One morning my little boys were getting a little stir crazy and so was mommy. I decided to take them outside to hunt for bugs. We had recently bought new magnifying glasses from Dollar General and had bug barns that we made at Home Depot. They both thought this was a wonderful idea. They both hurried to get their socks and shoes and jackets on. No fussing and fighting just plain fun.
I told them we would search for crickets but that it might be too early in the year to find any. We went to the front flower bed that houses our perennials and lots of weeds that caterpillars and butterflies love. We did not find any crickets but found some ants. Lil’ Red found an ant and stomped on it. I then explained that outside bugs are allowed to live. Inside we can kill bugs because that is our home but outside we are in their homes. We found a teeny tiny red beetle on the top of our milkweed plant but kept on searching for more bugs.
Next I began to pull some of the weeds that were growing outside of the garden bed and found rolly polly’s. Big Red thought they were great fun and decided to put some in his bug barn. I knew that this would probably kill them but thought it would be a great lesson for him to learn that the bugs need food and water to live.
Both boys had such a great time that we went out a few days later for another bug hunt! We now keep one of our magnifying glasses on our nature table right outside our front door. Later on in the season we will hunt for praying mantis’ since we always have a handful that survive after hatching from their egg sacks each year. Last year we even video taped one eating his grasshopper lunch. I shared about how big they were in a post called Impromptu Science: Entomology.
What do you do for Science? How about heading out and seeing what’s hiding in your yard or garden bed!
