Here are some activities that you can try at home or school



Materials (per student):
Golf ball size of plasticine
toothpick
2 wiggly eyes
2 paper clips
2 pieces of 1" cellophane tape
1 stick of uncooked spaghetti



Procedure:

Activity 1: Building a Bug


1. Give the children the materials.


2. Tell the children that they will be building a model of a special kind of bug, an insect. Inform them that insects are part of the animal kingdom. They have three body parts, 6 legs, 2 antennae, 2 eyes, and 2 or 4 wings.


3. Have the children divide the ball of plasticine into three small balls. Connect the ball together by inserting a toothpick through them.


4. To form the legs and the antennae of the bug, have the children break a stick of spaghetti into 8 equal pieces. This can be done easily by breaking the spaghetti into 4 sections. Then separate the halves into halves again, i.e. 4 pieces are formed from the original stick. Each of those pieces can be broken into halves to form 8 pieces from the original stick.


5. Have the children attach 6 pieces of the broken spagetti stick to the bottom of the middle plasticine ball to represent the legs. There should be three pieces on each side.


6. The other 2 pieces of the spaghetti stick can be used for the bug's antennae. Have the children place them at the top of the ball of plasticine representing the head.


7. Instruct the children on how to create wings for their bugs. Have them bend the inner loop of a paper clip so that it extends slightly at an angle from its outer loop. Then they should wrap a small piece of cellophane tape around the 2 wings to make a translucent appearance. This structure will represent 2 wings having a common point of attachment at the bottom tip of the wings.


8. Repeat step #6 to make an additional pair of wings


9. Tell the children to attach the wings to the top section of the middle plasticine ball so that there is 1 pair of wings on each side.


10. Have the children complete the model of the insect by placing the wiggly eyes directly under the antennae on the head of the bug.





Activity 2: Saved by Camouflage


1. Show the children some pictures of animals whose physical appearances are similar to the colors, shapes or patterns of their surroundings. Define the term, "camouflage".
2. Tell the children they are going to "camouflage" their bugs outside by placing them in areas having colors and patterns similar to their bugs.
3. Take the children place their models outside.
4. Have the children place their models of bugs in the outside environment so that they cannot be seen easily. They may not place them under anything.
5. The teacher should pretend to be a bird searching for a bug meal. Only the camouflage bugs will not be found, i.e. they will survive their predator.

Here are some other Camouflage pages

LAWS OF CAMOUFLAGE

 

 

This webpage was created by Bart, a participant in the Miami Museum of Science's UniTY program. This activity was adapted from lesson plans created by Museum education specialists, and is intended for use by parents and teachers to engage children in environmental education activities.