Kids Crafts
Fun and Buggy - Learning About Our Buggy Friends!
By Lissa Ballard (compiled)
Jul 4, 2004, 09:31

 

Summer is a great time to expand your children's minds with learning and they'll never know they are doing it!  Take some time to make a bug box, grab a magnifying lens and have a great time together in your garden.  (And don't forget it's a great time to get help pulling those weed!  Under the ground is a great place to find interesting worms, beetles, ants and cute little roly polies!)  And for the rainy days, don't forget to craft those bugs to display!

 

 

Learn a lot about butterflies and make some fun crafts for your home too:

http://www.billybear4kids.com/butterfly/flutter-fun.html

 

 

Here is some fun from your local Terminix man!

http://www.terminix.com/Kids/

 

 

This site has some fun songs to sing, larger crafts to make and some recipes to cook together (great math lessons there!) This is a great way to put together a BUGGY of a birthday party!

 

http://www.dltk-kids.com/crafts/insects/

 

 

This homeschooling site has some wonderful resources for learning about bugs, fieldtrips about bugs and some great tips for collecting bugs!

 

http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/explore/bugs.htm

 

 

Have some fun making buggy crafts and and surf the rest of the site for some vacation bible fun too:

 

http://www.daniellesplace.com/html/bugs.html

 

 

Here are some great ways to incorporate reading into your buggy lessons!  Some wonderful Eric Carle stories such as The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Very Busy Spider and The Very Quiet Cricket, have some great creative ways to incorporate other areas of learning.

 

http://www.eric-carle.com/catexchange.html  

(Scroll to the bottom of the list to find the buggy books!)

 

Here are a few great "recipes" for a Bug Collecting Box" of your very own!

 

http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/ah_tips/article/0,1801,HGTV_3206_2407985,00.html

 

http://www.lowes.com/lkn?action=howTo&p=Build/BugBox.html&rn=RightNavFiles/rightNavTools%20     

(a great way to get Dad involved!)

 

http://www.babyheirlooms.com/product/bug_box_diy_kit.cfm 

 

http://www.sciplus.com/category.cfm?category=23 

some fabulous kits to buy and build!

 

 

And before you put your little one to bed with an electric night light - how about using Mother Nature's light:

 

Purchase some clear glass or plastic inexpensive salt shakers at a dollar store (or better yet at a yard sale).  When the lightning bugs come out around dusk, give the children each a salt shaker snd let them catch some bugs! The shakers are small enough for little hands to manipulate and they come with their own ready-made airholes! Let the children fall asleep to their bug lights and then release the bugs (outdoors of course!).  Don't forget to plug their "real" night light in after you send the bugs on home to their mommies and daddies too!

             Idea courtesy of The Idea Box (www.theideabox.com)