Icky Sticky, Icky Sticky Bumble Bees!

Slimy Bugs and Gross Slugs!!

Welcome to our fun filled week all about bugs! We learned the difference between insects and spiders; we had some fun hands-on experiences with two very different bugs and much more!

We began our week on Monday in the Kids Kitchen where we had fun smashing our crumbly dirt (aka Oreo cookies) and preparing our liquid dirt (aka chocolate pudding). We practiced taking turns and worked our fine motor and hand-eye coordination skills while smashing and stirring. Best of all, we had fun doing it!

For art we used cool insect stamps and practiced stamping, creating a repetitive down and up motion. This was a great problem solving and cause and effect activity and the kids really loved it!

We began Tuesday off by preparing our dirt cups that we began making on Monday, and enjoyed them tremendously! As we made each one, we talked about how many scoops of pudding, crumbles and the colors of each gummy worm. It made eating them so much better!

At Circle Time we attempted to list as many bugs we could think of. I drew pictures and we talked about all of the sounds that go into making up each bugs name, honing in on our phonics skills. 

For art my munchkins watercolor painted their choice of bug. Some chose a bumblebee, while others opted to create their own colorful beetle. Giving my munchkins options is a great learning tool for them so they can feel confident making choices in other situations.

On Wednesday we focused on counting and numeral identification with this fun Numeration Activity. We counted the number of spots a ladybug had and my munchkins took turns matching their ladybug up to the flower that had the correct numeral. We have been focusing on identifying our numerals 1-5 a lot lately and I was pleasantly surprised by how much all of my munchkins remembered! They are such little sponges!

We read a great little book, “A Present for Snail,” and had a fun discussion about what my munchkins would get snail for his birthday. This was a great creative thinking and oral language development opportunity. Check out their responses on the cork board above our cubbies in the classroom. 

For art we made our own little snails! We painted with different colors and blended them together with our brushes.

 In the afternoon worms joined us in our classroom! We had fun learning different facts about worms and compared our group of worms by pointing out the fat and skinny ones, and long and short ones.

Who do you think is hiding behind these little bug masks???

On Thursday we found a lot of ladybugs on our playground! I was so surprised with all of our brave little munchkins!!

 On Thursday we made our very own bugs in Kids Kitchen. We explored different ways bugs move, with wings or by crawling around, then used apple and pear slices, along with the help of yogurt covered pretzels to create our own bugs. I was so proud of my creative munchkins! We loved to make the bugs, but loved to eat them even more!

We love, “The Very Hungry Caterpillar,” story and enjoyed it differently with the felt story version. This allowed us to observe how the number of foods the caterpillar ate grew by one each day and gave us a different perspective on the original story.

For art we made our very own smoosh butterflies! It was like a mystery hiding beneath our folded paper until Voila! The butterflies that appeared were beautiful!

We had fun putting together a bug puzzle as part of a cooperative learning table activity. The best part was our opportunity to practice taking turns!

On Friday we talked more about ladybugs and decorated our very own red L with spots to make an L for ladybug in Kids Kitchen.

We completed some of our unfinished art projects today, including making our beautiful butterflies into fancy hats! Look how cute we are!