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Welcome back to Latticed Learning! This year, we're continuing to learn while we play - repeating many of our favorites from the past while adding in all sorts of new activities as well.
This day's post is devoted to our weekly themes - some weeks have more activities than others, but each lesson will be fun for you to explore with your little one!
Read All About It
The Beautiful Butterfly Book, The Spectacular Spider Book, The Beautiful Bee Book, & The Beautiful Beetle Book are all lovely books with plenty to do on each page (feel a fuzzy caterpillar, turn a wheel to discover a life cycle, lift up some wings to see what's underneath, or peer through shimmery plastic to see which beetles love the water).
Butterfly Life Cycle & Ladybug Life Cycle from this set are great for presenting facts in small chunks for the small set.
Bugs, Beetles & Butterflies was one of our favorite books on our big campout last year - it's a great overview of all sorts of creepy-crawly critters.
Inch by Inch is all about a little inchworm measuring the animals around his home. It's a classic by Leo Lionni that I have always loved.
Beetle Bop is not only great for becoming an expert on all things beetle, but is a fantastic book for focusing on adjectives, too.
Ladybug Girl isn't really about bugs, but a little girl who dresses up as a ladybug and sets out for a day of play. It was the favorite book of a very special former student of mine, so the copy she gave to us when Gv was born is extra-special, too.
Mr. Buzz the Beeman
I Love Spiders
Shoo, Fly Guy!
Dare to Find Out About...Frightful Winged Creatures
Bug Faces
I Can't said the ant
The Itsy Bitsy Spider
Fly, Monarch! Fly!
Spiders
One Hundred Hungry Ants
Bugs Galore
Bugs! Bugs! Bugs!
Butterfly Colors & Counting
A Butterfly is Patient
Diary of a Worm
Slugs in Love
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Charlotte's Web
Sing Some Songs
There were a couple of great tunes that I stumbled across:
Several of the songs off of this folksy album were perfect for this week's buggy theme.
Butterfly Driving a Truck and Spider John from the fun album I shared here were great choices, too.
We mainly watched Magic School Bus episodes: In a Beehive, Gets Ants in its Pants, Butterfly and the Bog Beast and Spins a Web.
This movie would be a good choice, too.
I printed out the faces of this cute die (& slipped them into one of our foam dice pieces) so we could act out all sorts of buggy moves.
Gv and I made a little bug hat for her to wear, then I gave her a straw to use as her proboscis to suck the nectar (juice) out of a construction paper flower (covering a cup), just like a butterfly.
She also used tweezers to transfer yellow pom pom "pollen" pieces from a flower (I just used the same one as I did for the butterfly nectar) to a honeycomb (ice cube tray - you could also use an egg carton).
We played a fun bug-catching dice game. You'll find it here. I printed out the three pieces we needed in black and white, then we colored them in (to save color ink).
We played the game a bit differently than suggested. We took turns rolling a die, then we got to add that number of bugs to our jars (which made the game go faster!)
We made a little toilet paper roll fly guy to be the mascot for one of our books:
We made a little dragonfly out of a plastic spoon:
Then we created a red-ant puppet:
And then we made a black ant out of Play-Doh:
I punched some holes around the edge of a sturdy paper plate and randomly numbered them on one side:
Then scattered the alphabet randomly next to the holes on the other side before handing Gv a ball of yarn to lace up her own web with:
I cut eight slits on the end of a toilet paper roll, then we folded them back, dipped it all in black paint, and Gv stamped out a couple of spiders:
Gv got out her little collection of plastic bugs, then sorted them by color:
I wound some yarn through the holes of a mini-milk crate I'd had in my classroom, then buried her bugs in the bottom of this "web."
I handed her some tweezers and she went to work trying to extract all the bugs:
I printed out this cute collections of bugs (the "count the room" portion), cut out the cards, and hid them around the room for Gv to find and count up.
Gv was all geared up to cut and paste this little "bug or not" sorting activity, but she lost interest after only gluing half the squares down.
We headed outside to see what we could check off this list on our own little bug scavenger hunt:
And finally, we played a game using p. 45 of the PreK pack found here.
Several of the songs off of this folksy album were perfect for this week's buggy theme.
Butterfly Driving a Truck and Spider John from the fun album I shared here were great choices, too.
Watch Some Videos
This movie would be a good choice, too.
Play and Create
We had another crazy-busy week because there were just so many fun things to do to explore the topic of bugs!I printed out the faces of this cute die (& slipped them into one of our foam dice pieces) so we could act out all sorts of buggy moves.
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| Flapping like a butterfly |
Gv and I made a little bug hat for her to wear, then I gave her a straw to use as her proboscis to suck the nectar (juice) out of a construction paper flower (covering a cup), just like a butterfly.
 |
| She insisted that the bug have red eyes. This is all just taped construction paper, with pipe cleaner antennae (wrapping around pom poms at the ends). |
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| This is a great trick to use anytime you need your little one to drink something nasty - she slurped it all right up and asked for seconds! |
She also used tweezers to transfer yellow pom pom "pollen" pieces from a flower (I just used the same one as I did for the butterfly nectar) to a honeycomb (ice cube tray - you could also use an egg carton).
We played a fun bug-catching dice game. You'll find it here. I printed out the three pieces we needed in black and white, then we colored them in (to save color ink).
We played the game a bit differently than suggested. We took turns rolling a die, then we got to add that number of bugs to our jars (which made the game go faster!)
We made a little toilet paper roll fly guy to be the mascot for one of our books:
 |
| Draw a silly nose and mouth onto an empty toilet paper tube. Glue on some over-sized eyes (I used craft foam, but construction paper would work fine), wax-paper wings, and pipe cleaner arms, legs & antennae. |
We made a little dragonfly out of a plastic spoon:
 |
| Take a black plastic spoon and glue on two wax-paper wings (I took this photo before the glue was dry, as you can see) and a couple of googly eyes. So easy! |
Then we created a red-ant puppet:
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| Construction paper, googly eyes and pipe cleaner legs all glued onto a craft stick. |
And then we made a black ant out of Play-Doh:
 |
| Black Play-Doh body, pipe cleaner legs, and who-can-ever-get-enough googly eyes! |
I punched some holes around the edge of a sturdy paper plate and randomly numbered them on one side:
I cut eight slits on the end of a toilet paper roll, then we folded them back, dipped it all in black paint, and Gv stamped out a couple of spiders:
 |
| Add googly eyes. Always add googly eyes. |
Gv got out her little collection of plastic bugs, then sorted them by color:
 |
| She was about to sort them by critter type as well, but then got distracted by what I was setting up for her to do next: |
I wound some yarn through the holes of a mini-milk crate I'd had in my classroom, then buried her bugs in the bottom of this "web."
I handed her some tweezers and she went to work trying to extract all the bugs:
 |
| A bonus activity of her own devising followed: she pulled all of the yarn out of the holes, then weaved it all back through again! |
I printed out this cute collections of bugs (the "count the room" portion), cut out the cards, and hid them around the room for Gv to find and count up.
Gv was all geared up to cut and paste this little "bug or not" sorting activity, but she lost interest after only gluing half the squares down.
We headed outside to see what we could check off this list on our own little bug scavenger hunt:
 |
| Perusing the list |
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| We found a tiny grasshopper! (at least it looked like a grasshopper) |
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| Our completed sheet. Gv made the "x"s and I added the bugs we found that weren't on the list. |
And finally, we played a game using p. 45 of the PreK pack found here.
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| She'd enjoyed a similar game back in this week, so I knew she'd like this. We colored the ladybug together, then each chose a color (although Gv switched from red to pink, partway through) and took turns rolling the die and coloring in the number. If a number came up that wasn't free, the other player just took a turn. I actually won this time! |
Whew! It was another busy week, but one full of fun!
Looking for all the great posts associated with this concept in one place? Check out my Latticed Learning page here!
What's your favorite thing that we did this week? I'd love to hear! Either leave a comment below or email me at lisahealy (at) outlook (dot) com.
Also, if you don't want to miss a single minute of great tips like this and all the fun around here, be sure to sign up for free updates and then look forward to having each post delivered straight to your inbox!
Linked up with: Favorite Things, Over the Moon, Share the Wealth Sunday, Dishing it & Digging it, What's for Dinner?, Family Joy Blog Link-Up, Literacy Musings Monday, Practical Mondays, Homeschool Nook Link Up, Happiness is Homemade, Merry Monday, Motivation Monday, What'd You Do This Weekend, Meet Up Monday, Totally Terrific Tuesday, Together on Tuesdays, Show Me Yours Linky, Tasty Tuesdays, Little Learning Link Up, Two Uses Tuesday, Hip Homeschool Hop, Lou Lou Girls Fabulous Party Tuesday Talk, Wonderful Wednesday, A Little Bird Told Me, Everything Early Childhood, Creative Muster, Party in Your PJs,What to Read,I Am Pinnable, Christian Bloggers Link Up, This Is How We Roll, Creative Ways, Hearts for Home, Creative Exchange, 100 Happy Days, Try It Like It, No Rules Weekend Blog Party, Tune in Thursdays, Booknificent Thursdays, Thursday Favorite Things, I'm Lovin' It, Inspiration Spotlight, Home Matters, Pretty Pintastic Party, Weekend Potluck, Awesome Life Friday, Creative Collection, The Beautifully Creative Inspired , Bloggers Pit Stop, Weekend Traffic Jam, Pin Me Party, From the Archives, Family Fun Friday, Friday Frivolity, Bloggers Spotlight, Make My Saturday Sweet, Weekend Wind-Down Party,Friday Features Linky, Funtastic Friday , Best of the Weekend, Sweet Inspiration Link Party, Small Victories Sunday, You're Invited, Love to Learn Tuesdays
Whew! It was another busy week, but one full of fun!
Looking for all the great posts associated with this concept in one place? Check out my Latticed Learning page here!
What's your favorite thing that we did this week? I'd love to hear! Either leave a comment below or email me at lisahealy (at) outlook (dot) com.
Also, if you don't want to miss a single minute of great tips like this and all the fun around here, be sure to sign up for free updates and then look forward to having each post delivered straight to your inbox!
Linked up with: Favorite Things, Over the Moon, Share the Wealth Sunday, Dishing it & Digging it, What's for Dinner?, Family Joy Blog Link-Up, Literacy Musings Monday, Practical Mondays, Homeschool Nook Link Up, Happiness is Homemade, Merry Monday, Motivation Monday, What'd You Do This Weekend, Meet Up Monday, Totally Terrific Tuesday, Together on Tuesdays, Show Me Yours Linky, Tasty Tuesdays, Little Learning Link Up, Two Uses Tuesday, Hip Homeschool Hop, Lou Lou Girls Fabulous Party Tuesday Talk, Wonderful Wednesday, A Little Bird Told Me, Everything Early Childhood, Creative Muster, Party in Your PJs,What to Read,I Am Pinnable, Christian Bloggers Link Up, This Is How We Roll, Creative Ways, Hearts for Home, Creative Exchange, 100 Happy Days, Try It Like It, No Rules Weekend Blog Party, Tune in Thursdays, Booknificent Thursdays, Thursday Favorite Things, I'm Lovin' It, Inspiration Spotlight, Home Matters, Pretty Pintastic Party, Weekend Potluck, Awesome Life Friday, Creative Collection, The Beautifully Creative Inspired , Bloggers Pit Stop, Weekend Traffic Jam, Pin Me Party, From the Archives, Family Fun Friday, Friday Frivolity, Bloggers Spotlight, Make My Saturday Sweet, Weekend Wind-Down Party,Friday Features Linky, Funtastic Friday , Best of the Weekend, Sweet Inspiration Link Party, Small Victories Sunday, You're Invited, Love to Learn Tuesdays