These pictures and experiences led us very nicely into out mini beasts or bug themed week. We began with making black playdough which served as a really nice body for creating beetles, spiders and wriggly worms. The children began to press the small plastic minibeasts onto the dough to create imprints of the animals. This gave us the idea to make these more permanent by using salt-dough which is baked in the oven. The imprints pushed into the dough look like fossils and we will be using these placed into the sand to use for an archaeological dig.
A large hula hoop was woven with string to make a spiders web and the children have begun to make small spiders and flies to put on it.
A large ladybird was made from cardboard and the children have been trying to “pin the spot on the ladybird” with a blindfold on.
On Thursday the children were amazed to find small bugs and worms frozen into ice cubes. They were able to observe these melting and were fascinated to see what bugs emerged from the ice. This was a really good opportunity to discuss the science of the cause and effect of hot and cold temperatures.
Other bug related experiences have included spaghetti in the sand which looked like worms, pipe cleaner spiders and beetles, butterfly pictures made by painting one side of the shape and folding over to create wings, and all kinds of bug related concoctions being made in the mud kitchen.
We have been trying to think of songs about bugs but haven't come up with many so if you have any ideas please let us know.
On Thursday we were very excited to take delivery of out caterpillar eggs, which by the end of term, we will see emerge as butterflies. Ask your child to show you when you collect them. They are fascinating to watch.
This week has been so popular that we will be extending it for another week so please feel free to bring anything that we could use for our interest/display table.
Words we have learned this week:
Fossil
Ideas to continue this week’s fun at home:
Freeze small objects into ice cubes and watch them melt. If they are edible they could be put into a drink for fun.