Summer Theme: Insects

We are all about bugs in this house full of boys!'

I decided to dedicate this week's activities to all insects and learning a little about each of the boys favorites! (The ultimate favorite is the Dung Beetle--eww!)

While you won't find a dung beetle in our activities per-say, you will find plenty of books listed and even a few shows that we've discovered to satisfy that interest!

Bee Investigation tray

Bees have been a big interest ever since we were able to see a honeybee exhibit at a local county fair a couple summers ago! I found this book through our Usborne Books rep and it was the perfect information to go along with our play tray! I set out some yellow Playdoh, along with a hexagon cookie cutter to create a honeycomb.

I also Included some wooden beehives and bugs from a small shop that I found on Instagram called Chickadees Wooden Toys -- they have the CUTEST little wooden pieces and toys! The sprinkle letters are from two different resin shops: Happi Crafts and Resin Littles.
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Insect Sensory & Butterfly Cycle

Sensory trays are so much fun to put together, but also provide a pretty lengthy period of engagement with the kiddos! In this tray, I put some painted beans (the red ones are ladybugs!), small water beads, playdough, painted pasta, insect shaped cookie cutters and plastic insects and leaves! I gave the boys an empty tray to combine whichever of the items they wanted and play.

This sectioned tray Is from Dollar Tree, and the dough, insects and plants came in a kit from Little Creators TX! Everything else is from the pantry and painted by me :)
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The butterfly lifecycle was a fun addition to have out on the table amongst the activities so that we could briefly go through each of the stages. We also used our Ultimate Bug-opedia book for more background information! 
Lifecycle pieces and Bug-opedia book are both linked here in my Amazon storefront!
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​Watercolor Butterflies

This is a favorite art project that we've done a few times, but never seems to lose its luster! It is a very easy to prep and execute art project which makes life much easier on the adult setting up, too! 
All you need are coffee filters, watercolors and a clothes pin! Have the kids paint the filter, let dry, and then scrunch up into the clothespin to create your butterfly! The paper scrunching can even be an OT activity for that fine motor practice and pincer grasp!
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Insect Oobleck

This activity was definitely the most sought-after of them all! Oobleck is a non-Newtonian substance, so feels both liquidy and solid at the same time! It is so cool!

I made mine to look like mud with 1 and 1/4 cups tapioca flour (you can also use cornstarch), 1/2 cup water and a sprinkle of cacao powder to make it brown (and smell like chocolate!). Then I added some painted pasta and our plastic insect toys! Clean up is actually easier than you might think--it really just rinses off!

Definitely give this a try If you haven't yet!
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Sight Word Builder

We are working on sight words with Leo, and I've seen these types of things sold on Etsy made out of wood, but I decided to create my own and integrate our insect theme!

I drew out three boxes for the read, build and write sections. Then I wrote some sight words onto insect theme bulletin board pieces. We used the letter set from Resin littles to build each word and then a dry erase marker and sheet protector to practice writing each word!

Once again, super engaging and easy to create yourself!

I hope you enjoyed our Insect theme for this week! Ocean and ocean animals is up next week!

XOXO,
​Jamie