Getting Ready for Summer: Child Expert Creates "Stop Bugging Me" Activities

 

STOP BUGGING ME

Buggy Fun for Summer

By Sharen Pearson

Much to the dismay of their mothers, toddlers hold a relentless fascination for bugs. They follow, squish, catch and even eat them! Perhaps the novelty lies in the never-ending variety of creepy crawlers or that bugs are smaller than these little ones. Here are some simple buggy activities that will enchant your children this summer.

Bug Catcher

Save the net from your fresh produce. Lace a chenille wire around the top to support the sides. The net makes a tiny bug catcher for your child. Always help identify any bugs that might be dangerous. Catch, observe and release.

Butterfly or Dragonfly

Attach colored tissue paper wings to a toilet tissue or paper towel tube for wings. Slip a hair band over the tube and place on toddler’s wrist to flap and fly. For more advanced work, drop food color onto a wet coffee filter. Allow to dry and use for wings. Two filters for dragonfly and one for butterfly.

Big Bug

Fashion antennae with chenille wire and attach to your child’s head with clips. Gather a sheet of tissue paper at the center. Duct tape to the back of the shirt for butterfly wings. Fly away little butterfly!

Tot Cocoon

Give your toddler the end piece of a roll of toilet tissue. Have him gently spin to wrap the paper around and around forming a cocoon. If the paper breaks, just tuck the loose end in and begin again. Continue as your child is comfortable (most won’t let you cover the face). Count 1, 2, 3 and have your butterfly “hatch out” and fly away.

Lady Bug

Make a tiny ladybug from the cup of an egg carton. Cut the section. Paint red and add black dots. Tape twisted bits of paper on for antennae. For a counting activity: make five bugs and draw 1 spot, 2 spots etc. on the five bugs. Count the spots and the bugs.

Caterpillar

Cut a six-section length from an egg carton. Your toddler can glue cotton balls on each section for “fuzz.” Draw a face on one end of the section and add chenille or paper antennae. Punch a hole in the front and tie a string on to “walk your bug.” For more advanced work, paint each section of the caterpillar yellow or even a rainbow.

Bug Collage

Draw (or print from a website) several bugs on paper. Make a simple paste of flour and water. Your tot can glue on dry rice, macaroni, bits of colored paper and/or cake sprinkles to decorate the bugs.

Bugs in a tub

Pour 6 cups of dry rice into a large flat container. Add toy plastic bugs (or your ladybugs), measuring cups, recycled plastic containers, paper tubes and play as in a sand box. To protect the floor and give your activity a boundary, place the tub in the center of a sheet or shower curtain. Your child will play

for hours.

About Sharen

Sharen Pearson’s Goof & Giggle classes and materials continue to provide a quality Mom/Tot interaction. Widely popular, Goof & Giggle’s child-focused play plans are offered in various Arizona communities. She’s also created a variety of Goof Juice DVDs and filmed episodes of Baby D.I.Y. and written workbooks for BabyFirstTV. Arizona Midday (NBC) tapes monthly segments with Sharen to provide their audience with a variety of original and creative “easy to do” activities for babies and preschoolers. Sharen’s creativity reaches a combined audience over 200 million viewers worldwide. Goof & Giggle classes and products encourage green living, repurposing materials from around the house into affordable objects for play and learning. Learn more at: http://sharenpearson.com/

 

 This article content is provided free of charge by the author through Kathy Carlton Willis Communications. You are welcome to place this article on your site or in your publication as long as 1) it’s used in its entirety, 2) the full bio is used, 3) you previously request permission through KCWC at russ@kathycarltonwillis.com . All other standard copyrights apply.

The timing  of this guest blog was perfect because I just finished reading a cool 5* book by Anne Rockwell called,
Honey in a Hive (Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science 2) (See all Children's Bug & Spider Books)
 

Here's an excerpt:

" Buzzing from flower to flower, honeybees are busty gathering nectar and pollen. The nectar will be made into honey, and the pollen will feed their queen bees from societies with leaders-the queen-and workers, and like people, their survival depends on every bee doing its part..."

Be sure and stop by Sharen's site and learn all about,
Goof & Giggle 

Best, 

-- LadyD