I'm so excited to share with you our newest sensory bin! I was making some macaroni and cheese for my boys the other day and I realized the pasta shapes would make such a fun sensory bin! Thankfully, I had another box so I was able to quickly put together an insect sensory bin for my children to play with. Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. See my disclosure for details. Here's what you need to make this insect sensory bin: Back to Nature Crazy Bugs Macaroni & … [Read more...]
Butterfly Life Cycle Cup
We are really into butterflies right now! Like I mentioned last week, we are watching caterpillars turn into butterflies. Yesterday, the butterflies formed their chrysalides. I literally watched one of them change and it was amazing! (You can read all about the butterfly kit here.) Since we're learning about butterflies, I decided to create a life cycle activity. I created a butterfly life cycle cup to teach my little ones the life stages of a butterfly. Here's what you need for the … [Read more...]
Butterfly Life Cycle Kit & Journal
We are doing an awesome activity for preschool science right now. The boys and I are watching caterpillars grow into butterflies! We bought a kit from Insect Lore and now we are observing the caterpillars at home. The boys are so excited to watch them grow and eventually change into Painted Lady butterflies. The post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosure policy. We received our caterpillars in the mail 5 days ago and we've been watching them closely ever since! … [Read more...]
Insect Sensory Bin and Alphabet Activity
Spring is a great time to do an insect theme with preschoolers. We've done a lot of crafts and activities about insects in the past, but today I'm sharing our insect sensory bin with an alphabet activity. This post contains affiliate links. For more info on this, please see my disclosure policy. In this sensory bin, we used the following: ground coffee green felt plastic insects alphabet stickers gems shallow plastic bin I first glued green felt to the sides of the plastic … [Read more...]
Good Bugs, Bad Bugs Game
My boys are always interested in learning more about bugs. They are very blessed to have a bug expert in the family...their grandpa! In fact, my dad owns his own pest control company! One concept I believe is important to know, is which bugs are good and which ones are not. I don't want my kids to be afraid of bugs, but I want them to recognize that they are helpful to the environment! That's why we came up with the game called Good Bugs, Bad Bugs. In this game, kids learn how bugs … [Read more...]
8 Insect Crafts for Kids
Over the summer we learned about 8 insects. I can't tell you how much my toddler and preschooler enjoyed learning about these creatures. It has been fun to see them identify insects outside because of what they learned with our activities. Today I've compiled our 8 insect crafts into one post. Just click on the links below each picture to take you to the post with the tutorial. 1. Butterfly Craft 2. Ladybug Craft 3. Caterpillar Craft 4. Bumble Bee Craft 5. Ant … [Read more...]
Dragonfly Craft for Kids
The last insect we are learning about this summer are Dragonflies. My kids are always amazed when they see a dragonfly hovering around. I can't blame them...they are beautiful and fascinating creatures! So today I'm sharing our dragonfly craft for kids. Here's what you need: pipe cleaners (any color) beads 1 pom pom foam sheets glitter paint Start by painting the foam sheets. We used glitter paint, but you could just paint on glue and then add glitter. While the paint is … [Read more...]
Glowing Firefly Craft
We’ve been studying bugs and insects this summer and one creature my boys have been so interested in lately are fireflies! They really are fascinating insects and it’s been fun to see them outside glowing in the summer night. Starting out, we read The Very Lonely Firefly, by Eric Carle. Although this is a fictional story, it still has facts about fireflies in the book. Plus it’s just a cute story to read! After reading, we made a firefly craft to talk about the parts of a firefly. Here’s … [Read more...]
Feed the Caterpillar Activity + Life Cycle Activities
Yesterday I shared our caterpillar and butterfly crafts. Today I am sharing our Feed the Caterpillar Activity, which is a great activity for toddlers. In The Very Hungry Caterpillar book, the caterpillar is so hungry that he eats 1 apple, 2 pears, 3 plums, 4 strawberries, and 5 oranges and then he eats a bunch of junk food before finishing off with a big green leaf. In this activity, the child will feed fruit (foam pieces) to the caterpillar. This is a good movement activity and … [Read more...]
Caterpillar & Butterfly Crafts
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. One of our very favorite books to read is The Very Hungry Caterpillar. There’s just something about the book that kids love! The story is educational, the pictures are beautiful, and it’s just a fun story to read! This week we are learning about caterpillars and butterflies, so this book ties in perfectly with that unit. In fact, Eric Carle (the author) celebrates his birthday this week on June 25th, so that makes this a great week to learn … [Read more...]