It's A Bug's Life

It's late spring/early summer and of course there are bugs EVERYWHERE!  My little preK friend that I care for is afraid of bugs so I thought it would be a good idea to have some buggy fun and help her past this hurdle since being outside requires up close and personal interaction on a daily basis this time of year. My four year old granddaughter loves bugs, so I knew she would be agreeable to lots of buggie fun, as well.  Here's a list of resources I am going to be using and links to the websites where I got some of my material.

Nick Jr - Backyardigans.  Episode 06  What's Bugging You    (Bonus - music genre is the rumba)
Disney Jr - Jake and the Never Land Pirates:  Little Stinkers
Disney Jr - Jake and the Never Land Pirates:  Big Bug Valley!
Disney Jr - Sheriff Callie's Wild West  Bug Trouble
MPT - WordWorld  Boppin' with the Bug Band
PBS - Sid the Science Kid  The Bug Club

Books

Alpha Bugs by David A. Carter
123 Little Bugs by Puck
The Very Busy Spider  by Eric Carle
The Grouch Ladybug by Eric Carle
Magic Schoolbus:  Bugs
The Ants Go Marching Home (Scholastic)
Bear and Bee Too Busy by Sergio Ruzzier
Down on the Farm: Bees - by Sally Morgan
Are you a Butterfly?  by Judy Allen and Tudor Humphries
Little Bea by Daniel Roode
Can You Make a Scary Face by Jan Thomas
Don't Worry Bear by Greg Foley
I Saw and Ant on the Railroad Track by Joshua Prince
What the Ladybug Heard by Julia Donaldson
The Itsy Bitsy Spider

Songs

The Itsy Bitsy Spider
The Ants Go Marching Home
1 Little, 2 Little, 3 Little Buggies
Baby Bumblebee
http://www.preschooleducation.com/sbug.shtml for lots more songs!

CD

Insects and Spiders Twin Sisters Science Series

Monday we read Alpha Bugs, The Grouchy Ladybug and 123 Bugs and sang a made up 1 Little, 2 Little, 3 Little Buggies song.  The girls, age 4 and 3 1/2, played with Play Doh and made insect imprints.  This was great fun for them.  We listened to the Insects and Spiders CD and made notice of all the bugs on our deck, catching a few in our bug catcher and watching more closely.  We also colored a bug picture.  One of the girls scribbled through it quickly, but the other took her time, coloring each pictured bug in a wide array of colors.  My 20 month old granddaughter enjoyed the songs, stories and play doh, as well.  She had to be taught that the play doh was for squishing.  I figured this out after she took a big bite!  Brookie, who was the one afraid of bugs, was a bit tentative at first, but by day's end she was excitedly pointing out bugs and squatting down to get a closer look at them as they crawled on toys and tables.