Posts tagged ‘insects’
Show don’t tell: Giving kids the gift of observation
What you do in the outdoors is more important than what you say.
Show them how to observe by being an active observer.
Show them with your enthusiasm and excitement about the world.
Show them by asking questions and encouraging questions.
And most of all, show them by being fearless.
This is the greatest gift you can give kids.
So what do you do when you have fear or your kids want to explore something that makes your skin crawl, like insects?
First relax. Insects are fun to watch and most are harmless. Then, try this simple activity.
Lift a log or a rock and ask: What are they doing? What do they look like? Put your find in a jar and ask: Can you see their mouth parts? Their legs? What colors do you see? What do you think they eat? Use online resources like this simple activity guide. Give them a clipboard and ask them to draw what they see. If you don’t know something, you can look it up with the kids.
It’s okay to say, “I don’t know, but we can find out.”
Show them how to learn and you will create curious, life-long learners.
And what could be better than that?
Have fun out there and tell me about your experiences with kids in the outdoors.
How do you overcome fear?
Insect Safari with Kindergarten and 1st graders: Notes and Tips
Pitfall Trap
Friday we had insect club with 15 Kindergarten and first graders.
The plan was to have the kids dig pitfall traps and then hunt for insects. We did both of these things, but the outcomes were different than expected.
I’ll make some observations and then suggest changes for the next outing.
Observation One: Kids love to dig.
In fact, they were more interested in digging and playing, than in finding insects, though they did find insects.
While digging a hole for a trap (really just a cup in the ground), one student dug into a nest of ants. Squeals of excitement prevailed as hundreds of ants swarmed on the ground.
“Gross,” said Joanie.
“Cool” said John.
” I don’t like bugs,” said George.
Now that we had some insects to watch, the plan was to see what insects liked to eat. We had apples, peanut butter, jelly, bread, and some lettuce. I tossed a little on the ground and I explained the project. They were not impressed.
Observation 2: The kids were more interested in tossing food on the ground and playing with containers than watching what the insects ate.
One boy placed a variety of containers on the ground upside down directly on the ant hill. I asked him what the cups were for and he said they were to catch the ants. The ants did crawl up side the cups, but afterward, John wasn’t at all interested in picking up the cups after the insects were inside. This was interesting. He just liked looking at them and playing with the containers.
General observation wasn’t the objective of this lesson, but that’s what happened. As a teacher, sometimes lessons don’t go as planned. Flexibility is key.
A few kids did get their pitfall traps into the ground. We’ll go back to the traps this week and see if any insects fell into them. To find out how to make one go to http://insects.about.com/od/entomologytools/ht/byopitfalltrap.htm. These traps are simple and fun to make. I’ll report next week how the older kids liked making them.
The safari went okay, though three kids opted out. They were hot and didn’t really like the insects. The kids that went each had a container for their insects. They really liked having their own container. I expected to find a lot of Japanese beetles, but we only found one. The kids thought this was cool, but it’s hard to show off just one beetle to 12 kids. And of course, they all wanted to take it home.
Here are my suggestions for the next time:
1) Pick a New Location: We did our digging along a rain garden near a bike path. We had about 5 kids that did not look before crossing the bike path. This meant that me and my co-teacher had to constantly watch them. Next time, I will hold the activity at a nearby park or take smaller numbers of kids to this location.
2) Define Expectations: Tell the kids ahead of time that all insects will be released or placed in our science area. They will still ask, but at least it’s up front. Many wanted to take their creepy crawlies home, but this wasn’t possible. If we do some pinning, then they can take them home.
3) Keep it very simple: Turns out that Friday is the toughest day for our kids. After a long week, they are least likely to listen and I am least likely to have patience. Next time, I would just dig with them and not make the traps. Most couldn’t dig a hole deep enough to place their traps anyway. The pitfall trap activity will work better with older kids. Then, just go on a safari.
Tell me about your adventures with kids and insects. What worked? What didn’t? What did you do? You can find me playing with insects at the Goodman Community Center. Like what you see here? Register for this blog and get a free 11-page Bubble Activity Guide. Just click on the home page and type in your email.
First Insect — First Day of Summer Camp
Today, Louis found the first insect of the summer. I’m not sure what it is, but it doesn’t really matter. What matters is his interest.
He carried it carefully on a stick all the way back to the classroom from the park. We put it in a plastic container with some holes punched in the top and placed it on the counter.
I’m happy that Louis got so excited about his find. Some of the kids
were squeamish, but not him. He was careful, proud and
curious. Perhaps this will rub off on the others.
The next step is to bring in a fish tank with a screen net. We’ll put some
dirt and some leaves in the bottom and soon we’ll have all sorts of creepy
crawlies running around.
I can’t wait.
There’s lots of summer to go.
You can find Diane Schwartz playing with insects at the Goodman Community Center where she is a K-5 teacher. She leads hiking, skiing and biking adventures. In her spare time, she sells bubble wands and does outdoor consulting.
For a free 11-page Bubble Activity Guide, just go to the home page and subscribe to this blog.
Bugs & Slugs: Insect Adventure
What do you get when you cross 11 school age boys with insect exploration? Lots of high energy insect fun. Bugs and Slugs marked my second of two week-long adventure camps run from the Goodman Community Center this summer. Bike camp was in June and Bugs & Slugs was in August. As this was my first time teaching this camp, I learned a lot about kids and about teaching in the outdoors.
Kids love insects. Insects are fascinating, endlessly diverse, cool looking and perhaps most important, they are everywhere. It takes so little to study insects, but the learning can be huge. I used the 4-H insect curriculum for most of my lessons this week. I also talked with entomologists at UW-Madison and looked online for information. The week was divided up between outdoor insect exploration, outdoor play like swimming and games, and indoor insect exploration (microscopes, pinning, videos). I really think it’s important to have a diversity of activities during the week, and not just insect related. This keeps the week moving and ensures that there is plenty of time for summer fun, in addition to learning about insects.
We started the week with a visit to the UW-entomology Department’s insect library. There, the boys got to see a collection of insects from around the world. Giant beetles and walking sticks were among the coolest insects. They also got to see a live tarantula (not an insect) and a cockroach colony. One boy wasn’t sure about the tarantula and stayed in the hallway a bit before getting closer. Afterward, we stopped at Babcock Hall to get ice cream.
The next day, we went collecting and made pitfall traps. The kids filled their jars with grasshoppers and other insects. We talked about insect body parts and what makes an insect an insect. Most of the insects we let go, but the kids did keep the insects for observation for a few days, especially the ones that they couldn’t identify. I checked out Golden Guide insect guides from the library so we could identify some insects. However, the internet proved to be a better identification source since there are so many insects.
Later in the week, the kids did do some pinning of the insects they found. We started with Japanese Beetles because they were so abundant and we talked about the damage they do to plants. We popped them into the killing jar and waited for them to die. Then, the kids pinned and labeled their specimens. Not all the kids pinned insects. I left it has an optional activity, since some kids did not feel comfortable with this. Insect, they wrote in their journals or worked on an art project. We also watched a movie called Ant Bully, which was a good insect movie. Most of the insects that the kids pinned had died on their own, so they didn’t have to use the killing jar. The kids that pinned insects did enjoy it and did a great job. They appreciated the scientific aspect of making a collection and worked hard at it.
We tried looking for aquatic insects, but that was the most disappointing aspect of the week. We went to Lake Wingra, but didn’t really find anything. The kids had a lot of fun playing in the water though and they did find tiny crustaceans. We used small vials to collect things and the kids enjoyed putting rocks, shells and water plants in the vials. One kids called them his potions. To better explore water insects, I need to find a wetland that has more insects that we can see. Lake Wingra wasn’t it. I’d also like to rent some paddle boats and take the kids out on Lake Wingra so that we could closer where the insects would be. There simply were few insects along the shore.
The pitfall traps proved to be a huge hit and very, very simple to make. The kids dug a whole and put a cup in the ground. Then, they put food in the cup. We left the traps alone and then went back to see what insects fell into the traps, hence the name pitfall trap. The results were fascinating. For the kids, it was kind of like Christmas everyday because you never knew what would be in the cup. We found spiders, ants, bees, beetles. The kids even created rain covers for their traps to keep the rain out, but the insects could still get to the food. I loved watching that.
The highlight of the week was a trip to the Spring Green Nature Preserve. The preserve is a dry prairie and is home to rare insects and usual plants like the prickly pear cactus. The place is magical and the kids really enjoyed it. Half the group immediately wanted to climb to the overlook. Forget about stopping to look at insects. The other half wanted to look for insects. We had plenty of adults to make this happen. Of course, we could only look and release any insects here. We found a gorgeous dragon fly, a huge orange ant, lots of little yellow ants and a variety of katydids and grasshoppers. We were fortunate to have an entomology student with us who helped with identification of insects. At the top of the bluff, the view was amazing. All together we hike about 3 miles, which is pretty good. These kids did it fast too. Not all groups are like that. Afterward, we went to Culvers and had ice cream. They loved that.
We also went to see a honey farm, where they learned how honey is made. They liked putting on the bee keeper hat and gloves and looking at the equipment. Of course, they got to taste some honey too.
Overall, the week was a lot of fun. I would change the following: 1) Find a better place to look for aquatic insects or delete that part of the week. 2) Do more collecting and pinning of insects. 3) Purchase our own nets and microscopes. it’s difficult to borrow equipment and very time consuming. 4) Have more computers available in the room for insect identification and microscope work.
