Finding Insects

Recently when Cohort B was playing outside in the forest, I noticed two of the children sitting down and observing a hole that was filled with bugs. One child extended out his hand and the bug slowly crawled up his arm. The other child observing these bugs said that they didn't want to touch them because she was afraid. From that observation, I planned an outdoor activity where the children could further observe the insects that they found around the centre grounds and in the forest. They were given jars to collect the insects and then compare them on Monday morning May 17, 2021.

As seen in these photos, the children were very engaged in this activity. They used the nature explorer telescopic(net) and the lid of the jar to catch the insects. They also had an opportunity to look at them through the magnifying glasses.

The child who was afraid to touch the bugs the week before had some ants in a closed jar and called out to the group and said ''look how big the ants are! They have arms and legs, but they don't have eyes". Another child encouraged her to keep exploring by showing that nothing would happen it if she just looked at the ants through the jar using the magnifying glass.

While they were playing in the forest, the children were explaining which insects they like the most. Some said that they like bees well others mentioned liking ants and butterflies. 
They compared these insects and discussed the following:
- Some fly while others crawl of the ground
- Some live underground and others live in the hole or on the tree
- Some insects like to eat berries, some like to eat garbage and other insects eat bugs.

The children also had an opportunity to look at some books and got more information about different kinds of bugs.

All of a sudden one child who was holding a large net ran over to another child and yelled "I'm going to catch you!" while placing the net over their head. This turned into a funny game created by the children where they ran around pretending to be birds flying and the child who was 'it' had a net and had to try and catch them.

During the activity, the children developed their cognitive skills as well as their language skills because they visually explored ants, mosquitoes and other bugs.  They also read  books and talked to each other about what they observed. The children also developed their physical skills because they manipulated the nature explorer telescopic, the jar and the magnifying glasses when looking at or catching the flying insects.

For next time, I will plan an activity for the children to watch and explore the birds that fly around in the forest area.

​                                                                                          -Chantal-