Some letters of the alphabet lend themselves to an assortment of great preschool lessons – to me, I is not one of them. Sorry, dear letter I, but I was scraping for something to do.
I is for Ice was OK but as a stand-alone topic, it is short on attention grabbing activities for 3 and 4 year olds. Plus, ice was slated to be part of my W is for Weather theme later in the year. So, finally it came to me – we’d do I is for Insect. I was happy indeed!
The facts about insects that you will want to teach preschoolers involves how to recognize them – after all, not every creepy crawly is an insect. Some bugs, such as spiders, for instance, are eight-legged creatures called arachnids.
So, how do we recognize an insect? An insect has six legs, three body parts – head, thorax, abdomen – two antennae and most of them have wings.
Click here: Fun Insect Facts for Kids
I wanted my little kiddos to see an insect up-close and personal but it was December. No insects outside to capture this time of year. While cleaning my house, I discovered a couple of deceased stink bugs behind a chair. Yippee! That was my answer.
Note: got stink bugs? Here is a helpful advice from Tips Bulletin on how to get rid of them: How To Get Rid Of Stink Bugs – 8 Simple Home Remedies
I created this little sheet on the computer, printed it onto cardstock and glued the stink bugs on – one so the top side showed and the other exposing the underside. Using a magnfying glass, we played “detective” as we discovered the parts of the insect body on real insects!
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In addition to learning about insects and seeing real ones under a magnifying glass, we read insect books and made an insect craft.
This craft is so easy and fun. Oh, I just have to share this. My students come up with the funniest things -they make me laugh. Take a look at the bottle cap insect I made in the craft below. They said exactly what I thought they would. They thought the black pipe cleaner antennae were eye brows or a mustache! LOL I was prepared for that and drew a smile on each one for them (picture below) Problem solved!
I is for Insect Bottle Cap Preschool Craft
Supplies
White cardstock
Leaf coloring page
Two colorful bottle caps
White school glue
Cotton swabs
Black pipe cleaners cut in 1/2 – 1 inch pieces
Directions
Print a leaf coloring page* on white card-stock paper.
Color the coloring page with crayons.
Dip the open ends of the bottle caps in white school glue.
Stick them to the page where the “legs” are and allow to dry a few minutes so that it adheres.
Using cotton swabs dipped in white glue, stick 2 googly eyes plus 2 pipe cleaners onto one bottle cap for the face.
Draw a smile underneath the eyes….now you know he doesn’t have eyebrows or a mustache LOL!
Put dots on the other bottle cap and sprinkle with glitter for decoration, like a lady bug.
*Tip – I added legs and a title right onto my coloring page but you can just draw the legs on the page.
The smile makes the difference!
Have you checked out our Directory of Preschool & Kindergarten Websites? It has links to 48+ excellent blogs and websites with tons of age-appropriate lessons and craft ideas for you.
More insect related lessons for preschoolers: A is for Ant – B is for Butterfly – C is for Caterpillar
Enjoy!
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