Posts Tagged ‘Bugs’
I love what we call butterfly pasta. Not only does my son eat it well, he plays with it well too. We made this ages ago but between Easter and Mother’s Day crafts it got lost in the shuffle. As we pulled it out to play with it again I remembered I never posted this sensory activity. Although I didn’t photograph it I popped some of these butterflies into a clear Take and Toss sippy cup through a lid on it and my daughter has been using it as a shaker for weeks. So many uses!
- Gather your materials. You will need some bowtie ( butterfly) pasta, food coloring, vinegar, ziploc bags, cookie sheets, a medium sized plastic tub, scoops, a divided tray and play tongs. You can also through in some penne pasta as ” Caterpillars”.
- Start by putting a few drops of your favorite food coloring into a ziploc.
- Add 1 tbsp of white vinegar.
- Throw in a few handfuls of pasta. Shake until all the liquid is gone.
- Pour out on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper to dry. The vinegar smell will lessen in time, even if it’s strong initially in a day or two it will be all but gone.
- Make multiple colors.
- Pour dry dyed pasta into a bin with scoops for little ones to explore, add penne pasta as caterpillars.
- Using a divided tray you can sort the pasta by color using tongs.
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When I think of all the things I look forward to as the days get warmer and the flowers start blooming butterflies are at the top of my list. They are a fantastic spring theme for teaching life cycles, about bugs ( especially for those kinds not interested in creepy crawlies) and art lessons about mirror images. Oh and butterfly crafts are just fun and beautiful to make!
The Band Aid Butterflies were such a hit last year we made them multiple times, they are quick, low mess and kids get a kick out of using first aid supplies for a craft.
This butterfly offers lots of opportunity to use fine motor skills and makes a cute keepsake too.
Ok so this one is a dragonfly but it’s so pretty! Make a few adjustments and bam! You have a butterfly.
Ok another technicality these are actually lightning bugs but they could pass for butterflies!
Also check out these simple Butterfly Puzzles from my other blog on FamilyEducation.com
Need some books to go with these crafts? Check out our children’s book reviews.
If you follow us on Twitter or Facebook you may have heard we are prepping to sell our house, this is possibly the least fun adventure I have ever had and I once ended up in Belgium by accident at 5am… long story. I have to keep the house spic and span while we are selling so get ready for some low on mess but high on fun activities like these play dough bugs . If you want to make your own play dough we have recipes even a gluten free play dough recipe!
- Gather your materials. You will need some play dough in a few colors, some large googley eyes, pipe cleaners, straws and other things you might have on hand like tooth pics, popscicle sticks, buttons… no rules ! Also to protect my table I use an old cutting board as the work space.
- Sometimes kids need a guide when they are given a buffet to create with , sometimes they don’t. So I sat down and made this bug as an example of what he could use the materials to make not what he should make , explaining that there was no wrong way to create.
- Start creating!
- Hard at work
- A trio of bugs!
Get outside and turn over rocks to find creepy crawly bugs. On our bug hunt we kept count to add some math to our outside learning.
A Few Favorite Books About Bugs
Ace Lacewing: Bug Detective
Bob and Otto
The Very Quiet Cricket
Over the years we have made some fun and beautiful crafts with wings, these are just a few. Check out the Crafts tab on the menu bar, it will drop down and you can explore our kids crafts by theme.
My backyard is covered in spiders, which has led to my son and I trying to identify the ones we find using the internet . Have you ever googled “Spiders” , I never used to be afraid of spiders, super close up pictures of various spiders changed that for good. So if your little one is into these arachnids instead of googling and risking nightmares, make this fun spider craft, play this game and save yourself the grief !
- Gather your materials. You will need a plastic container, we used the plastic part of a light bulb package but any clear plastic would work. Some paint, a hole punch, googley eyes, glue and 4 pipe cleaners.
- Start by punching the holes in the plastic.
- Next paint the container from the inside. My son loved this part of the craft, he thought it was so cool to watch the paint from under the plastic. Let dry. On a sunny day I put this in the window and it dried (mostly) in 45 minutes.
- Cut the pipe cleaners in half
- Thread the pipe cleaners through the holes and twist the ends in place.
- Add the eyes with glue. Let dry.
- Play
Bug Math
I was lucky enough to get gifted these bug counters from a neighbor whose kids have out grown them. I wasted no time using them to teach some math. The goal of this game is to find the matching types of bugs, count them up and then find the number that matches the total in the tray and place them in.
- Gather your materials. You will need some counters ( erasers in fun shapes, poker chips.. or plastic toys work well too), a divided tray, some paper , tape and marker.
- Write out the number totals on your paper, cut and tape into your tray.
- Time to play ( and learn).Group the similar bugs.
- Count them
- Pop them in the right section!
Don’t forget to dance when you are done ! Watch out , those are some mean jazz hands.
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