Insect Ideas {Part 1}

Creepy Crawlies are NOT my favorite things to HAVE in my classroom, but I do love to TEACH about them in my classroom. My students LOVE to learn about insects and I love to encourage their minds to work in whatever sparks interest in their minds. Yes, even creepy crawly creatures. Let’s Talk About Insect Ideas.

 We made these fun caterpillars in a very different way… I cleaned out my play dough center and collected a lot of play dough container lids.  We used those lids and paint to stamp out the circles to create these caterpillars bodies. {We didn’t have yellow paint so I used orange instead. This is just real life teaching.}

This caterpillar insect idea was a huge hit in my classroom. My little loves had messy finger tips, but they also created amazing caterpillars.

The next insect idea will have your students as busy as bees. Use hexagon pattern blocks to create beehives. We took out pattern blocks and traced them into yellow bulletin board paper to make these awesome hives in our table groups.

{This was a great OT activity by the way!}

Not all of my kids could do this well…

I started my taking the yellow bulletin board paper and cut it into a beehive shape. Next, I start each hive by tracing one hexagon in the middle and  then branched them out slightly so my kinders hands could get in there and get busy. All their hands start off in the middle, but quickly branch out.

Grab this FREEBIE Insect eraser graph printable here!

Check out their progress and hard work!

{I enjoyed seeing them work together to complete the whole hive.

They had to work together in a tight area for at least 10 minutes!}

Once the hives were completed, we hung them on the walls and added our bees!

The next insect idea is to use REAL insects in the classroom. We also got out Ladybug Lady from InsectLore.com and you can now order them on Amazon as well.

As you can tell from the sticker… we use this year after year. I order the refill larva and it comes in the tub beside the land. {Yes, it comes in the tub… in the mail… with food for them to eat.} You can buy this now at Amazon. If you have Prime it is $2 cheaper for me to order thru Amazon than thru Insect Lore.

Here is an up close view of the larva in the tub.

I like to read a book about ladybug lifecycles to my students. Then I ask them what they think of the ladybug larva. They usually say they are cool or they are gross. We also like to compare them to a caterpillar.

Then I ask my little loves if they have ever seen a ladybug larva in real life. {I have never had a student to actually say yes to this.} I love for my assistant to be “the hero” and bring in the tube to show the kids. It gives them a moment of glory.

We put the larva in our land and go over the “Ladybug Land Rules.” {No lift the dome,  no shaking the dome, etc.}

Then we make our own paper ladybugs because art is always the best memory maker. I move the Ladybug Land around to the quietest table as they are working so everyone can peek at our new friends.

Here is an example of our ladybug creations.