Sunday, April 22, 2012

Bugs Don't Bug Me!

I love bugs/insects and always have (I hate snakes). I use to dig for ants, hope that dragonflies would land on me, study dead bugs, and search out any bug. I was fascinated by spiderwebs and the way the glistened in the light after a fresh rain. This is why I am super excited to share bugs/insects with my friends.

Books: I found several great books at my local library on bugs; narrowing it down proved tricky. I finally decided on 10 Little Ladybugs, a picture book for my 1-2's and Big Rig Bugs by Kurt Cyrus for my 2-3's.



Big Rig Bugs is about a group of bugs that work like big rigs, collecting the discarded sandwich a worker threw on the ground. The illustrations are bold and beautiful, while the words are simple. My own three and five year old loved this book.


Art/Crafts: We used large bug stamps and they were a huge hit. The noise is gratifying to many of my little friends who just stamped and stamped and stamped. I supplied several colors for them to choice from.



Fingerplay/Songs:

The Itsy Bitsy Spider of course! Beehive finger play and The Flea on My Toe. These are fun, simple finger plays that all ages enjoy.

Additionally you can do I'm Bringing Home a Baby Bumblebee and Where is the Beehive?


Sensory: I had the green play sand in our bin today, full of plastic bugs for my friends to find. You can also use Easter basket paper or even shred you own green construction paper.

I have a bug pattern matching set that my sister gave me; she use to use it with her children that she treated when she was an OT for children. My boys love to play with it at home. It encourages color identification and pattern matching. I used this for my 3 year olds.

Lastly, I pulled out the bug capsules from the dollar store. These are the capsules that melt away in warm water to reveal bug sponges. This was really the highlight of class to many of my friends. The loved watching them grow and then finally playing with them. I am going to find a way to recycle them; perhaps into stamps or for my sensory table.

What is your favorite bug activity?




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