Flashlight Game!

Flashlight Game! (With "bugs")!! 🐛🐛🐞🐞🦋🦋

This game is not new to us and I LOVE that my kids (4 and 7) still LOVE this game! I hide oversized toy bugs all over the lawn after the sun goes down and they search for them with flashlights. This time I paired it with the book I Love Bugs by Emma Dodd.

Chicken big (my son, 7) read the book to Chicken Little (my daughter, 4)... talk about great descriptive words, vocabulary building, and text and illustrations that encourages dialog!

After they found all the bugs outside we went through the book again to see if any of the bugs they found looked like the bugs in the book and talked about how they were similar or different.

Chicken Little

Big Bugs

Brightly-colored wings bugs

Whiny-buzzy-sound bugs

Springy jumpy leapy bugs

Spiky spiny bugs

The toy bugs are between 3 1/2 and 6 inches (so they are very sizable!) and come in packs of 10. I got mine from Hobby Lobby so I could use the 40% coupon (I bought two packs with two different transactions so I could get both packs using the coupon, making them about $6 a pack.

You can google: "Hobby Lobby Coupon" to get the 40% off coupon

40% off Hobby Lobby Coupon

You can google: "Wild Republic Insect Collection" to find out all the other places you can find these toy bugs, including Amazon or from Wild Republic directly.

This is such and easy and exciting game that keeps the kids busy for a while and requires virtually no set up or clean up. I Love Bugs is out of print in hard cover format, but you can still buy it in paper back or check out your local library!

Pre-K 3-1-12 Bugs and Creepy Crawlies

Today we read about bugs!  I was impressed by all the bugs the kiddos could identify and they even knew what a magnifying glass was.

Books:

I Love Bugs by Emma Dodd.  This book has great pictures and lots of bugs to discuss

Can You Make a Scary Face? by Jan Thomas.  A ladybug invites the kids to play a game of "make pretend"....until my very real frog comes out!

Music:  We used scarves for both our movement songs today

"The Ants go Marching" off the Songs for Wiggleworms CD
"Shoo Fly" (the kids shooed my fly puppet away as he buzzzzed around the room"

Flannel: Patternpillars http://fallingflannelboards.wordpress.com/2011/11/11/flannel-friday-patternpillars/
I was really surprised by the children's ability to predict the patterns and will definately have to challange them more next time!

Letter Match:  We figured out which bug words started with the letters B, C, S, and L

Fingerplays:
I'm A Little Beetle http://melissa.depperfamily.net/blog/?p=857
I'm a little _________and I wiggle all day
If you get too close
I'll FLY away!

Here is the Beehive
Here is the beehive
Where are all the bees?
They're hidden inside where nobody sees
Watch them come out of the hive
1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ......buzzzzzzzzz

Turtle
There was a little turtle
who lived inside a box
He swam in the water
and he climbed on the rocks
He snapped at a mosquito
He snapped at a flee
He snapped at a minnow
and he snapped at me

He caught the mosquito
He caught the flee
He caught the minnow
but he didn't catch me!

Wiggle Worms!

So, Wiggle Worms is a toddler program I present every Monday and Tuesday.  It does require weekly registration because Gilbert is a wonderful, BIG family community and attendance can get out of control (some of you have been there for it!).  You can register at http://www.mcldaz.org/.

I don't usually theme my toddler program, but we read about bugs in In the Tall, Tall Grass by Denise Fleming so I selected some other bug activities.  

Movement:  We used scarves to dance around and shoo my fly puppet with the song "Shoo Fly."

Finger Play: "Here is the Beehive" is one of my favorite finger plays because of the anticipation before those tickley bees buzz all over.

Here is the beehive
Where are all the bees?
They're hidden away where nobody sees
Watch them come out of the hive
1, 2, 3, 4, 5.....buzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Flannel:  Wow! These toddlers really know their bugs!  We identified a grasshopper, ladybug, spider, butterfly, and bee in this flannel game.

Bug in a rug, bug in a rug
What is that bug in the rug?


Storytime extender:  Have fun moving like bugs!  Wiggle like worms, crawl like spiders, buzzzzz and fly like bees.