maybugsbuttrflies

SUMMER:

BUGS & BUTTERFLIES
To share your ideas, e-mail me at stormie@preschoolbystormie.com

From JoAnna Clark:
Here's a song I wrote for my students to act out as a follow-up to books like "The Very Hungry Caterpillar," etc. during our unit on "Butterflies." I invite the students to use silk scarves with colorful designs to represent butterfly wings.

"The Metamorphosis Song"(Tune: "I'm a Little Teapot") I'm a little caterpillar,See me crawl.(crawl like caterpillars)Watch me curl up in a ball.(curl up into a chrysalis)Then out of my chrysalis I will fly,I'm a beautiful butterfly!!(fly like butterflies) From Alison Healy in England:
Hi Stormie, Here's a "caterpillar" idea that also helps children focus on individual letters of their names:
Caterpillar On a Leaf: For each child, draw around several circles (enough for the letters in his/her first name). Print a letter on each circle. Children then cut out the circles. Give each child a leaf-shaped piece of paper and encourage them to lay the letters of their names on it in the correct sequence and in a "caterpillar-shaped" design. Direct their attention to the upper case letter that will start them off. They can store their letter circles and leaf in a container for repeating the activity later.
Note from Stormie: I love the above very unique idea from Alison because as I read and enjoyed it, I realized it's very adaptable. If the children are younger or aren't developmentally ready for the activity as stated, you can provide cards with their names printed on them so they can check to see if their caterpillar letters are in the correct sequence -- making it a matching activity. Also, instead of giving each child a leaf, you could cut out one large posterboard leaf and place it in the Language Center. Then, whenever children feel like doing the activity, they could gather everything together (the big leaf, their letters, their name cards) and sit down on the carpet, at a table, or anywhere to work on it. Thanks Alison!

From Tracy:

Counting Review With Ladybugs: Give children large red paper ladybugs (approximately 10" in size) and sheets of black sticky-back felt circles in different sizes (available in the home center area of most stores). Younger children can decorate their ladybug wings with them, then you can turn the activity into pre-math by "counting the spots." You can count the small ones, the large ones, how many on one wing, and so on. For older preschoolers (and as a "following directions" activity), you could be more specific about what size spots to put on the wings, how many, etc. The children love this and the ladybugs look great! (This idea is also appropriate for use with the themes of red day and/or circles.)

From Natascha, in Sydney, Australia:
Fine Motor Fun: Provide children with a centipede posterboard cutout but do not give it legs. The children attach colored clothespins to it for the legs.

From Heidi Rich, in Sycamore, Illinois:
Gross Motor Action Song: I was taught this song by a friend and my class absolutely adores it! (I do not know who to give the credit to however, as no one seems to know where it came from. I apologize for that.)

(Sing to the tune of Jingle Bells): Clap your hands, Stomp your feet Wiggle all around Hold your hands high in the air Now let's touch the ground Hold your head, Hold your hips Give yourself a hug Lay down flat upon the ground But......WATCH OUT FOR THE BUGS!
The children can follow all the actions, then "watch out for the bugs." I like to go around and tickle them or hug them. They think it is absolutely silly!

What a fantastic idea from Diane Flohr in Grand Rapids, Michigan:
Music & Movement: Bumblebee Dance: I bought hair scrunchies/ponytail holders (12 for $1.00 at a dollar store) and black and yellow 1/4" satin ribbon (50¢ a bolt at a the fabric store). Cut pieces of the ribbon into streamers and tie them to the fabric ponytail holders. These slip comfortably over little wrists. During your "bugs and bees" unit, children can dance with their black and yellow wrist streamers to the tune of Rimsky-Korsakov's Flight of The Bumble Bees! (Actually, I bought all colors of ribbon. I tie various colors onto the streamers for "color dancing" according to the colors we're studying.)

From Stacie D'Anna, who tells me this really does work. I think it would be a nice Mother's day gift, but allow two days for the project:
Tissue Paper Butterflies: Give the children a small wax paper buttterfly cutout and have them glue tissue paper squares to one side, covering it completely. When it's dry, trim off any excess edges, then have the children glue another wax paper butterfly onto the tissue paper side, and then allow that to dry. (For this entire activity, have children brush on glue rather than dribble or dab it on.) After the second drying, help the children peel off the two wax paper butterflies from the inner tissue paper layer. They now have a beautiful butterfly for displaying in a window. (Sometimes a book or something heavy may need to be applied to keep the pieces together, depending on the type of glue and if it's diluted.)

From Stormie:

Although I'm posting ideas below as often as I can, my very favorite activities for "bugs and butterflies" have been reserved for my "SUMMER THINGS" booklet (see the "Stormie's Stuff for Teachers" section of my website).

Collages and Pre-Math: By the way, watermelon seeds, beans, and tiny black/brown pom-poms are great for "bug" art projects and pre-math activities. (Children can get wonderful fine motor and eye-hand coordination practice by drawing little tiny dot eyes on large bean "buggers.")

Creative Art (within the limits of a theme): Honeycomb Worlds: (A two-day project):
Day 1: After showing pictures of and discussing honeybees/honeycombs, give each child a half section of the egg part of an egg carton to represent their own honeycombs. Provide them with a yellowish-orange paint as "honey." Allow them to paint their "combs" any way they wish. (You could put the paint in small squeeze bottles and let them drizzle it onto their combs as a wonderful fine motor practice activity.) Allow the "combs" to dry overnight.
Day 2: Provide glue and collage materials (including "honeybee" options like beans, seeds, etc) and allow them to create their own "honeybee world."

Snacks:

Creative Art/Snack: Provide bottles of honey for children to drizzle designs onto large very clean paper plates. (You may want to do this with just a couple children at a time throughout the morning -- depending on how many honey bottles you have.) While the children are doing this (with very clean hands), an adult can be cutting apple sticks from apples for them to use for drawing (or streaking through) the honey. Provide each child with a little blob of peanut butter too for dipping their apple sticks in. Yummy!

Snacktime Recipe: Let children help you make the playdoh in advance:

Bee Hives (Peanut Butter Playdoh) 1 cup Peanut Butter 1 cup Honey 1 cup Powdered Milk 1 cup Oatmeal (optional)
Children create their own version of bee hives from their playdoh on very clean paper plates. They can use raisins for "bees." After playing with this edible playdoh for awhile (with very clean hands), they can then eat it.

From Brenda Zimmerman, Salt Lake City, Utah:
Fuzzy Caterpillars: This is an activity in which children can "assist the teacher" as s/he makes a "caterpillar," or they can make their own individual caterpillars: In advance, sew three buttons to the toe/foot area of a long tube sock -- these will be the eyes and nose of the caterpillar. (Put your fist in the sock first to represent a "head" shape and then mark where it looks like the eyes and nose would be placed.) By the way, you will need to send a note home well in advance of the activity if children are to bring in their own button-faced tube socks. On the day of the activity, set up a work table so that all the materials are at hand.
Procedure: Wet the sock and put it into a mug (coffee mug will do) and then turn the top of the sock over the rim of the mug. Then use a spoon to spread lots of grass seeds all over the bottom of the sock, and then spoon some potting soil over the grass seed. Next, put a rubber band around that section of the sock. Then repeat the grass seed - soil - rubber band process until you reach the end of the sock. You end up with several sections representing the segments of a caterpillar. Place the "caterpillar(s)" in a dish and pour water all around it/them, and then store near a window. Keep it/them moist (children can do the watering). Soon, hair will start to grow, creating a "fuzzy caterpillar!"
Note: If you have the children do their own caterpillars, a classroom assistant (parent?) would really come in handy, and they can also bring in an extra mug.
From Lucy Vieira, Alturas, California:
How Many Bugs? Here's a neat activity for children who can recognize numbers: Print a number from between 1-10 on a large card (one card per child). Pass out pastel colored markers and then ask the children to draw the same number of bugs on their cards to correspond to the numbers. (Explain on a preschooler level of understanding, of course, and accept whatever version of bugs that are drawn :-)

Favorite Books:
From Stormie:
*The Very Quiet Cricket, by Eric Carle: I enjoy reading this book when discussing "bugs." The little cricket in this hard cover storybook wants so much to speak to everyone but when he rubs his wings together to make a sound like he should, nothing happens--until he meets someone special. You and the children will love the very special surprise at the end of the book.
*From Caterpillar to Butterfly, by Deborah Heiligman; illustrated by Bari Weissman: What a great book for your Science Center during a "bugs and butterflies" theme as it shows how caterpillars turn into butterflies.
Bugs! Bugs! Bugs! by Bob Barner: A book full of "bugs" in bright illustrations
*The Very Lazy Ladybug, by Isobel Finn; Jack Tickle, Illustrator: What a cute book! Lazy Ladybug's favorite thing to do is sleep. She decides she wants to find a new place to take her naps, but because she's so lazy and not good at flying, she decides to hitch a ride on other animals.
*Flutter By, Butterfly, by Liza Alexander; David Prebenna, Illustrator: See what happens with the ever-popular Elmo when a butterfly flutters by.

Notes From Stormie:
*Maintaining my webpages has now become a part-time career for me, and the cost of site maintenance has steadily risen over time. So, if you benefit from this website and would like to see it continue, please purchase "Stormie's Stuff for Teachers," and/or make occasional financial donations where possible to help defer the costs of keeping my site on the internet.
*If you would like to begin collecting ALL my current classroom ideas (each on a 4 x 6" index card), as well as new ones that I create, you can do so by ordering my "Activity Cards." Click here to check them out.

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