Friday Fun: Going Buggy!

Now that spring really feels like it's in the air (well, sort of), Anna is eager to play more outside. I'm sure that's true for just about every kid. But besides the typical things - drawing with sidewalk chalk, going to the park, playing ball, riding bikes - what sorts of fun mischief can we get into?

Photo from crochet4aprincess.blogspot.com

I just read an article with a creative answer: make a bug jar!  This sounds like exactly the kind of thing I'd have wanted to do when I was a kid. I loved playing in the yard and seeing what I could find. I think my favorite discovery when I was Anna's age was a frog that peed in my dad's hand. I screamed but it was really funny. Some things you never forget.

I also loved trying to see lightning bugs and catch them. Just picturing it, I can almost smell the warm, summer air. It was worth the risk of mosquito bites to see those little lights illuminated against the night sky.

Anyway, I'm going to reproduce here the steps set forth in Hannah Boyd's article from Education.com, but feel free to improvise.

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What You Need:

• A large jar with a lid
• A small screwdriver
• A hammer
• Leaves, twigs, grass, etc.
• A small notebook
• Colored pencils

What You Do:

1. Hold the pointed end of the screwdriver vertically against the lid of the jar, and tap the other end with the hammer to poke small holes all over the lid. Watch your thumbs!
2. Go outside with your child and find some twigs, leaves, and grass. Stock the jar with those and sprinkle a couple drops of water inside. You might also want to add in a tiny chunk of fruit.
3. Now for the nitty-gritty fun part! Help your child search your backyard for bugs. Encourage her to look under rocks and logs, on trees and bushes, and anywhere else you think you might find a little critter to capture. When she finds one, help her catch it. Add the bug to the jar and cover it with the lid. Start with just one bug.
4. Hand her the notebook and the colored pencils. Invite her to draw a picture of the bug. Then ask her what she sees going on (the bug is on the leaf) and what she infers from that (it's hungry!). Ask her to write down her observations. If she's not writing yet, take notes for her; otherwise let her wield the pen.
5. If she wants to keep observing the bug, let her do so but be sure to set the critter free by the end of the day.
6. Over the week, try to find different bugs to observe and keep notes on the observations of them all. Just be sure you release them when you're finished!

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Sounds fun, doesn't it? It's not rocket science, but this is why I scour the web for stuff like this - I'm too tired and overworked to come up with stuff all the time. And there are all sorts of fun things out there! So, enjoy, and feel free to let us know how the bug experiment went with your kids!