BLAST Early Learning
Creepy Crawly Critters
Illustrations and rhyming text reveal the great variety of beetles and their swirling, humming, crashing activities.
Retold by Phillis Gershator; illustrated by Theresa Smith
When Ear, Leg, and Arm refuse to marry Mosquito, she shows them that she is not to be ignored.
Sung to: "Three Blind Mice"
Fly, fly, fly
Fly over here
Fly over there
They fly up high and they fly down low.
Around and around and around they go.
They fly fast, and they fly slow.
Oh, ladybugs fly
A Fly Is on My Toe
Sung to: "Farmer in the Dell”
A fly is on my toe,
A fly is on my toe,
Hi-ho, just watch me blow.
A fly is on my toe
Other verses: A fly is on my nose, my head, my ear, my elbow, my knee, etc.
beetle: n. any of several insects with two pairs of wings, of which the front pair is hard and covers the rear pair when the wings are at rest.
“Round beetles, square beetles,
(taken from Beetle Bop by Denise Fleming)
Ants Go Marching Book
Let your children make a book for the song “The Ants Go Marching One by One”, and each verse has its own page. You can use fingerprints, colored rice, etc. to make ants.
One ant two ants, three ants four.
Our picnic is their grocery store.
Five ants, six ants, seven ants, eight.
They are crawling on my plate!
Eight ants, seven ants,
Six ants, five ants
On the ground.
Four ants, three ants,
On the run!
Two ants, one ant,
No more fun.
Art: Oil Bee
Need: Newsprint paper, crayons, and cooking oil
Directions: Color a large bee body on newsprint or printer paper. Be sure to color by using heavy strokes and fill in all the spaces. Outline the wings with a dark crayon and then paint in the open space with cooking oil. Press the excess oil off the paper by rubbing it between newspaper. Hold the bee up to the window. The wings are now see-through!
Art: “Flight of the Bumblebee” Drawing
Need: White paper, bumble bee sticker, and a crayon
Directions: Give each child a 9x12 piece of white paper with a small bumble bee sticker in the corner. Then, give each child a black crayon. Play the
recording of "The Flight of the
Bumblebee” and let the children imagine that their crayon was the bee flying on the paper and draw its path.
Science: What Attracts Ants
Bury (to the rim) several containers of food in the ground. Put a piece of cardboard on top of the container. In some containers put foods that will attract bugs. In others put foods that won't. Before you put them out ask the children to suggest which foods they think the bugs will like. Check back later and see if the children are right.
Science: Insect Habitat
What You Need: Paper, paint, crayons, or markers
What You Do: Let your kids design their own insect habitat (bee hive, ant hill with tunnels, spider web, chrysalis). Then they can draw the insects in.
by Joshua Prince; illustrated by Macky Pamintuan
Dorothy Mott, a parking lot attendant, must think fast to save an ant who is looking for goodies right in the path of a minivan.
by Isobel Finn; illustrated by Jack Tickle
A lazy ladybug who never learned how to fly decides she wants to go somewhere, but she cannot find an animal to give her a peaceful ride.
written by Diane Swanson; photographed by Paul Davidson
Learn about common North American insects.
When Buzz captures a fly to enter in The Amazing Pet Show, his parents and the judges tell him that a fly cannot be a pet, but Fly Guy proves them wrong.