Playing with and Learning about Bugs

Spring seems like the perfect time for talking about bugs in the classroom or at home, but kids tend to love bugs all the time. Here are some educational ideas having to do with bugs as well as bug crafts and sensory activities.

Learn about the life cycle of a fly with Living Life and Learning. The post discusses all the stages a house fly goes through, and there’s a free printable with the stages labeled and a worksheet where kids can fill in the stages. You could also cut them apart and have kids put the back in the right order and label them.

Active Little Kids has some basic insect worksheets for kids, and Living Life and Learning also has a great set of insect counting cards and puzzles.

You’ll find lots of fun bug activities and worksheets at Teachers Pay Teachers, including a cute bug bingo from Preschoolers and Sunshine to help them learn spring vocabulary and a huge printable set from Pocket of Preschool that includes life cycle, parts of bugs, fun facts and information on determining what is and is not an insect.

This bug sensory bin from Crafty Kids Play looks like a lot of fun, and it uses black beans and paper crinkles as a base so it’s pretty easy to pull together.

Make some playdough and play with bugs in it with this idea from Ruffles and Rain Boots. The color on theirs ended up perfect for the color of dirt we have where I live, but you can make it more brown or red or even black depending on what your local dirt looks like.

Get outside and do a letter recognition “bug spray” activity like this one from Toddler Approved. So cute!

Ice excavation is another classic craft you can give a buggy spin by freezing bugs in your ice. Get all the details from Friends Art Lab.

If you have an outdoor place where you can observe bugs, you might want to make an easy bug hotel like this one from Happy Toddler Playtime. It’s easy to do with stuff from the yard or playground, and a great way to invite bugs to a place you can observe them.

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Printable Insect Activities for Kids

Shark Week generally happens in July, but any time is a good time to learn more about sharks.

First, start with some fun whale facts like these from Kids Craft Room. Here I learned about the dwarf lantern shark, which is the smallest shark and only grows to about 6-8 inches (about 15-20 cm) long. It also emits light. How cool is that?

Natural Beach Living has some great printable shark information guides, where kids can learn about different kinds of sharks, match the facts to the pictures, or print out doubles and do a shark memory game.

Living Life an Learning has some great shark activity pages including the parts of a shark, types of sharks, a crossword puzzle and more. Also check out their parts of a shark and word scramble download, and a life cycle worksheet.

Learn about how sharks float with this great activity from JDaniel4’s Mom.

Need more facts about sharks? This fact pact from The WOLFe PACK on Teacher Pay Teachers includes fact sheets, a printable flip book, informational text, vocabulary, comprehension questions and more.

Living Montessori Now has a great collection of shark themed activities with a Montessori inspired twist. You’ll find a shark roll and cover, shark phonics and lots more shark activities Deb has collected from all over the Internet.

Remember the “Sharknado” movie? A Few Shortcuts turned the combination of sharks and tornadoes into a fun science activity. You’ll need a bottle connector for this project but otherwise should have everything you need on hand. Use their template to make your sharks out of aluminum foil. So fun!

You can also do some shark themed coloring with these coloring pages from Encouraging Moms at Home. Or make a cool 3D shark with this template from korkotak. And there are tons of different shark crafts collected in this post from Kids Activities Blog.

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