Insects

Cynthia (my sister-in-law) also homeschools her children. She lives about three hours away in Pea Ridge, Arkansas. We have decided to do monthly field trips to interesting places around the state. She let me know about a Insect Festival that they do annually at the University of Arkansas. I thought it sounded fun and we decided to go up and go together on October 1. My first step was to look for all insect books we might have around the house. I found the few I had, and told Thomas we were going to learn about insects. That's all it took and he started asking what the different kinds of insects were and having me look up pictures so he could draw them. We saw a praying mantis during that initial search and it was love at first sight! They were his favorite and still are. I woke up from my nap that day to a beautifully drawn praying mantis.

My next step was to check out a whole bunch of insect books at the library the next day. We must have checked out 20 books. Although we didn't read them all, they were a good resource during our study. We also watched several Magic School Bus shows with insects in them and read a Magic School Bus Chapter Book about insects. They quickly learned the difference between an insect and other types of bugs and were disappointed when they saw bugs that weren't insects (such as spiders and a millipede) at the Insect Festival. If they knew the difference, why didn't these adults?! They still correct me if I tell people we went to the Insect Festival and tell me it was really a Bug Festival.

Thomas's favorite thing (as usual) was to play insects. We all had to choose a type of insect to be and run around being that insect. He was always a praying mantis, of course.

The Insect Festival was pretty crowded and muggy when we were there and the kids grew tired quickly, but it was fun and they got to see a real praying mantis.