Unplugged - Insect

This theme was a natural for our family. E has little fear of creepy-crawlies, and you can often find her on hands and knees observing an ant or a spider VERY close up. I decided to keep the message simple...Insects (or "bugs" as we call them) have six legs and two antennae. She learned the six legs part quickly, though she teased me by saying "Twenty!" every time I asked. I knew she was being a smarty pants because when I sweetened the deal with chocolate she immediately changed her answer to "Six, Mommy! Six!" Yay, Pavlov.

The word "antenna" is proving harder...ask her what bugs have on their heads and she will either reply "Antlers" or "Invitations." Whatever...it's all for fun anyway, right? So I decided that my crafty girl and I should make some insects...we missed posting for the cylinder theme last week, so we combined them and made insects out of cylinders! For a while, I've had this idea to cut animals out of paper towel tubes, so we painted a few in buggy colors...red for a ladybug and green for a grasshopper.

Of course we also had to paint paper, both with brushes and with the tubes themselves. It was a beautiful day...the picture above was taken before I wised up and took her clothes off. I tried to describe that I would be cutting a bug out of the tube, and she kept looking inside it asking, "Are you gonna get the bug out of there yet?" After she went to bed that night, I started "carving" the tubes. I accented the grasshopper with a sharpy. I think they came out pretty cool, and E seems to like them.

I didn't really have a plan, I just removed everything that wasn't bug! :) Yeah, me and Michelangelo, we're two of a kind. I think I might work on some templates for other critters...incidentally, you can make little animals if you cut the other way too, with the curve instead of against it. Then you just bend neck, ears, tail, and legs and you've got critters! We also made candy bugs...well, I made them and E ate them. We used that melty junk (I think it's 90% dye) in a squeeze bottle, and I just shaped little bugs on a sandwich bag (they peel off really easily). Finally, we went to the library, and checked out The Very Quiet Cricket and The Very Clumsy Click Bug, both by Eric Carle. We read them tonight before bed, and were surprised with a special treat...at the end of each book, there's a little sound chip that makes bug noises. E and I looked at each other, confused as to where the clicking was coming from. I can't even describe the smile on her face when she realized the bug was clicking at her.

I think we'll keep on with this theme a little longer. We'll be up north this weekend, in the wood with lots of bugs. Maybe we'll catch some and count their invitations. :)