Insect Science Activities for Kids

Many times insects are thought of as creepy, crawling creatures but in reality insects lend themselves to excellent science activities for kids. Insects dominate in numbers more than any other animal in the world and there is huge diversity in the insect world.

Insects are arthropods and some of their cousins are lobsters, crabs and spiders; they have jointed legs and an external skeleton. An insect has 3 main parts to its body including: head, thorax and abdomen.

Insects are so exciting to observe and study; there are far too many insects in the world to be able to study in a life time but focusing on a small portion will expose the extraordinary characteristics of insects.

Here you will find a number of insect science activities for kids focusing on the body structure, body parts and characteristics of a variety of insects.

Insect Science Activity for Kids #1: Egg Carton Insect

Show the kids pictures or photographs of a variety of insects and make sure to point out the three main parts of an insect and the body parts of the insect such as eyes, antennae, mouth etc. Pre-cut three connected egg sections of an egg carton for each child, Styrofoam or paperboard are fine. Focusing on the head area, have or help kids to poke two small holes at the top of insect head where pipe cleaners will be inserted for antennae, make sure to push pipe cleaners down a bit and a little drop of glue in the two small holes should help to hold the pipe cleaners in place. Add wiggly eyes that can be purchased from a craft store and a small piece of yarn for the mouth. Focusing on the thorax, have kids cut wings out of construction paper and glue or tape on the thorax, add three pairs of legs to the thorax by poking small holes and using pipe cleaners, the same process as the antennae. When kids are done making their insect, they can share what type of insect they made and the characteristics of the particular insect.

Insect Science Activity for Kids #2: Outdoor Insect Walk

Divide kids into pairs and give each pair of students an outdoor insect walk direction card, the cards can be made by simply writing the direction on an index card. Examples of outdoor insect walk direction cards are:

Locate an ant, is it carrying anything and where do you think it is going?

Look for a grasshopper, does it have wings?

Locate a flower, what insects do you see?

There are many insect direction ideas that could be written down, make sure to have enough cards for each pair of students and extra direction cards in case a pair completes their direction quicker than anticipated. Also, make sure to have each child collect an insect that they would like to study in preparation for the next science activity.

Insect Science Activity for Kids #3: Observe and Study an Insect

Each child should have collected one insect from the outdoor insect walk that they would like to observe and study. Give each child a hand magnifying glass and ask kids to look at their insects and ask questions such as the following examples, kids can write down or verbally give their response:

Is you insect moving? Which parts?

Does your insect have wings?

What else do you notice about your insect?

These are just a small sample of questions that could be asked of the children in regards to their insects, extended conversation likely will come out of the probing questions.

Insect Science Activity for Kids #4: Free the Insects

Take another walk outside and return the insects where they were found when on the outdoor insect walk. Discuss with the kids the importance of returning the insects back to their natural habitat

Sources:

http://www.dltk-kids.com/crafts/insects/index.htm

http://www.orkin.com/learningcenter/kids_and_teachers.aspx

http://www.ca.uky.edu/entomology/dept/youth.asp

http://urbanext.illinois.edu/insects/