Bugs

[Anna]

Does anyone have activties for preschool children on the theme of "bugs"?

[Diane]

http://www.homestead.com/joyfulworks/files/Bugs.htm
http://www.perpetualpreschool.com/bugs/bug_funmisc.htm


Arts & Crafts

Butterflies
Shave old crayons and place between a sheet of waxed paper on newspaper. Cover with another piece of waxed paper. Press iron for a few seconds, cut into butterfly shape and hang in front of window.

Caterpillars
Cut out circles on different colored construction paper. Paste circles side by side slightly overlapping. Add legs and feelers from pipe cleaners. Draw on a face.

Inkblot Butterfly
Cut out a butterfly shape fold it in the center, have the children paint on side. Fold and rub lightly, then unfold. The sides will be identical.

Fingerprint Honeybees
Press your index finger on an inked stamp pad. Then press on a sheet of white paper. Make several fingerprints across the paper. With a fine felt-tipped marker, add wings, antennae and legs to your creations. Other bugs can also be made with fingerprints.

Feet Butterflies
Have children take off shoes, dip feet into shallow pan of pastel paint. Step onto a piece of paper so feet are going outward from the heels together. When dry, add antenna with markers.

Caterpillars
Cut out circles of colored construction paper. Paste circles together side by side slightly overlapping. Add legs and feelers from pipe cleaners, draw on a face.

Pompon Caterpillars
Glue three middle size pompons together. Paste on eyes and feelers. For fun you can put magnetic tape on back for magnet.

Wax Paper Butterflies
Shave crayons and place between a sheet of wax paper on newspaper. Cover with another piece of wax paper. Press iron for a few seconds, cut into butterfly shape.

Baggie Butterflies
Fill the snack size Ziploc bags with scraps of tissue paper and cellophane and then gather them in the middle with a half of a chenille stem. Twist and bend the stem into antennae.

Cupcake Liner Butterflies
Flatten out cupcake liners and color with markers or crayons many different colors. Pinch liners in the center and wrap with pipe cleaners using the left over to make antennae.

Coffee Filter Butterfly
Take a cone shaped coffee filter and cut it apart. Have the children watercolor each side. Paint a clothespin black and then attach the two wings with it. Then add a pipe cleaner tied around the clothespin for the antennae.

Tissue Paper Butterflies
Cut butterfly shapes from white construction paper. Set out assorted colors of 1-inch tissue paper squares, small containers of water and paint brushes. Have the children paint the butterfly shapes with water and place the tissue paper squares randomly on the shapes. Have them count to ten, then remove the wet tissue paper to view their colorful creations.

Ants
Use 3 sections of a cardboard egg carton to form the body of an ant - have the children paint it and add - using pipe cleaners - on the first section: antennae and on the back two sections: six legs and draw eyes on the front section - they are very cute.

Big Letter A With Ants

Materials needed: stamp pad, paper, markers Instructions: Cut out a big letter A shape for each child and let them make ant prints all over it with their fingerprints and a stamp pad. Let them use small tip markers to draw in some legs.

Ant On A Leaf
Materials needed: construction paper, hole puncher, collage materials, markers.
Instructions: Supply each child with a construction paper leaf shape - give them a hole puncher & let them at it! When they're done punching, have them create the ants on their leaf with collage materials such as: pompons, pipe cleaners, yarn bits, etc. - or they can decorate with markers etc.
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Games & Activities

Ladybug
Show the children a picture of a ladybug. Emphasize that the ladybug helps farmers by eating insects that may hurt our fruits and vegetables.

Ants
Ants can teach us how some insects work together as a community. Watch ants scurry in and out of their ant hills or find some spilled food on the sidewalk. Do they eat their food on the spot, or carry it back to their anthill? When an ant finds food, it runs back to the hill to "tell" the others. As it runs, it leaves a trail that other ants in the hill can smell. The ants find the food by smelling their way along the trail.

Ants
Cut about 4 shapes of picnic foods 1-4" in size from construction pater. I use a chicken leg, cookie, strawberry, and a watermelon slice. Using plastic ants, see how many ants it takes to cover each food and record answer.

A buggy picnic
An idea for teaching the short "a" sound : Have the children pretend they are having a picnic. As they spread out the food and begin eating, they notice that there are ants crawling on the food, and then up their arms. In surprise, they say "a - a - a!!", while "walking" their fingers up their arms like pretend ants.

Ant Hunt
Go outside with magnifying glasses and hunt for ants.

Dramatic Play
Make a big box into a picnic basket. Make ants' antennae out of pipe cleaners & add them to the play area. Now kids can pretend to be ants around a picnic basket. Add play food for them to carry away.

Dramatic Play
To emphasize that ants (or insects) have 6 legs, make 2 extra legs for the children to wear. You can make long tube shapes, stuffed, then sewed onto a band for tying around child's waist. You can make antennae by using pipe cleaners and head bands. Add tunnels, pretend food (fruit, seeds, and picnics), pretend ant eggs etc.

Ant Information
- Each nest has a handful of males, less queens and lots of workers.
- Three balls (head, thorax, abdomen), six legs.
- They smell with their antennae (very sensitive).
- They cooperate
- It's the queens job to lay the eggs, the males help her.
- Some workers build the nests, some take care of the eggs, some hunt for food, some take care of the queen.
- Worker ants have two stomachs (one holds their food the other is for sharing).

Capture A Spider's Web
Materials: Enamel Spray Paint, Construction Paper or tag board, Scissors, perhaps a ladder
Procedure: Search around outside until you find a good spider web. Spray both sides of the web with enamel paint. BE CAREFUL--IF YOU SPRAY TOO MUCH, THE WEB WILL TEAR FROM THE WEIGHT OF THE PAINT. Hold a piece of paper or tag board against the 'wet' web. It should stick to the wet paint. Carefully cut the 'guy lines'. Lay the paper down until the web is dry.

Carlos the Caterpillar
Have children trace large circles on green paper. (The inside of a roll of masking tape makes an easily traceable shape.) The teacher numbers the circles 1,2,3,4 etc. so that the children can paste them in numerical order. The children then cut out circles and paste them together by overlapping slightly. Small strips of paper can be available for adding 'feet.'
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Recipes & Snacks

Ant Snacks
Use cherry tomatoes for three body segments, pretzels for legs and antenna, let children make ants for snack.

Ants on a log
A classic, fill celery or apple slices with peanut butter, and use the raisins as "ants" on the log.

Ants In Your Pants
Cut bread into pant shapes. Spread with peanut butter Put raisin ants on top.
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Songs, Poems & Finger Plays

The Insects Outside
(To the tune of The Wheels on the Bus)
The fireflies at night go blink, blink, blink
Blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink
The fireflies at night go blink, blink, blink
Out in the garden.

The bees in the flowers go buzz, buzz, buzz
Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz
The bees in the flowers go buzz, buzz, buzz
Out in the garden.

Continue with the other verses as:
cricket/fields/chirp
ants/in the grass/march
caterpillars/on the leaves/munch
spiders/in the bush/ spin their webs
butterflies in the sky/go flit
ladybug on the wall/ have lots of spots
worms/in the ground/ wiggle and squirm
mosquitos outside/ they get smacked

To the tune of "Frere Jacques"
Big bug, small bugs
Big bugs, small bugs
See them crawl
On the wall
Never, never falling,
Never, never falling,
Bugs, bugs, bugs
Bugs, bugs, bugs

A Finger play
1, 2, 3 ?( hold up fingers)
There's a bug on me! (point to shoulder)
Where did it go? ( brush off)
I don't know (Shrug shoulders and look really puzzled)

Little Butterfly
(sung to I'm A Little Teapot)
I'm a little butterfly
I have wings
I fly around
And see all things.
When I see a flower
That looks great
I call out
To all of my mates.


Little Miss Muffet
Traditional nursery rhyme
Little Miss Muffet,
Sat on her tuffet,
Eating her curds and whey.
Along came a spider,
Who sat down beside her,
And frightened
Miss Muffet away.
A Beetle
Action poem
I know a beetle
Who lives dow a drain
His coat's very shiny
But terribly plain
When I take a bath
He comes up the pipe
Together we wash
Together we wipe

Transition Time Rhymes
Transportation
Rhyme Themes




Search the
Preschool
Rainbow


The Beetle
Judy W. contributes this cute rhyme.
Beetle, beetle up in the tree,
Fly down and show your armor to me!
Shiny brown, black, or green,
You're the toughest bug I've ever seen!

Eency Weency Spider
A classic fingerplay
The eency weency spider
Went up the water spout,
fingers imitate a moving spider
Down came the rain and washed the spider out
fingers imitate falling rain
Out came the sun and dried up all the rain
arms make a large circle
And the eency weency spider went up the spout again
fingers imitate a moving spider.
Fuzzy Wuzzy, Creepy Crawly
Encourage preschool children to act out the words of this poem by Lilian Schulz.
Fuzzy wuzzy, creepy crawly
Caterpillar funny,
You will be a butterfly
When the days are sunny.
Winging, flinging, dancing, springing
Butterfly so yellow,
You were once a caterpillar,
Wiggly, wiggly fellow.


Flutterby
Judy W. offers this lovely rhyme
If you ever watched a butterfly,
You would think the same;
To call him rather "flutterby",
Is more a fitting name.
For what he has to do with butter
I cannot understand.
But he can surely flutter better
Than any insect can!

Caterpillar
Let the words describe the actions
Little fuzzy caterpillar
In your warm cocoon
The cold winter's over and you'll be hatching soon.
Then you'll spread your wings
On a warm summer's day
And wave us all goodby
As you fly, fly away.
Little Black Bug
Encourage preschoolers to add the appropriate sound effects to this poem by Margaret Wise Brown
Little black bug,
Little black bug
Where have you been?
I've been under the rug,
Said little black bug.
Bug-ug-ug-ug.

Little green fly,
Little green fly,
Where have you been?
I've been way up high,
Said little green fly.
Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Little old mouse,
Little old mouse,
Where have you been?
I've been all through the house
Said little old mouse.
Squeak-eak-eak-eak-eak.


Lady Bugs
Ask preschool children to perform the actions that the words suggest.
I saw a little lady bug flying in the air,
But when I tried to catch her, two bugs were there.
Two little lady bugs flew up in a tree.
I tiptoed very quietly, and then I saw three.

Three little lady bugs--I looked for one more.
I saw one sitting on the ground, that made four.

Four little lady bugs--another one arrived.
I saw her sitting on a flower, and that made five.

Five little lady bugs, all red and black--
I clapped my hands and shouted, and they all flew back!


Insects All Around
Improvise a tune or sing to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star"
Lady bugs and butterflies,
Buzzing bees up in the sky.
Teeny, tiny little ants,
Crawling up and down the plants
Many insects can be found
In the sky and on the ground.

[Ryleigh]

We are talking about bugs in early May, so will have to put some of these ideas to use. A song my little ones always seem to enjoy is 'Arrabella's Caterpillar' from Sharon, Lois,and Bram.

Little Arrabella Miller
Had a little caterpillar.
First it crawled up on her Mother
Then upon her baby Brother
They said Arrabella Miller
(SHOUT) PUT AWAY THAT CATERPILLAR!

Little Arrabella Miller
Had a little caterpillar
First it crawled up on her Mother.
Then upon her baby Brother.
They said Arrabella Miller
We sure love your Caterpillar!

OR

Poor little bug on the wall.
No one to love him at all.
No one to wash his clothes
No one to tickle his toes
Poor little bug on the wall.
(sing different styles, loud, soft, holding nose, typewriter style, robot style etc.)

[Leigh]

Baby Bumblebee

I'm bringing home a baby bumblebee,
Won't my mommy be so proud of me.
I'm bringing home a baby bumblebee,
"Ouch! It stung me!" (spoken)

I'm squishing up the baby bumblebee,
Won't my mommy be so proud of me.
I'm squishing up the baby bumblebee,
"Ooh! It's yucky!" (spoken)

I'm wiping off the baby bumblebee,
Won't my mommy be so proud of me.
I'm wiping off the baby bumble bee,
"Now my mommy won't be mad at me!" (spoken)

You could use Diane's fingerprint bees for the art.


You could also use the song The Ants Go Marching.

If I come up with anymore, I'll post them.