Pre-K Bugs Unit - PreKinders

~ Ideas for learning about bugs: insects and spiders ~

Books

Ants

Bees

Beetles

Butterflies & Caterpillars

Flies

Ladybugs

Spiders

Ant Activities

Ants in Your Pants Rhyme

[Literacy]
Ants in your hat? Imagine that!
Ants in your shirt? Oh, does it hurt?
Ants in your sweater? It could be better.
Ants in your sock? How do you walk?
Ants in your shoe? Oh no, poor you!
Ants in your pants? Get up an dance!

Egg Carton Ants

[Art]
Children painted an egg carton (cut so that each child had 3 egg cups for the 3 body parts) with their choice of either red, brown, or black paint. We added wiggle eyes and pipe cleaner pieces for the antennae and legs.

Bee Activities

Bee Hive Fingerplay

[Literacy]
Here is the bee hive
(Cup hands together)
Where are the bees?
(Peek into hive)
Hidden away where nobody sees.
(Hide hive behind back)
Watch and you'll see them come out of the hive.
(Bring hive back out front)
1...2...3...4...5...BUZZ!
(Open fingers one by one. Fingers become the buzzing bees)

Flight of the Bumblebee

[Music, Large Motor]
We played a game with this song by passing a beanbag (the "bee") like a hot potato around the circle of children while the music played. Occasionally, I stopped the music, which meant the person with the beanbag was "stung" and moved to the middle of the circle.
The Tale of the Tzar Saltan: Flight of the Bumblebee ~ Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

Butterfly/ Caterpillar Activities

Caterpillar Fingerplay

[Literacy]
Here comes a caterpillar,
Creeping up a tree.
(crawl your fingers up your arm)
It's munching every leaf in sight,
Hungry as can be.
(Make eating motion with hand.)
It sheds its skin and forms a shell:
The changes we can't see.
(fold hands)
Then out of the shell a butterfly comes,
Flying fancy-free!
(clasp thumbs, spread fingers and wave them)

Cocoon & Butterfly

[Art]
We talked about the life cycle of a butterfly. We made a cocoon with a toilet paper tube and white yarn. We decorated a clothespin with pom poms to look like a caterpillar and put it inside the cocoon. Another day, we painted a coffee filter with watercolor paints. When it was time for the butterfly to come out of the cocoon, the butterfly "wings" were then clipped in the clothespin caterpillar.

Very Hungry Caterpillar Story Retelling

[Literacy, Fine Motor]
Children used construction paper food and a green ribbon "caterpillar". They laced the food on the ribbon as the story, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, was read to them. Then, the children tried to sequence the story from memory. This idea came from the Caterpillar Exchange at www.eric-carle.com

Butterfly Lacing Cards

[Fine Motor]
To make these, I traced a butterfly outline onto old file folders, cut them out, and punched holes around the edge. The children used yarn to lace through the holes, and decorated them with markers.

Butterfly Patterns

[Math]
We used butterfly counters to make color patterns. The children also made their own pattern with paper butterfly cutouts (I used the small craft punchers to cut the butterflies).
Printable Grid Pattern Paper

Butterfly Grid Game

[Math]
Children rolled the die, identified the numeral, and counted out that amount of game pieces (butterfly counters) to put on the grid. The object of the game is to fill the grid. Children can play alone or with other players.

Spider Activities

Little Miss Muffet Rhyme

[Literacy]
Little Miss Muffet,
Sat on a tuffet,
Eating her curds and whey.

Along came a spider,
Who sat down beside her,
And frightened Miss Muffet away!

The Itsy Bitsy Spider

[Literacy]
The itsy bitsy spider,
Climbed up the water spout.
Down came the rain,
And washed the spider out.
Out came the sun,
And dried up all the rain;
And the itsy bitsy spider
Climbed up the spout again.

Spider Web

[Large Motor]
At the circle, children tossed a ball of white yarn to each other. As the children caught the yarn, they held onto part of it, and threw it to the next person. This made a giant spider web.

Spider Web Marble Painting

[Art]
Children placed a black paper circle in the bottom of a pie pan. We dipped the marble in white paint, put it in the pie pan and rolled it around to make a spider web. We also tied a plastic spider ring onto the web with yarn.

Tambourines

[Music, Art]
Long ago in Italy, people believed if a tarantula spider bit a person, he would go crazy. The tarantella dance was supposed to keep a person from going crazy from the tarantula bite. One of the musical instruments used in a tarantella was the tambourine. We made our own tambourine with a paper plate and jingle bells, and used them to dance to a tarantella song.

Little Miss Muffet Puppet Book

[Literacy]
We made a spider puppet by gluing and decorating a black oval on the flap of a paper bag. We stapled the pages of the "Little Miss Muffet" rhyme to the edge of the bag. The "spider" can hold the book open when the children have their hand inside.

Catching Insects

[Fine Motor]
Children wrapped plastic insects with yarn (silk) like a spider would to capture it. When they finished, they chose wrapped bugs from the basket, guessed what kind they were, then unwrapped to see if they guessed correctly.

Spider Ring Game

[Math]
Children rolled a die and placed that amount of spider rings on their fingers. The first to have spiders on all ten fingers is the winner.

Curds & Whey

[Science]
After learning the "Little Miss Muffet" nursery rhyme, we did this science experiment to understand what "curds and whey" look like. Children filled a clear cup half-way with milk, added 2 tablespoons of vinegar and stirred. We let it sit for about 2-3 minutes. The vinegar makes the milk separate into a solid, called curd, and a liquid, called whey. (Not meant to be eaten! Gross!)

Spider Legs

[Science]
Insects get stuck in a spider's web because the spider's web is sticky, but a spider does not because it's legs are oily. We experimented with this idea by taping two squares of contact paper to the table, sticky side up. We pretended our hand was a bug, with our legs (fingers) sticking to the web. Using the other square of contact paper, we pretended to be a spider, dipping our legs (fingers) into cooking oil first, then walking across the sticky "web".

More Activities

Egg Carton Bugs

[Art]
We made bugs using half of a cardboard egg carton, paint, wiggle eyes, pom-pom balls, and other materials.

Click Beetle

[Art]
We decorated an oval with markers to look like a beetle, and glued the beetle on a clothespin. The children pressed the clothespin and let go to make the beetle click and jump. This activity goes with the book, The Very Clumsy Click Beetle, by Eric Carle.

Counting Flies

[Math]
As gross as it sounds, the children were fascinated by this game. Each child had a handful of 8 plastic flies. They threw them onto the table, and counted how many flies were dead (on their backs) and how many flies were alive (on their feet).

Play Dough Ladybugs

[Fine Motor]
We placed Easter grass in some small bug boxes (available at the Dollar Tree). Children made model ladybugs with red play dough to put in the boxes.

Bug Twins

[Literacy, Social Skills]
Children were given a simple bug outline. This is not a color sheet, the page only has 3 circles. They worked in pairs to create bugs that are the same ("bug twins"). One child had the role of communicator and one child had the role of listener. The communicator added features to the bug by drawing & coloring, and communicated each step to a partner. The partner listened and added the same features to the bug without seeing the other child's paper. This project helped with communication, listening, following directions, and cooperation.

Sorting by Sizes

[Math]
We used three sizes of craft pom poms (our pretend fuzzy bugs) to sort by size into different sized containers.

Bug Counting Book

[Math]
We made a bug counting book by stamping bug stamps on each page of the book. The words to the book were:
1 bug,
2 bugs,
3 bugs,
4; Those were good, but I want more!
5 bugs,
6 bugs,
7 bugs,
8; The big fat juicy ones taste just great!"

Bug Nature Walk

[Science]
We went on a nature walk to search for bugs, and drew observational pictures of bugs we found.

Science Center

[Science]
A collection of various items for learning about bugs: real bug specimens, a real cocoon, locust shells, buttefly life cycle set, plastic models of bugs (in the boxes), bug boxes (used to collect found bugs to observe for one day, then set free), a "How Insects See" viewer from Insect Lore.

Picnic Prop Box

[Social Skills]
Include: Blanket, Picnic basket, Paper plates & cups, Play food

Educational Videos

[Technology]
United Streaming Videos:
All About Animals: Insects

Resources

Bug Theme Cards: use for pocket charts, flannel boards, graphing labels, matching, games, beginning sounds, etc.
Bug Theme Links: my bookmarks on del.icio.us
Butterflies Kids' Page

Music: