BOOKS
There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly by Pam Adams
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
In the Tall, Tall Grass Big Book by Denise Fleming
Stripey the Caterpillar by Katie George with fingerpuppet
The Butterfly Alphabet by Kjell B. Sandved
Flying Things(Tactile Book) by Rod Campbell
Creepy Things(Tactile Book) by Rod Campbell
I Can't Said the Ant by Polly Cameron
Two Bad Ants by Chris Van Allsburg
SONGS
The Ants Go Marching
(Told to me by my very dear friend Kim in Florida!!)
The Ants Go Marching One by One, Hurrah, Hurrah,
Repeat
The Ants go marching one by one, the little one stopped to suck his thumb
The Ants go marching, hurrah, hurrah.
Repeat substituting: two-the little one stopped to tie his shoe
three-the little one stopped to scratch his knee
four-the little one stopped to shut the door
five-the little one said "it's great to be alive!!"
There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly song by Disney
Itsy Bitsy Spider fingerplay
Growing
In the ground is a seed-Children bend down
Down comes the rain-wiggle hands up and down
Out comes the sun-bring arms over head
Up comes a sprout-children start to creep up
and it grows grows grows-children continue to creep upwards
And up comes a flower-Children stand tall with arms out
STORYTELLING
Very Hungry Caterpillar-Tie up a part of a clothesline to retell your story. Then make large fruits with holes for the five days and a leaf. Using a clothespin, pin on line in sequential order. Make a caterpillar from a green tongue depressor and pom poms. Have children eat thru the fruit with the caterpillar, as you tell the story.
Using picture insect cards or beanies, try this language activity with the rhythm of brown bear. Ladybug, Ladybug what do you see? I see a cricket looking at me, etc;
ART ACTIVITIES-
Two of my students shown with their flowers.
Handy Flowers-Using stamps I let the children stamp insects or grass. We trace each students hand onto yellow or pink paper. Then we cut strips for the stalk. Students glue on their stalk and hand for a flower.
Stained Glass Butterflies-Using dark colored paper, trace a butterfly shape onto it. Then in the center of each wing, cut a large tear drop shaped opening. Apply clear contact paper over one side, and then encourage children to use colored tissue paper to "color" their wings. Hang in window.
One of my little cuty bugs holding his ladybug book!
Ladybug Book-(This idea was taken from the Mailbox 1995 issue.)The copy I borrowed from my library was missing the pattern for the ladybug, so I made the bottom of the book out of black, making a full outline of a ladybug. I then made the top part of the book from red paper, making only the body outline, leaving the black head exposed; then photocopy the insert and staple in place. Using a ladybug stamp, the children place the ladybug on a cricket, under a butterfly, etc. This is an awesome language experience!!!!!
My students wearing their grass headbands, while we read the book: In the Tall Tall Grass.
Grass Headbands-(This idea I took from Kathy VenZelden!!!Check out her webpage under my links: Early Childhood special needs thematic units.)Using green paper, let the children cut part way through the paper and then staple into headbands!! This is great, as most of my children need scissor training and usually can only cut part of the paper. It really lets the students see that they can do it!!
Leaves-Make a large leaf for each child. Let the student punch some holes with a hole punch. Then glue to a piece of long white paper. Then let them use insect stamps on the paper.
Marble Painted Spider Webs-I used half sheets of grey paper and placed the sheet in a shoebox lid. I then placed 3 marbles, dipped in white paint, to let the children roll around. Once completed, use a spider sponge to make a spider on the web.
Ant Tunnels-Take half sheets of tagboard, and paint on glue, covering the entire sheet. Then sprinkle on colored or plain sand. Use q-tips to drag lines down or around the sand, creating tunnels.
Planting seeds-I purchased packets of cutting variety wildflower seeds, soil, and clear plastic cups. I labeled each child's name on a cup and placed soil in a large rubbermaid pan. I then let the children scoop the soil with a ladle into his/her cup. Then, I placed seeds from the packet, into his/her hand and they placed them in the cup. I let the students pour a little water onto the seeds and then cover with a layer of soil. The students then pressed the seeds down and added another thin layer of soil. We placed these in the window. When they bloom, the students will take them home to their mommy.
RECIPES
Ants on a Log-If you are unsure of celery, like me try this: Use the extra large pretzel logs, spread pbutter on, and sprinkle some raisins on!
Caterpillar fruit snack-(This idea was also taken from the Mailbox 1995 issue). Need: small plastic cups, and various fruits: apple, plums, oranges, pears, strawberries. On the first cup draw a caterpillar face with antennaes, on the following cups add the fruit. You can also write the days of the week, if you feel it appropriate.
Spider Cookies-Slice one cookie and cook. Then add licorice legs and raisin eyes.
Butterfly Pretzels-Use pretzel rods for the body, dab on peanut butter to attach large pretzel knots for the wings, add raisin eyes!
Caterpillar Cookies-Give each child a little bit of sugar cookie dough, tinted with yellow/green food coloring. Have them make four small balls. Encourage the children to press onto their wax/tin paper. Then add raisin eye. When cooked, children may add feet or attenaes from licorice. I made recipe cards for each step of this recipe. This provides a great language and direction following activity. My kids loved this activity!!
Edible seeds-I bought an edible trail mix of:seeds, nuts, and raisins. This was a huge hit!!
Dirt Cake-Using a clean lined flower pot, layer: crushed oreos and chocolate pudding. On the top add gummi worms.
Ladybug Cookies-Using sugar cookie dough, prepare as directed, and add red food coloring. Let the children press raisins into the red cookie, and then bake!
CENTERS-Insect table-1. Matching colored butterfly snaps to colored caterpillar cards. 2. Busy Bumblee Game 3. Ladybug patterning cards. 4. Sequential growth of butterfly cards, and pom pom caterpillars. Science table-Throughout our unit we will have these things in/out of the science area: A butterfly pavillion in which we will watch our caterpillars go on their journey, a ladybug lodge, an art farm, planting seeds and nurturing them into plants, and lima bean sprouts.
Dramatic Play-Butterfly wings, bee headband, bee and ladybug puppets, and insect beanies.
Books-All kind of books about bugs and gardening, along with some insect beanies.
Sensory table-1.Finding large plastic insects in green artificial grass, with gardening utensils. 2. Making ant tunnels in sand/dirt.
BULLETIN BOARDS
Garden-I covered the bulletin board with green paper, added green paper tall grass, then use flower die-cuts, along with an ant, butterfly, caterpillar, worm, and snake cut-out.
Caterpillar Words-Make eight-nine large green circles, drawing a face and antennae on one. Assemble them into a caterpillar body on your bulletin board. Then add gardening pictures with words, appropriate for your theme: ex; garden, bee, flower, seed, rake, sun, etc;
