MINIBEASTS
IN THE EARLY
YEARS
JAN HOMDEN
PART A
CONSILIUM EDUCATION
A great topic to get the children outdoors,
really exploring and developing their skills
of observation.
Before you start you may be interested in
looking at this video produced by the Open
University.
Click on the image to follow the link
Learning with "Mini-beasts" - Supporting Children's Learning in
the Early Years (1/3)
Filmed at Wall Hall Day Nursery in Aldenham. Hertfordshire.
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Let’s get started with a ‘Bug Hunt’.
These children from Oakfield House
School in Berkshire did just that as
they explored their newly reformed
Pond Area and spotted a ladybird, a
butterfly, a slug, a woodlouse, an ant,
a spider and a leaf bug.
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Where to look for Minibeasts
Worms – water a grassy area and stamp feet to
bring worms to the surface.
Woodlice, earwigs, beetles, centipedes and
millipedes – look under stones, under or in dead
wood, in damp shaded areas, around the base of
trees.
Dragonflies – try looking near ponds, rivers or
water.
Bees, hoverflies and butterflies – on and around
flowers, bushes and shrubs.
Spiders – you can find these everywhere and
anywhere, also look out for their webs in the
mornings if there is a dew.
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Slugs and snails – look in damp, shaded areas
surfaces particularly after rain or at night, or
just follow the trails.
Ladybirds – they are often found on plants and
sometimes trees
Ants – often burrow into the ground, under
rocks or a fallen tree to build a nest.
Leaf Bugs or Green Shield Bugs can often be
seen sitting on the leaves of shrubs in sunny
spots. They hibernate in grass tussocks
or leaf litter and emerge in May.
Look for tadpoles in ponds, ditches and slow
moving streams from the end of March.
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A Minibeast Hunt and follow-up activities can cover a
number of EYFS Learning Goals with many cross-circular
links.
Communication & Language
Listening and responding appropriately to stories/information and following
instructions on where and how to look for minibeasts.
Answering questions about minibeasts - describing what they look like and where
they live.
Talking about their minibeast hunt with peers and adults afterwards.
Interacting with visitors to their classroom e.g. a local bee keeper or if your
school is in England or Wales invite the ‘Minibeast Roadshow’ to come along.
Reciting action rhymes about minibeasts such as, ‘Incy Wincy Spider’, ‘Where is
the bee hive?’ Retelling stories about minibeasts in their own words.
Physical Development
Negotiating space outdoors when moving around looking for minibeasts. Lifting
and carrying logs, sticks, bricks, leaves, etc., to build their own minibeast
habitat or digging and planting to establish a butterfly garden.
Handling equipment and tools effectively such as nets, magnifying glasses, bug
bottle/jar, binoculars, trowel, spade, watering can, etc.
Taking care when handling minibeasts and realising the importance of washing
hands afterwards.
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Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSED)
Developing relationships as they work in pairs/small groups to find, identify and
talk about minibeasts. The sharing of equipment and helping each other.
Discuss the importance of respecting all living creatures no matter how small.
Opportunities to develop their own self-confidence when handling the
minibeasts.
Literacy
Reading simple non-fiction books for information. Reading
minibeast names and following simple guidelines to identify the
creatures they find. Joining in and reading repetitive text in
‘Big Books’. Listening to fictional stories/poems about
minibeasts being read to them by an adult or their book buddy.
Recording minibeast facts in a log book.
Writing names of minibeasts or simple sentences about the
minibeasts they have found. Labelling parts of their minibeast.
Making their own ‘little books’ about minibeasts.
Mathematics
Sorting and matching collections of plastic minibeasts. Counting
found minibeasts: how many legs do they have? how many spots
on the ladybird?
Recording found minibeasts on a graph - add together numbers to
work out the total number of minibeasts. Tallying, how many of
each minibeast they have seen on the Bug Hunt?
Using cubes to measure the length of large plastic bugs.
Find the longest and the shortest and order the bugs
according to size. Weigh the bugs, finding the heaviest
and lightest. Estimation: How many plastic minibeasts
are in the jar or how many caterpillars on the leaf?
Symmetry – Use images of butterflies/ladybirds
to teach symmetry.
Look at patterns.
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Understanding of the World
Discuss the importance of respecting all living creatures. Discuss how important
minibeasts are and the job they do in maintaining the
ecosystem.
Discuss how to be gentle and careful with creatures and
their habitats.
Develop opportunities for exploration
during the ‘bug hunt’ – lifting logs and
leaves, looking under stones, digging in the soil.
Observing minibeasts and looking at the similarities and
differences: how they move, colouring for camouflage/warning,
food sources, habitats.
Observing change – Keep tadpoles and observe their growth into frogs or
observe how a caterpillar changes into a butterfly.
Technology: Use Bee-Bot (a programmable floor robot) to teach
control, directional language and programming to young children.
Click on Bee-Bot to follow the link to tts.
Expressive Arts and Design
Listen and discuss music such as The Flight of the
Bumble Bee (Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov). Create
movement to accompany The Ugly Bug Ball (Burl Ives)
or movement to indicate various minibeasts: wiggling
like a worm, spinning a web like a spider or crawling like
a caterpillar. Compose simple percussion music to
introduce various minibeasts. Sing songs about minibeasts – ‘The Ants go
marching One by One’, ‘Spider in the Bath’.
Make minibeasts from mixed media including mixing paints to match the colours
of their minibeast. Paint or use collage to create minibeast patterns. Look at
The Snail by Matisse to inspire snail collages.
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Design and build a Bug Hotel or design and create in a shoe box individual
habitats for a chosen minibeast.
Enjoy role-play in the ‘Minibeast Investigation Lab’ or ‘The Creepy Corner’.
Retell the story of for example, The Very Hungry Caterpillar and take part in a
performance for a class/year group assembly.
Preschoolers from The German School in
Washington D.C. performing The Very
Hungry Caterpillar for their parents.
Children in the Kindergarten Class at
Loganville Elementary School in
Wisconsin, United States playing their
part in the story of The Very Hungry
Caterpillar.
Minibeasts, Insects & Bugs
Click on the image above to follow the link to The Little Activity Chest for lots of
interesting activities to explore.
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Invite a local bee keeper to visit your classroom to talk to
the children about bees.
Jenniflowers Childcare in
Southfields, London had a
special visit from two of
their grandparents who are
keen bee keepers.
‘Two of our grandparents live on
the Isle of Man and they love
beekeeping! They came into
preschool and told us all about
colonies, the queen bee, how
honey is made, and how to dress
as a beekeeper. The children
took turns trying on the
beekeeping outfit. Much fun was
had by all - thanks Ouma and
Oupa!’
Click on the image above to have a look at their
blog.
Click on the image to follow
the link and find out how to
make this simple puppet.
Use honey to make Cornflake
Crispies with your class. See below
for recipe
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Recipe for Cornflake Crispies
Ingredients
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120g butter
1/4 cup (60g) caster sugar
1 tbsp honey
4 cups cornflakes
Method
1. Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan-forced). Place 24 paper cases in
cupcake or muffin trays.
2. Place butter, sugar and honey in a saucepan and stir over low heat
until sugar is dissolved. Bring to boil and then remove from heat.
Place cornflakes in a large bowl, add honey mixture and stir
(gently) to combine.
3. Spoon mixture into paper cases and bake for 10 minutes, or until
lightly golden. Gently lift cases out of trays and cool on wire
racks. Once fully cooled, store in airtight containers for up to a
week.
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If you happen to live in the vicinity of London a visit to
Whipsnade Zoo may be an option. Especially for Key Stage 1
students where they can explore minibeasts in their
specially designed wildlife habitat.
ZSL Whipsnade Zoo is the UK's
biggest zoo. Set in 600 acres of
beautiful parkland on the
Chiltern Hills, north of London,
the zoo is home to more than
2,500 animals, many of which are
endangered in the wild.
KS1 Minibeasts Explorers for 5 – 7 year olds
‘Have you ever wondered what roams between the exotic species at ZSL
Whipsnade Zoo? In Minibeast Explorers pupils will work scientifically to collect
real data on native species found in our specially designed wildlife habitat.
Pupils will explore habitats to uncover native species and work in small groups to
identify animals using simple keys. This session will include engaging activities
that introduce students to food chains, use of scientific keys and collecting
data skills.’
ZSL Whipsnade Zoo is just north of London in Dunstable, Bedfordshire.
Click on the image below for a direct link to their website.
Many local zoos run similar workshops so worth making
enquiries.
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If your school is in England or Wales another possibility is
to contact the Minibeast Roadshow and arrange for them to
visit to your school.
Our Mini-beast Roadshow is available to attend
Fetes, Corporate Events, Nurseries, Schools
(from Reception - Secondary), Colleges, Parties
and other public/private bookings.
Members of ‘The Council for Learning Outside
the Classroom’.
Click on the image above for a direct link to the site.
Mini-beasts in the Classroom
‘Our mini-beast sessions in the classroom are a great hit with both young and old
alike. The children will receive an entertaining and informative presentation and
will also have the opportunity to handle many of the participating animals.
We find that children enjoy these interactions and as a result retain more
information which often inspires children to do more research with books and the
Internet.
Along with our classroom handling session we offer an optional Minibeast
Safari to enable pupils the opportunity to hunt for creatures in the school
grounds.
Our sessions can be tailored to suit your requirements. All equipment is provided.
Our workshops can include topics such as Rainforests, Animal Adaptations, Life
Cycles and many more topics. Our Roadshows bring Living Nature into the
classroom.’
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Set up a Mini Beast Investigation Lab or a
Creepy Crawly Corner
Victory Heights Primary
School in Dubai set up their
investigation lab outdoors and
studied mini beasts and mini
beast habitats.
Click on the image to have a
look at their blog.
Create a cosy creepy corner
where the children can crawl
inside to look at fiction and
non-fiction books on
minibeasts.
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Make minibeast habitats in the tuff spot /
activity tray.
Add compost, wood
chippings, stones,
gravel, plants, twigs,
leaves, logs, plastic
minibeasts and
magnifying glasses.
Lots of opportunity for
conversation, language
development, make believe and
fun!
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Resources to complement a Writing Table, Role Play Area and Tuff
Spot. Click on the logos to follow the links and download these free resources
From:
Minibeasts Investigation Lab Role Play Pack
Minibeast Hunt Sheet Checklist
Minibeasts Craft Activity Pack
Minibeasts Spot the Difference Activity
From:
Explore the world of invertebrates, insects and other minibeasts with our
crafts, printables, puzzles and other fun activities.
From:
‘We have a huge set of free teaching resources that you can use as part of your
work.’ This includes teaching ideas and resources for “What the Ladybird
Heard” and “What the Ladybird Heard next” by Julia Donaldson.
From:
More free resources and related items available
to download - Related items include – “The Very
Hungry Caterpillar” Story and “Mad about Minibeasts” Story.
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