Use oatmeal containers with lid. Cut a large window in the side and glue or tape screen or netting to inside of the window. Have the children decorate their bug catchers, put the lid on top and punch holes at the top to put in yarn for the handle.
Paint the rocks to look like insects. Use pipe cleaners for legs, sheet protectors for wings and beads for the eyes. Put a small piece of magnetic strip to the back.
Have the children take off shoes, dip feet in pan with pastel paint. Step onto a piece of paper with the feet going outward from the heels together. When dry add antennas with marker.
Use a paper towel tube and have the children decorate a piece of yellow paper that will fit around the roll, the tape it. Trace both hands and tape one to each side of the roll near the top. Add eyes so that they are sticking up above the roll.
Glue three middle sized pom poms together. Glue on eyes and antennas.
Shave crayons and place between a sheet of wax paper. Make sure the table you are working on is covered for easier clean up. Cover with another piece of wax paper. Press iron for a few seconds, cut into a butterfly. You can add pipe cleaner antennas if you wish by gluing them on
Have the children press their thumbs on red stamp pads and make thumbprints on pieces of white paper. Then let them turn the thumbprints into ladybugs by adding dots and six legs to each print they made.
Take the children on a walk to find a ladybug shaped rock. Have the children paint their rock red. Allow the paint to dry. Let each child use a black felt tip marker to add a line and several dots. Glue felt to the bottoms of the ladybug paperweights.
Cut a giant ant hill out of brown wrapping paper or butcher paper and place it on the floor for the children to help you draw rooms and tunnels all through the ant hill. Let them add "fingerprint ants" as described below.
ANT PRINTS-Have the children press the eraser end of a new pencil in the black paint and make three prints in a row on the ant hill shape. Let the children make as many prints as they like. Help the children use a fine tip black marker to add the six legs to each ant.
Make sure each child has their own sock, some filling, and four pieces of string, about 12" long. Show the children how to stuff the toe end of the sock with the filling, the tie it off with a piece of the string. Doing this three more times but at the last one make sure you use a rubber band to close as this will be the caterpillars mouth. Show the children how to wrap pipe cleaners between the sections and shape them into feet. Making the antennas going up where the last section of feet is added. Have the children paste felt circles onto the face of the caterpillar for eyes. Cut the strings of the middle short leaving the end strings on the front and back long so that they can have a caterpillar puppet.
Give each child two 3 x 12 and two 3 x 10 sheets of aluminum foil. Show them how to roll and twist the longer pieces into a headband. Then have them roll the shorter pieces into antennaes. Tell the to wrap one end of each antenna around the front of the headband and curl the ends to look like antennaes. Let the pretend to be insects sniffing, touching, and listening with them.
Take the children outside and find ants or an anthill. VEry gently scoop the anthill into the coffee can, making sure that you have also caught some ants. Cover the coffee can with the cheesecloth, secured with a rubber band. Back in the classroom, fill the glass jar with soil, and place the jar in a pan of water. Since ants cannot swim the water will serve as a moat to keep any stray ants from escaping into your room. Very carefully transfer the ants and the hill into the jar. You can leave the ants in the refrigerator for an hour, as the cold slows up the activity of the ants to make the transfer easier. Immediately cover the top of the jar with the cheesecloth and again secure with the rubber band. Provide water for the ants by placing a small piece of wet sponge or dampened cotton ball in the jar. Feed them with bits of food and a little syrup or honey drizzled over the soil. To start the conditions in an underground ant farm cover the jar with a dark cloth to keep out light. After a day or two, lift the cloth and observe what the ants have done, making tunnles and rooms. Explain the purpose of the different rooms; one is for hatching eggs, taking care of the babies, taking care of the queen, storing food and keeping warm in the winter. If you were lucky to get a queen ant then you will be able to observe the ants life cycle as the queen is the only one who lays the eggs.
Give each child a grocery bag. Help the children cut holes in the bottom of the sack for their heads and holes in the sides for their arms. Have them paint their bags with yellow and black horizontal stripes. Tape or staple strips of construction paper together to make headbands, and help them to staple pipe cleaners on the headbands for the antennaes.
Give each child three cotton balls and have them glue them in a row. Cut out a pair of wings from construction paper and glue them to the middle cotton ball. Have them draw a face on the top cotton ball with the black marker, adding pipe cleaners for the antennaes. On the last cotton ball have them paint it with the glow in the dark paint. After the paint dries have them hold their firefly to a lamp, turn off the lights in the room and the fireflies should glow in the dark.
Have the children fill their flowerpots with soil, adding grass, weeds, or leaves. Have them place a bottle cap on top of the soil and fill with water. This is for the insects to have water. Help them to roll a piece of screen into a cylinder that will fit inside of the flowerpot. The diameter can be no bigger than that of the coffee can lid. Staple the screen together and press mending tape over the seam. Place the screen into the flowerpot and cover with the coffee can lid. When the children find insects they want to watch, they remove the lid, drop the insect in, and replace the lid back on. Let the insects go as soon as you are finished with your unit.
SING THE SONG "THE ANTS GO MARCHING"
BUMBLE BEE, BUMBLE BEE
LANDING ON MY TOES,
BUMBEL BEE, BUMBLE BEE
NOW HE'S ON MY NOSE.
ON MY ARMS,
ON MY LEGS,
ON MY ELBOWS.
BUMBLE BEE, OH BUMBLE BEE
HE LANDS AND THEN HE GOES.
FLUTTER, FLUTTER, BUTTERFLY
FLOATING IN THE SUMMER SKY.
FLOATING BE FOR ALL TO SEE,
FLOATING BY SO MERRILY.
FLUTTER, FLUTTER, BUTTERFLY,
FLOATING IN THE SUMMER SKY.
SOFTLY, SOFTLY TURN AROUND,
RIGHT BEHIND YOU ON THE GROUND
YOU WILL FIND A LITTLE WORM
CAREFUL NOW, HE'LL MAKE YOU SQUIRM.
SOFTLY, SOFTLY TURN AROUND,
THERE'S A WORM RIGHT ON THE GROUND.
CATERPILLAR OH, SO FUZZY,
CATERPILLAR OH, SO FUZZY,
CATERPILLAR OH, SO FUZZY,
EATING GREEN LEAVES TODAY.
CATERPILLAR GROWING SO BIG,
CATERPILLAR GROWING SO BIG,
CATERPILLAR GROWING SO BIG,
STRETCHING HER SKIN SO TIGHT.
CATERPILLAR MAKING A COCOON,
CATERPILLAR MAKING A COCOON,
CATERPILLAR MAKING A COCOON,
NOW SHE'S SLEEPING.
CATERPILLAR'S WAKING UP,
CATERPILLAR'S WAKING UP,
CATERPILLAR'S WAKING UP,
OUT OF HER COCOON SHE COMES.
CATERPILLAR'S GROWN SOME WINGS,
CATERPILLAR'S GROWN SOME WINGS,
CATERPILLAR'S GROWN SOME WINGS,
NOW SHE'S A BUTTERFLY.
SEE THE LADYBUG, SEE THE LADYBUG.
WATCH IT CRAWL, WATCH IT CRAWL.
SEE IT CRAWLING HIGHER,
SEE IT CRAWLING HIGHER.
WATCH IT CRAWL, UP THE WALL.
SEE THE LADYBUG, SEE THE LADYBUG,
WATCH IT CRAWL, WATCH IT CRAWL.
SEE IT CRAWLING LOWER,
SEE IT CRAWLING LOWER.
WAY DOWN LOW, TO MY TOE.
GLIMMER, GLIMMER, FIREFLY;
SHIMMER, SHIMMER, IN THE SKY.
LITTLE LANTERN IN THE NIGHT,
FLY BY AS YOU FLASH YOUR LIGHT.
GLIMMER, GLIMMER, FIREFLY;
SHIMMER, SHIMMER, IN THE SKY.
Spread the cream cheese in the middle of the celery, stick the twisted pretzel in the cream cheese to make the wings, stick the pretzel sticks in the front of the celery for the antenna.
Prepare the red jiggler recipe according to the box. Drop a few chocolate chips into a mini sized muffin pan sections. Fill each cup with about half gelatin mixture and let set. After they set up then take them out and lay them on a bed of lettuce with pretzel sticks as the antennaes.
Use a can of cinnamon rolls, have the children roll out into worms and then into chocolate milk drink mix and then cook as directed on the can.
Mix cream cheese with red food coloring and small bits of carrots in a blender. Spread the cheese on oval crackers. Add several raisins to each of the crackers for ladybug spots.
Let the children make "logs" by filling celery sticks with peanut butter. Then give them each three or four raisin "ants" to place on the top of their logs. For a different kind of stuffing you can mix together equal parts of peanut butter, grated carrots, and crushed shredded wheat. Let them press the mix into the celery sticks and then place the raisins on top.
Mix all the ingredients except the confectioner's sugar in the order it is listed. Butter the cake pans and spread the mix in the pans. Bake in a 350 oven for about 25 minutes or until firm to the touch. Let cool for 5 to 10 minutes. Sprinkle the confectioner's sugar over the top and cut into 1 x 4 inch bars.
