own.  M had a blast with this book!
I’ve also been holding onto some beautiful bug flashcards I found about a year ago.  Here’s a sampling of them:
There’s 36 in all, and I have 2 sets.  I split them in half and placed 18 of them in a circle on the floor around the room.  The matching cards were placed in a pile.  He took a card from the top of the pile and had to find its match, by moving the way that particular bug moves, as he went around the room.  So here he is hopping like a grasshopper:
Crawling like a spider:
Wriggling like a worm or caterpillar:
And flying like a butterfly (with a bit less gracefulness) :He really worked up a sweat with this one!  But he had so much fun, he begged to do the remaining 18 the next day! :)  If only I could think of activities like this for everything we do… he is such a kinesthetic learner, and I am such a non-kinesthetic kind of mama.  {sigh}

I found some storyboard pieces here that go with the book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle.  I made them into magnets and M had fun retelling the story with them. 
I made a file folder game, inspired by this one at Mama Jenn’s blog, but using butterflies from Prekinders that I had already printed out. 
The idea was to match up the halves.  We talked about how butterflies are symmetric, meaning each wing is a mirror image of the other.  M understood this, but was completely NOT into this activity.  I’m not sure if the more muted colors were not to his liking, or if it was a bit overwhelming – it is a pretty tough visual discrimination activity, with many looking almost alike, but not quite.  Or maybe he’s just tired of this sort of thing. 

He loves doing “what’s different” activities, so I made up these little cards for him  (you can download them here):They were laminated, so he could use a dry-erase marker and erase them – something everyone loves, right? ;)

I put these little foam capsules out for him and he enjoyed watching them open up in warm water.  This time we used pretty hot water and he took them out with tongs.  They dissolved so much more quickly than they have in the past with only lukewarm water.   These were all bug-shaped and we identified each one, then made them into stamps by gluing them onto peanut butter lids.
We played some basic grid games using bug grids that I made and printed out.  These can be downloaded here.  These are great for math and reading skills!  Going from left to right and top to bottom mimics the movement of reading.  He loves doing these – we just roll the die and stamp out that number of bugs.
I found the following two activities online, and thought they were great ideas.  M did not like them.  Not one little bit.  Maybe he wasn’t in the mood, I don’t know, but they were huge flops! However, I still think they are good ideas so I’m sharing them anyway. :)

First, a ladybug visual discrimination activity from Making Learning Fun:
And a phonics activity from Sparklebox, using caterpillars.  I wrote all the letters of the alphabet on 26 flat glass marbles from Dollar Tree, and the idea was to match them up to the beginning sound of the objects pictured on each caterpillar section :
Look at that face… bored out of his mind! :)  Oh well, I try to not let this kind of reaction discourage me.  Writing these posts helps with that, because I can see how many things he really enjoyed and learned!

I’m linking this post up to Preschool Corner and Weekly Wrap-Up – check them both out for some great activity ideas!

Have a beautiful day! :)

Firefly Flashlight Craft!

This was a really fun little craft to make, and the second bug craft we did… M agreed to it (despite the craft strike) because a flashlight is involved.  Flashlights have batteries and anything with a battery is a sure thing with this kid. 

You will need:
A flashlight (find one that has a cord looped through it, or a key ring or something, as this is where you’ll attach the antennae), pipe cleaner, construction paper, marker, scissors, googley eyes, glitter (if you dare), a small container for the glitter (if you dare), and glue.  I ended up hot gluing the eyes onto our firefly to speed things up, although I think if someone had been patient enough for it to dry, regular white glue would have worked.

To begin, I folded our construction paper in half lengthwise and drew a half oval (roughly):

M cut it out and unfolded it to see the oval:

Apply glue in a pretty design all over your oval, which will be the wings: 

I dumped our little pack of gold glitter into a small applesauce container, and M used his fingers to pinch it and sprinkle it onto his firefly’s wings:

While the wings are drying, remove the cord (or key ring, or whatever) from your flashlight, and thread the pipe cleaner through.  Twist it a couple of times so it won’t slip, then twist up the ends of the antennae:

That is not a very clear photo of this step, so here’s a close up of what it should look like at this point:

Put a line of glue down the center of the flashlight and attach to the center fold on the wings, then glue on the eyes:

Finished!  Let it dry, and play with your new firefly!
This would be pretty with lots of different colors for the glitter, don’t you think?  This mama was only brave enough to use one color this time. :)

Have a beautiful day! :)

Click Beetle Craft… and he flips!

There are about 1000 awesome bug crafts that I’ve come across online in the past few weeks, and of course M has decided to go on another craft strike.   Oh, that kid.  He said to me, “I like to do art, but only when I can do my own thing!” 

He is throwing my own philosophy of art (for small children) back in my face, isn’t he?  Apparently, he doesn’t understand that crafts are cute and if Mama wants to do one, philosophy can fly out the window.  ;)

Ah well, of the many buggy crafts I was hoping to do, only two of them were interesting enough for him to agree to.  The first is this click beetle that I’ve seen around quite a bit, but think I first found at Prekinders.

You will need:Fun foam or cardstock, glue, a spring-type clothespin, googley eyes, a pom pom, dot stickers, a marker, and scissors.

I drew two wings on the fun foam and M cut them out:


Next, he decorated them with the dot stickers.  If you use cardstock instead, you could use dot painters for this part; I’m not sure how the painters would work on the foam.

Glue the upper corners of the wings onto the clothespin, like this, kind of:

Glue on the pom pom head, then add the eyes onto the pom pom.

Finished!  And isn’t the little guy cute?  The best part is this – after the glue has dried, press down on his tail (the end of the clothespin), let go, and he will flip or jump for you, making a satisfying “click” sound at the same time. :)

Note: if we do this again, I’d use cardstock instead of the fun foam.  The wings have to overlap a bit and when we used regular white glue the top wing didn’t stay put very well.  I ended up hot gluing it on.

Have a beautiful day! :)