Insects and Bugs Theme and Activities
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Insects and Bugs Songs and Fingerplays
The Insects Outside (Tune: The Wheels on the Bus)
The fireflies at night go blink, blink, blink
Blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink
The fireflies at night go blink, blink, blink
Out in the garden.
The bees in the flowers go buzz, buzz, buzz
Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz
The bees in the flowers go buzz, buzz, buzz
Out in the garden.
Other verses:
cricket/fields/chirp
caterpillars/on the leaves/munch
spiders/in the bush/ spin their webs
worms/in the ground/ wiggle and squirm
The Fuzzy Caterpillar (Tune: Itsy Bitsy Spider)
The fuzzy caterpillar
Curled up on a leaf,
Spun her little chrysalis
And then fell fast asleep.
While she was sleeping
She dreamed that she could fly,
And later when she woke up
She was a butterfly!
Butterfly Song (Tune: Up on the Housetop)
First comes a butterfly and lays an egg.
Out comes a caterpillar with many legs.
Oh see the caterpillar spin and spin,
A little chrysalis to sleep in.
Oh, oh ,oh wait and see!
Oh, oh, oh wait and see!
Out of the chrysalis, my oh my,
Out comes a beautiful butterfly!
Speedy Spider Song (Tune: Oh, Susanna)
I was sitting in my room one day
When it came right through the door.
A big spider sped right by me-
Went racing 'cross the floor.
(Chorus)
Oh, that spider! Oh how it scared me so.
But spiders can be good friends. And so I let it go.
I watched it crawl up the wall,
To find a spot just right.
It spun a web so beautiful.
And then went out of sight.
(Repeat chorus)
Now bugs and flies do not scare me,
For I know that it's true-
That a spiderweb is good to have,
Bugs stick to it like glue.
(Repeat chorus)
Lightning Bug (Tune: You are my Sunshine)
I'm like a "lite brite"
I have a night light.
I fly in circles, up in the sky.
Some call me "lightning".
When my light's blinking.
But to my friends, I'm just "firefly."
While others sleep tight,
flash my night light,
fill the dark sky with light so bright.
Look out your window,
You'll see me flashing,
And then I'll turn off and tell you
"good night
Five Busy Bees Fingerplay
Five little busy bees on a day so sunny
Number one said, "I'd like to make some honey"
Number two said, "Tell me, where shall it be?"
Number three said, "In the old honey tree"
Number four said, "Let's gather pollen sweet"
Number five said, "Let's take it on our feet".
Humming their busy little honey bee song.
Five Little Flies Fingerplay
Five little flies buzzing through a hive,
One snuck some honey, and took a deep dive.
Four little flies buzzing through a door,
One slipped and fell, Crash! on the floor.
Three little flies buzzing through the trees,
One bumped the bark and bloodied his knees.
Two little flies buzzing through a shoe,
One held his nose and said, PEE YOO!
One little fly buzzing through a bun,
The swatter goes SPLAT! Now there are none
Insects and Bugs Art Activities
Fingerprint Bugs
Have each child dip their thumb in washable paint and print their thumb print on paper. They can decorate the body by coloring in legs and antennae.
Butterfly Feet
Paint the bottom of children's feet with non-toxic tempera paint. Have the child step onto a piece of paper with their feet and heels together. When dry, they can add antennae with markers or crayons or yarn.
Worm Tracks
Children dip different sizes of yarn through brown paint. Then they drag the wet yarn in various patterns across their paper.
Egg Carton Ants
Cut an egg carton into sections of three. Give each child a 3-piece egg carton. Have them paint and decorate with wiggly eyes and pipe cleaner antennae and legs.
Spider Web Marble Painting
Paint a heavy paper plate with black paint (may need two coats). When dry, place a few drops of white around the plate. Place the marble in the plate and have the child roll the marble around. You can also put a circle piece of black construction paper in a pie pan and do the same thing.
Fly Swatter Painting
Place a long roll of butcher or craft paper on the ground outside. Have children Ppress a fly swatter in paint, gently lift out, and slap against the paper to make prints. Keep swatting until the prints begin to fade, then re-dip and make more prints.
Insects and Bugs Math and Science
Spider Ring Counting
Get spider rings (save these at Halloween time!). Place a pile of spider rings in the center of a table. Children take turn rolling a die and place that amount of spider rings on their fingers. See who can get all ten fingers with spider rings first.
Bug Investigations
Take some jars or Learning Resources Big View Bug Jars with magnifying glasses outside. Let children look for bugs to investigate.
Sensory Table Bugs
Add plastic bugs and insects into your sensory table hidden in the sand with spoons and cups to catch them!
But Sorting and Patterning
Use Bug Counter Manipulatives to sort bugs. Sort by color, sort by type of bug, sort by whether they have wings or not, etc.
Lady Bug Spot Counting
Practice writing the number of spots on each ladybug on our Ladybug Math printable.
Insects and Bugs Motor Skills and Movement
Bug Waltz
Dance like bugs to classical music. Talk with the students about how bugs look when they fly around and land on things.
Bumblebee Dance
Bees dance to communicate. Have the children dance to communicate (either commnicate feelings like happy, sad, excited or communicate an action, like directions to the table for snack).
Insects and Bugs Snacks
Bugs on a Log
celery cut into 4" lengths
peanut butter
raisins
Spread peanut butter in celery and arrange raisins on top. You can substitute cream cheese for peanutbutter
Butterfly Salad (Serves one)
2 Pineapple rings
Cottage cheese
Green olives sliced in 1/2
Food coloring
Celery stick
Slice pineapple rings in 1/2 to use a an outline of the butterfly's wings Use celery stick as the body Place cottage cheese inside of pineapple ring Decorate the cottage cheese with food coloring, you can also add carrot sticks for antennae.
Ladybug
Slice an apple in half lengthwise, and lay with cut side down on a plate. Use raisins as the ladybug's spots, put on with a dot of peanut butter. Attach a grape, as the head of the ladybug, with a toothpick.
Bug Juice
To create a bright green "bug juice", mix lemonade with a blue Kool-aid drink.