Homeschool World Forum

Clean up spiderwebs and other insect signs from inside the house. Learn why they are attracted indoors, what their natural habitat and foods are, and how to keep them outdoors.

Go out to a covered open area like a porch or gazebo during a rainstorm and observe insect (and worm) movements.

How about an insect alphabet?

Ant
Beetle, Butterfly
Cockroach
Dragonfly
Earwig
Fly
Grasshopper
Hornet
I
J
K
Ladybug
Mosquito
N
O
Pond Skater
Q
Redback spider
Silkworm
Termite
U
V
Worm, Wasp
X
Y
Zodiac moth

maybe some insect-related words for the missing letters?

To help learn the alphabet and learn more about insects we can do this activity:
Print out pictures of the insects above, go through them, talk about them. Make up large cards, one letter per card, put them out on the floor and then get the child to sort the insect pictures by placing each one below the letter that their name starts with.

great site on insects

http://www.insects.org/

Looks great! Thanks.

Put out a plate with different foods on it and find out what ants like to eat.

Discuss why bees are so important

What is the difference between a butterfly and a Moth? (you may be surprised at the answer)

Read "the ants and the grasshopper" fable

Talk about how ants and bees work together and have different jobs

Find out what the insects around you eat? compost anyone? What eats them? (plants too)

Symmetry-butterflies and moths are symmetrical in their wings

what is the difference between a millipede and a centipede?
Are they insects?

What is the real definition of an "insect" What are the other creepy crawlies? (invertebrates)

Making models of favorite insects

I know this is an old topic, but I think its cute! My 10 month old and I inadvertently had a mini unit study on bugs last week, so we just kinda rolled with it!

We can't do a whole lot at his age, but here's what we did:

1. READ--
a. The Very Hungry Caterpillar
b. Little Cricket's Song
c. Miss Spider's Tea Party
d. The Very Busy Spider
e. The Grouchy Ladybug--he loved Mom's grouchy ladybug voice, lol.

2. DISCUSSED--I'm not entirely sure how much he comprehended, but we did talk about the types of bugs, what they eat, stuff like that. Throughout the book we also counted, discussed shapes and colors, pointed out things, talked about letter sounds, etc.

3. OBSERVED--We went outside and found bugs and spiders. We have a nice big spider and elaborate web on the corner of our porch, and we also found a ladybug. We listened to the crickets one evening and talked about the sound they made. We saw a butterfly, but unfortunately didn't come across any caterpillars this time of year, lol.

4. PLAYED--my sister and nephew used to collect Beanie Babies. We also have a few other toys that come in bug form, lol. I gathered up some of our insect and spider toys and we played with them, and again, discussed what they did. We made the stuffed butterfly fly through the air and land on a stuffed flower. We counted the spots on a stuffed ladybug and made it crawl after one of our dogs. Hehe, we even made a stuffed spider EAT some Cheerios, er, I mean, flies!

5. MUSIC--We sang Itsy Bitsy Spider, over and over and over. We also watched some YouTube videos, mostly animated versions of the Itsy Bitsy Spider set to fun music, but also a few photo collages of various insects. We also sang The Ants Go Marching.

I did a three day unit on Spiders on my blog preschoolmommy.blogspot.com. I know, I know spiders aren't insects, but it would be good to transition to spiders as your next topic.