It's a Bug Eat Bug World Out there!

My son and I just finished off our Bug Unit! It was SUCH a success- he LOVED IT! I added some new fun things this year so to check out my original Bug Unit post "All God's Critters" with lots of other fun ideas, click HERE!


Here's what our bug week consisted of this year: 

A Visit to Butterfly Wonderland


They just built the largest butterfly atrium in the United States right by us in Scottsdale, AZ!!  It was the perfect field trip for our bug week! They had a cool 3D movie at the beginning of our tour and then we got to go into a beautiful conservatory to see hundreds and hundreds of butterflies fly all around us! They also had live honey bees, spiders, ants, and scorpions to look at. My son was in heaven!!

"The Emerging Butterfly Gallery" had hundreds of cocoons! We learned all about how caterpillars become butterflies. 
It was such a great visual experience for my son to actually see how the process works:

Inside the Conservatory:

And the nice warm and humid conservatory was the perfect place for a good, long newborn nap :)

P.S. Arizona friends: They don't allow strollers in the conservatory so plan accordingly! I was so glad I had my baby carrier with me. 

Tissue Paper Butterflies

We made butterflies out of tissue paper and pipe cleaners. This craft is super simple and easy!

Name Caterpillar

We practiced spelling my son's name by making a caterpillar. 

Painted Paper Plate Lady Bug

Bugs for Lunch!

Spider sandwiches, "Ants on a Log" (celery, cream cheese and raisins), Lady Bug crackers and "Fuzzy Caterpillars" (Cheeto Puffs).

For instructions and a closer look at how to have "bugs" for lunch, click HERE!

My mom did her annual bug lunch with some of my nieces and nephews that live close by her. So fun!

B is for Bug:  Bug Workbook

I found a bunch of free bug worksheets for my son's age level online and printed them off to make a "Bug Workbook" for him. Below are a few links to some of the pages I found. We did bug matching, sorting, counting, etc. and we practiced sounding out and identifying bugs that start with the letter B (bee, beetle, butterfly, etc.)! 

Coloring Pages

Bug Worksheets

Bugs in a Jar Addition

Songs About Bugs

 Once I Caught a Bug Alive
(Sing to the same tune as 12345 Once I Caught a Fish Alive. We used the same exact lyrics, but just swapped the word Bug for Fish.)

The Itsy Bitsy Spider 

(Other Verses:  The Big Hairy Spider, The Little Yellow Lady Bug)

The Ants Go Marching

High Hopes (Rubbertree Plant)

The Ugly Bug Ball!
(If you haven't heard this song, its adorable and a must for bug week! Just youtube it! It was originally written for the movie Summer Magic by Disney.)

Verse 1: Once a lonely caterpillar sat and cried
To a sympathetic beetle by his side
I've got nobody to hug
I'm such an ug-i-ly bug

Then a spider and a dragonfly replied
If you're serious and want to win a bride
Come along with us, to the glorious annual ugly bug ball

Come on let's crawl (gotta crawl, gotta crawl)
To the ugly bug ball (to the ball, to the ball)
And a happy time we'll have there, 
one and all at the ugly bug ball!

A Bug Hunt

Since I don't deal with real bugs and because its so dang hot where we live, I did an indoor bug hunt using plastic bugs. Beckam LOVED it!!! He has to take his plastic bugs EVERYWHERE with him now, even to bed! (Lucky me!)  
I just hid plastic bugs around the house and then let him run around and try to find them. He'd "catch" them in his net and then put them all in his bug box. I found the net and bug box in Target's dollar section. Target for the win!

When we were all done we examined his bugs with a magnifying glass.

Be a Hungry Caterpillar!

We did our Hungry Caterpillar activity again this year. As I read the story Beckam got to try a piece of each of the foods that the caterpillar eats in the story. 

When he was all "stuffed" we rolled him up into his cocoon (towel). 

 Then, he broke free and became a butterfly!

I just had to post a few pics of my cute nieces and nephews doing the Hungry Caterpillar this last week at my mom's house. They make cute bugs! :



For a closer look and instructions on how we do our Hungry Caterpillar activity click HERE!



A Bug's Life 

And of course we had to have a popcorn movie night and watch A Bug's Life! 

Bug Books 

We got some fun bug books from the library too. There are soooo many out there but here were a few of our favorites: 

Thanks for stopping by! :)

Stars and Stripes

I hope you had a fantastic 4th of July! We had a fun time getting into the patriotic spirit. Here is what we did!  (And don't forget to check out my post This Is My Country for lots of other ideas of how to celebrate the 4th with your kids.) 

Firework Art

We made fireworks with paint two different ways. The first was with a plastic fork!

The second way was using a toilet paper roll. 

Flag Toast

We had yummy flag toast for breakfast one morning. Spread a slice of toast with peanut and red jam and then top it with blueberries and bananas to make an American flag. 

Flag Collage 

I cut up red and blue squares from the junk ads we always get in our mail. We glued them to a white paper to make a flag!

Fourth of July Pancake Breakfast!

I made blueberry and flaxseed pancakes for my little boy in the shape of stars!

For my husband and me, I made paleo grain-free pancakes with homemade berry compote.  It was DELICIOUS!!

To make compote, just boil 3 cups of fresh berries with 1/2 cup water, dash of salt, and 1-2 tsps. natural sweetener. I used Truvia. Boil for about 5 minutes and then mash berries down. Boil for 2 more minutes and then remove from heat. 

To make the pancakes, mash 2 ripe bananas, 2 eggs, and 1/2 cup natural peanut butter. I added a handful of fresh blueberries and 1 heaping tablespoon of flaxseed meal.  Cook on a buttered griddle over medium heat. 

We had a really fun BBQ with friends for which I made another awesome paleo recipe:

 French Pound Cake with berries and whipped cream. It has NO sugar and NO flour. Everyone went craaaaazy (or cra-cra as they say these days) over it! It was a HUGE hit! I definitely recommend this recipe. Get it here HERE!

 And of course we had a ton of fun celebrating with sparklers, fireworks, and wonderful friends!

Photo cred: our awesome friend Corbin Smith

Happy 4th of July from our family!

"Hooks and Ladders" Week

I added a new unit for my little boy this summer. He loves all things "little boy" so I knew he would LOVE a week all about firetrucks and firefighters. I called it our 

HOOKS AND LADDERS WEEK!!

Here is what we did: 

 Firefighter Books

 We got some really fun books from the library to read aloud. These were some of our favorites:

       "Hall of Flame" Firetruck Museum

 In downtown Phoenix there is a firetruck Museum called the "Hall of Flame!"  It was awesome!! It had dozens of real firetrucks from all over the world, some from as early as the 1700s!

They had a bunch of fun hands-on activities for kids too!

Including a real firetruck we could climb on!

 We learned a lot about the history of firetrucks and firefighting! It was so much fun!

 Firefighter Craft

Get the free printable from learncreatelove.com here!

5 Little Firefighters

Craft and Poem

"Five brave firefighters sitting in a row

ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE they go!

The alarm goes ding,

They all give a shout,

And jump on the truck,

There's a fire to put out!"

Firetruck Puzzle

This puzzle is awesome, my son loves it!

Puzzle by 

"Flaming" Veggies

I used red, orange and yellow peppers, but you could also add carrots and tomato wedges too!

Firefighter Memory Game

Just print out two sets, cut each square out, and use them to play memory! It was good mind exercise for my 2.5 yr old!

Get the free printable here!

Firefighter Read Aloud

This was a cute little thing to read with my son. I would read the words and then have him say what the picture is. He had a lot of fun with this.

Get the printable here!

Firefighter  Songs

This one is really cute! 

Other Verses we used:

Hurry, Hurry Get Your Hose Out

Hurry, Hurry Spray the Water

Hurry, Hurry Put the Fire Out

Firefighter Song  (tune: I'm a Little Teapot)
    I'm a little firefighter on the go.
Here is my helmet
Here is my hose.
When I see a fire,
Hear me shout:
"Turn on the water
and put the fire out!"
Shhhhhhhh!

Firetruck Shape Craft

Credit: TeachPreschool.org

 Cut out square "windows", rectangular "ladders" and "firetrucks", and circle "wheels". Let your kids make their own interpretation of a firetruck using these shapes. 

Firehouse Subs

We ate at Firehouse Subs and got our free kids firefighter hat!

How's this for cheesy?

Fire Safety F.H.E

We had our family home evening this week centered on fire safety. This is what we did: 

1.Opening Song:  The Spirit of God (Like a Fire is Burning)

2. Talk about the importance of Emergency Preparedness and how we have been counseled by the prophet to be prepared.

https://www.lds.org/topics/emergency-preparedness

3.  Make a plan or review your family's plan of what to do in case their is a fire in your home. Somethings to consider for your plan: 

- Have all family members know at least two ways to escape from each room of your house. 

- Teach everyone to crawl low to the ground to escape smoke, when exiting the house.

- Teach children not to open any doors that are warm to the touch. 

- Talk about the few things you might grab, and be sure to talk with children about the things you will NOT grab (toys, clothes, etc.)

- Designate a family meeting place outside of the home. 

Alternative: 

Discuss the importance of obedience using the talk "Fire on the Prairie" from The Friend Magazine (Feb.1997).

4. Stop Drop and Roll Tag

Cut out a paper flame. Stick it to somebody using tape. That person is "it" and must Stop, Drop and Roll. Once they do, they can "tag" somebody else by sticking the flame to them. That person is now "it" and must Stop, Drop and Roll before they can tag someone else. 

Other Ideas:

Firemen Workbooks:

                                                                  

Get the free printable HERE!

AND

 check out enchantedlearning.com for lots of firefighter printables, games, and work pages here! ($20 yearly subscription)