Bugs and Insects

Crafts

Tissue paper butterflies: paint a clothespin and let dry. Add stickers to a square of tissue paper, place in the clothespin and add pipecleaner antennae.
Feathery Moths (cut the stem from feathers and glue on moth shape)

Blotto Butterflies: pour paint onto a butterfly shape. Fold in half and 'smoosh' the paint between the paper. When opened, a symmetrical pattern will be on the wings.
Pasta Butterflies: glue bowtie pasta onto construction paper. Use pieces of pipecleaner for the body and antenna. Decorate patterns onto the pasta wings with confetti.
Footprint Butterflies: Dip feet in paint and stand with heels together, toes pointing out to make footprint. These will make the wings of the butterfly. When dry, cut a body and antennae from construction paper and glue on or draw on with marker.
Plastic Bag Butterflies: fill plastic sandwich bags with tissue paper. Fold a pipecleaner in half and place the baggie into the bend. Twist closed and form the ends into an antennae shape.
Stained Glass Butterflies: cut a butterfly shape from black paper. Cut out sections of the wings leaving a stencil pattern intact. Glue coloured celophane paper to the back side covering the open spaces. Hang in a window when dry.
Felt Butterflies: cut a butterfly shape from funfoam and decorate with foam shapes.
Egg Carton Caterpillars: cut an egg carton in half lengthwise. Decorate with paper or paint. Add eyes.

Egg Carton Caterpillar Pull Toy - cut the cup sections from an egg carton. Poke a hole in the center of each one. Paint. When dry, string the cups together. Tie a large knot at the end to hold them in place. Loop the front for a handle and pull your caterpillar along.
Pom Pom Caterpillars: glue several pompoms together and add googly eyes.
Caterpillar Paperclip: Paint a clothespin desired colour. Glue medium sized pompoms to the clothespin. Add googly eyes or small pompoms for eyes. Use a gluegun to attach a magnet to the back of the clothespin. Attach a small notepad and pencil to the clip and use for a small message center.
Paper Caterpillars: cut several circles from construction paper. Glue the circles together to create a caterpillar.
Rock Ladybugs: find a large round rock and paint red (fabric paint works well and is waterproof if you want to place in your garden. When dry, paint on black spots.
Ladybug Puppets: staple paper plates together (upsides touching) just over 1/2 way around the plate. Paint red and add black spots. When dry, children can place their hands in the opening and use as a puppet.
Pompom Ladybug: glue small black pompoms to a large red one. Add pipecleaner legs - 3 to each side.
Ladybug Magnet: add a bit of vaseline to a tablespoon. Mix plaster of paris according to package directions. Pour onto the spoon and let harden. Remove from the spoon and paint red with black spots. When dry, gluegun a magnet to the back.
Stuffed Ladybugs: cut two circle shapes from red felt. Add 6 legs from black felt to the bottom piece - 3 on each side of the bottom circle Use a gluegun to glue together around the edge (legs sticking out). Leave an opening for stuffing. Stuff with cotton. Glue closed. Add black spots and googly eyes.

Paper Plate Ladybug: paint 2 paper plates, one black and one red. When dry, cut the red plate in half and use a brad to secure it to the black plate. Add legs, head, and dots cut from black construction paper. Glue on googly eyes.
Egg Carton Bees: cut an egg carton into cup pairs. Paint the pair of egg cups alternating black and yellow. Let dry. Add a face, antenna and a stinger.
Pom Pom Bees: Glue a black pom pom in between two yellow ones. Add googly eyes and felt wings. These are TOO CUTE! If the children want to add a stinger (mine did) use a small triangle of felt to glue onto the back.
Honey Comb Stamping: Take a hexagon shape from a shape sorter and stamp into yellow paint to design a honeycomb on paper. Children can draw in bees when dry if they wish.
Bee Hats: Cut a large strip of yellow construction paper. Let children draw on black stripes. Staple for a hat. Glue black pompoms to pipecleaners and then attach to hat.
Tube Bee Fingerpuppet: Paint a t.p. tube black. When dry, add yellow strips of paper and antenna. The kids can slip their fingers in these to make their bees buzz around the room.
Ant Marrionettes: stuff a square of black material (or felt) with cotton. Tie into 3 sections with string. Attach two long pieces of string to the two seperating the body sections. Tie these longer strings to an X made by glueing 2 popsicle sticks together. Make many and act out the ants go marching one by one.
Bug Eyes: cut out an egg carton into cup pairs. Cut out the center of the cups. Decorate with feathers, funfoam, glitter, pompoms, etc. Add pipecleaner 'arms' to put around your ears so the glasses can be worn.
Spider Webs: Add a bit of black paint to white glue. Dip cooked spaghettini noodles into the glue and arrange into a spider web on wax paper. When dry, peel the webs off the wax paper carefully.
Spiders on a Web: Web Rubbings Glue uncooked spaghetti into a web shape. Place a white piece of paper over the web when dry and rub with a crayon. Draw in spiders with crayons.

Spider Hats: Cut a strip from black construction paper. Fit to child's head and staple. Add 4 strips of black construction paper on either side of the hat and bend for legs. At the front, add a white circle with a black circle in the center for eyes.
Styrofoam Spiders: Cut a styrofoam ball in half and paint black. When dry, add pipecleaner legs and pompom eyes.
Handprint Spiders: Have children dip their palms and 4 fingers in paint (not thumb) Place one hand down to make a print. Turn paper around and have child stamp other hand down overlapping the palm. The palm becomes the body and the spider will have 4 legs on each side.
Spool Spiders: Paint a wooden thread spool black. Let dry. Insert 4 6" pipecleaners into the hole of the spool and bend for legs. Add googly eyes. These are too cute!
Felt Spiders: Draw a large number 8 and cut from felt. Provide 8 legs and eyes so the children can turn the number 8 into a spider.
Paper Plate Spider Puppet: paint a paper plateblack and let dry. Cut strips from construction paper and staple to plate - 4 on each side. Add circle stickers for eyes. Poke a hole in the center of the plate and add a piece of string, knotting it so it will stay. Add a loop to the top of the string to hold to make the spider 'walk'.

Science

Collect bugs for bug keeper magnifiers, don't forget to let them go when you are done.
Set up an ant farm.
Types of Bees - Set up pictures of the different types of bees for children to view and observe. They are amazingly different. Add fast facts like did you know that only the female bumble bees have stingers, but both the male and female honey bees have stingers!
Honey Tasting - Check out the different forms that honey can be purchased in. Taste the honey in each form and see if there is any difference.

Block Area

Add plastic bugs to the block area.

Dramatic Play

Add antannae so children can dress up like bugs, colourful shirts for butterflies, red and black polk-a-dot shirts for ladybugs, etc (antannae can be made easily by attaching pompoms with pipecleaners onto children's headbands.

Circle Time

Songs:

Never Bother with a Bee
Here is a Beehive
Fuzzy Wuzzy Caterpillar
Poor Little Bug on the Wall
Ladybug, Ladybug
The Ants Go Marching
Fuzzy Wuzzy Caterpillar
Shoo Fly
Eency Weency Spider
There's a Spider on the Floor

Stories:

Georgie Grasshopper's Ear
Cathy Caterpillar and Betty Bee
I am a Caterpillar
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
The very Grouchy Ladybug

Games:

Bug Bingo
Little Miss Muffet: Set up a tuffet and choose one child to be Little Miss Muffet. Repeat the poem and have a spider on a rod and string that comes along to scare little Miss Muffet. I do this one with my guys and they just LOVE it!
Bumble Bee Dance: Show the children how the bee communicates with other members of the hive. Then, put on the music and watch the little ones do a communication dance of their own!

Water & Sand Play

Add plastic bugs to water and sand tables.

Outdoor Play

Pretend to be bugs.
Bring out magnifying glasses and observe bugs, hunt for anthills, etc.

Field Trips / Special Days

Visit a conservation area that has a beehive set up for viewing.
Watch the Pixar movie "A Bugs Life".
Have a number 8 day when doing spiders. Play games using the number 8. Have lunch and snacks with number 8... cut sandwiches in 8 pieces or make tuna spiders for snack (use an icecream scoop to put tuna salad in center of plate for body use whole wheat toast sticks for the 8 legs). Have the children create a web from veggie sticks. Make spider cupcakes for snack.
Bee Day: Have the children come in bee costumes or yellow and black. Dine on honey dishes like sweet and sour chicken wings, honey graham crackers, and honey cakes. And who loves honey more than anyone else ever did? Why Pooh Bear of course... enjoy the movie 'Pooh Bear and the Honey Tree'.

Songs

Fuzzy Wuzzy Caterpillar

Fuzzy Wuzzy caterpillar into a corner crept
Spun himself a chrysalis and there he slept
Fuzzy Wuzzy caterpillar wakes up by and by
To find he has beautiful wings
For he's a butterfly!

A Caterpillar (chant)

A caterpillar looks so small
It is hardly there at all
It munches on green leafy treats
And it gets bigger as it eats.
It eats and eats, 'til pretty soon
It wraps up tight in a cocoon
When it wakes up it blinks its eyes
And says, "I'm now a butterfly!"

A Butterfly (chant)

A burst of blue
A shock of green
A flap of wings is all that's seen
A flutter in the flower beds
A burst of blue
A bit of red
A whisper as it flutters by
You're oh so pretty, butterfly.

The Fuzzy Caterpillar

(sung to: The Eensy Weensy Spider)

The fuzzy caterpillar
Curled upon a leaf
Spun her little chrysalis
And then fell asleep.
While she was sleeping
She dreamed that she could fly
And later when she woke up
She was a butterfly!