Bug Week

This week Drake and I are doing a bug theme.  He loves bugs, so I thought that would really get his interest.

Monday

Today we made some different bugs, lightening bugs, a spider web with a spider, and a dragonfly.  The lightening bug was super cute, but a little hard for Drake to do.  I thought he would be able to put the legs and antenna on, but the holes were really small and it was hard to push the pipe cleaners through.  He did put the wings on and put the light in.

I prepunched holes in an Easter egg with a thumb tack to put
the pipe cleaner legs and antenna in.

We used duck tape to make wings for the bugs

We used battery operated tea lights to put in the eggs to make them blink

super cute, I can't wait to see them at night

Our next project was the spider.  It turned out a lot cuter than I thought that it would and it was pretty fun to play with.  We used a paper plate with the center cut out and holes punched all around it to tread yarn and make the web.  We then made a spider with a really big pom pom and some pipe cleaners to make the legs.  Drake decided to give the spider 4 eyes.  We tied it onto the web and hung it up to wait for an unsuspecting lightening bug to get caught in.

making the web

all done!  I probably went overboard on the hole punching

our cute little spider

oh no!  a lightening bug caught in the web.  the spider quickly
wrapped it up and ate it.

the spider is patiently waiting

hanging out together.

Our last project was to make a dragonfly.  Drake was in a painting mood so it worked out.  He painted a spoon and two knives and then let them dry while he was taking a nap.  After nap time we hot glued them together to make the dragonfly.

 

 

Tuesday

 

We did a very quick project today.  We have been reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar, so we made a butterfly life cycle trail mix.  We used mini marshmallows for the eggs, gummy worms for the caterpillars, tootsie rolls for the cocoons, and pretzels for the butterflies.  It was a hit and Drake remembered each stage from the book.

 

 

 

Wednesday

 



 

We had a busy day today.  After dropping off Archer, Drake and I went on a bug hunt.  It was fun.  We turned over rocks, dug in the dirt and flipped some logs.  We found all kinds of stuff, almost everything on our list.

 

 

our bug list and bucket of tools that we might need

looking for butterflies

 

we found pill bugs under the plants on the walkway

we found worms under the stones

a centipede

worm

flipping over logs was Drake's favorite thing

bonus animal, although not a bug, a snail



 

Next we got out all our plastic bugs (we seem to have a lot of them floating around) to sort and play with.  We also dug in dirt to find bugs with tongs. 

 

 

sorting into piles, we even had a "not a bug" pile

finding bugs in the dirt, Drake could do this activity every day, he loves it

putting bugs in the bug box

 

We also went to the library and met a hedgehog.  Drake was so tired, but he did not want to miss seeing the hedgehog.  He even got to touch it.

 

The hedgehog made me think of Heather (she used to have a hedgehog)

Drake was not scared to touch him at all.

Thursday

Today we did some patterning with pom poms and sticky paper.  We also used bottle tops with letters on them to make his name and sort some colors.

Drake is starting to get the concept of a pattern and can
complete a simple AB pattern.

putting legs and antenna on the caterpillar

We also made a paint blot butterfly.  I didn't take pictures of the process, but
we cut out a butterfly shape and then Drake put drops of paint on one side
of the butterfly and when he was all done we folded the wings together and it
copied what he had done on the other wing.  It turned out pretty cool.

That afternoon Archer just happened to find a butterfly that was getting
ready to die.  The boys caught it and each got to hold it before we let it go.

very pretty

Friday

Today we did some pattern matching with butterfly wings and then we made some caterpillars with beads and pipe cleaners.  We tried to do some more patterning, but Drake was too excited about getting the beads on the pipe cleaners.

I cut out butterflies and then cut them down the center.  I taped
one side on a piece of paper and then Drake matched the right pattern.

He was really good at it.

What's funny is that he had no problem matching the wing halves, but
 then when he had to match a whole butterfly to the whole he had just made,
he had a little bit of a problem.

making our caterpillars.  Drake was really good at putting the
beads on the pipe cleaner.  No problems with fine motor skills with
this kid.

his finished caterpillar

my caterpillar
 

after we finished, of course, we had to play.  We actually played
with the caterpillars all afternoon, even when Archer got home.  We
took them outside and made them houses and took them swimming and
then drove them around in cars.