So once again we did our insect study and it was fun! Since we do this every year, I add more and more for the kids to do so that they don't get bored if it. There are some insects we continue to learn more about like the kids favorites: butterflies, ants, lady bugs and dragonflies. But I add a couple more each year to make it more interesting.
The first day of our insect study always begins with an insect hunt. The kids have to get their
Minnie(me) and Super Boy are ready!
There are a few rules when they are looking insects. They HAVE to use their insect tweezers and nets. They then have to put the insect into their insect cage so that later they can observe them once all the insects are found.
Because they are getting older I am trying to get them prepared for when they have to do research on their own and do book reports. So this year I made an insect booklet that they needed to work on everyday. We studied about two insects a week. With each insect, there was a section of the book that they needed to work on. The first day they learned about an insect, they had to look at some insect books to find the correct answer. This was something I had them work on together to enforce those teamwork skills!
On the second day of a certain insect, the kids had to label the parts and then also learn about the life cycle. We had a lot of hands on things to help us with that. Our insects that we found were great at looking up close. (and great for not having real critters in the house!)
After we learned about the insect, labeled the parts and did the life cycle, there were other activities we had to do. Maybe a fun activity like learning about symmetry. (this went great with math!) The kids had to finish the other half of a butterfly that was on one of their worksheets. We also did a craft for every insect we learned about. I would also try to make snack time fun by coming up with cute snack ideas. When we learned about ants, I took some peanut butter and spread it on a rod pretzels. Then I put some raisins on it and called it "ants on a log!" The kids got a kick out of that!
Last year I was too late in getting caterpillars during our insect study, so this year I made sure I got some in plenty of time. When our little friends arrived, the kids had to make note of their size and any changed they saw each morning. It was so much fun to see how big they would get only after a day! We also worked on the parts of a butterfly and it's life cycle. I think it was even more neat to watch it happen before our eyes!
After all the butterflies were out, we kept them for about a week or so. We had a cold front come our way and I wanted to make sure the weather was perfect for them. Another reason I HAD to get them out into nature was because some were going to have babies soon!!!
When the weather was warmer, we took them to a local nature park and let them free. We thought it would be best for them to be set free there since they had a butterfly garden already planted and we weren't going to have ours ready until late spring/ early summer. It was sad seeing them fly away and the kids were really missing them, but I told them it was part of nature and now they could be free to experience God's world.
