Bugs Theme

~ Pre-K & Preschool theme ideas for learning about bugs: insects and spiders ~

Sections for This Theme

Books
Rhymes
Songs
Activities
Printables
Links
Resources

Books

Ants

Bees

Beetles

Butterflies & Caterpillars

Flies

Ladybugs

Spiders

Rhymes

Here is the Beehive

Little Miss Muffet

Songs

The Buggy Wuggy Song, by Mrs. Jones
The Insect Song, by Mrs. Jones
The Insect Song 2, by Mrs. Jones
I’m a Butterfly, by Mrs. Jones
Life of a Butterfly, by Mrs. Jones
The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Mrs. Jones
Ants Go Marching at Mrs. Jones’ Room
The Ants Go Marching: traditional song
Bringing Home a Baby Bumble Bee: traditional song
Shoo Fly: traditional song
The Itsy Bitsy Spider: traditional song
Spider on the Floor, by Raffi (available on iTunes)

Ant Activities

Egg Carton Ants

[Art]
Children paint an egg carton (cut so that each child had 3 egg cups for the 3 body parts) with their choice of either red, brown, or black paint. We add wiggle eyes and pipe cleaner pieces for the antennae and legs.

Ant Hill

[Cooking]
Children make an edible ant hill in a cup. We used a clear punch cup so the children could see the layers they added to their dessert. First they put a layer of chocolate pudding into the cup for the “dirt”. Then, they crushed up graham crackers in a plastic ziploc bag and poured the crumbs into the cup for the anthill “sand”. Last, they added chocolate chips for the “ants” (you could also substitute raisins instead of chocolate chips).

Bee Activities

Bee Hive Fingerplay

Here is the bee hive
(Cup hands together)
Where are the bees?
(Peek into hive)
Hidden away where nobody sees.
(Hide hive behind back)
Watch and you’ll see them come out of the hive.
(Bring hive back out front)
1…2…3…4…5…BUZZ!
(Open fingers one by one. Fingers become the buzzing bees)

Flight of the Bumblebee

[Music, Large Motor]
We play a game with this song by passing a beanbag (the “bee”) like a hot potato around the circle of children while the music played. Occasionally, I stop the music, which means the person with the beanbag is “stung” and moves to the middle of the circle.
The Tale of the Tzar Saltan: Flight of the Bumblebee ~ Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

Butterfly/ Caterpillar Activities

Cocoon & Butterfly

[Art]
We talk about the life cycle of a butterfly, and make a cocoon with a toilet paper tube and white yarn. We decorate a clothespin with pom poms to look like a caterpillar and put it inside the cocoon. Another day, we paint a coffee filter with watercolor paints. When it is time for the butterfly to come out of the cocoon, the butterfly “wings” are then clipped in the clothespin caterpillar.

Butterfly Lacing Cards

[Fine Motor]
To make these, I traced a butterfly outline onto old file folders, cut them out, and punched holes around the edge. The children use yarn to lace through the holes, and decorate them with markers.

Very Hungry Caterpillar Story Retelling

[Literacy, Fine Motor]
The Very Hungry Caterpillar foods are made from construction paper, and are strung on a green ribbon “caterpillar”. The children try to sequence the story from memory. Read more about this idea at Eric Carle’s Caterpillar Exchange.

Butterfly Patterns

[Math]
We use butterfly counters to make color patterns. The children also make their own pattern with paper butterfly cutouts (I used the small craft punchers to cut the butterflies).
Printable Grid Pattern Paper

Butterfly Grid Game

[Math]
Children roll the die, identify the numeral, and count out that amount of game pieces (butterfly counters) to put on the grid. The object of the game is to fill the grid. Children can play alone or with other players.

Spider Activities

Little Miss Muffet Rhyme

Little Miss Muffet,
Sat on a tuffet,
Eating her curds and whey.

Along came a spider,
Who sat down beside her,
And frightened Miss Muffet away!

The Itsy Bitsy Spider

The itsy bitsy spider,
Climbed up the water spout.
Down came the rain,
And washed the spider out.
Out came the sun,
And dried up all the rain;
And the itsy bitsy spider
Climbed up the spout again.

Spider Web

[Large Motor]
At the circle, children toss a ball of white yarn to each other. As the children catch the yarn, they hold onto part of it, and throw it to the next person. This makes a giant spider web.

Catching Insects

[Fine Motor]
Children wrapp plastic insects with yarn (silk) like a spider would to capture it. When they finish, they choose wrapped bugs from the bowl, guess what kind they are, then unwrap them to see if they guessed correctly.

Spider Web Marble Painting

[Art]
Children place a black paper circle in the bottom of a pie pan. We dip the marble in white paint, put it in the pie pan and roll it around to make a spider web. We also tie a plastic spider ring onto the web with yarn.

Little Miss Muffet Puppet Book

[Literacy]
We make a spider puppet by gluing and decorating a black oval on the flap of a paper bag. We staple the pages of the “Little Miss Muffet” rhyme to the edge of the bag. The “spider” can hold the book open when the children have their hand inside.

Spider Ring Game

[Math]
Children roll a die and place that amount of spider rings on their fingers. The first to have spiders on all ten fingers is the winner.

Curds & Whey

[Science]
After learning the “Little Miss Muffet” nursery rhyme, we do this science experiment to understand what “curds and whey” look like. Children fill a clear cup half-way with milk, added 2 tablespoons of vinegar and stirred. We let it sit for about 2-3 minutes. The vinegar makes the milk separate into a solid, called curd, and a liquid, called whey. (Not meant to be eaten! Gross!)

Spider Legs

[Science]
Insects get stuck in a spider’s web because the spider’s web is sticky, but a spider does not because it’s legs are oily. We experiment with this idea by taping two squares of contact paper to the table, sticky side up. We pretend our hand is a bug, with our legs (fingers) sticking to the web. Using the other square of contact paper, we pretend to be a spider, dipping our legs (fingers) into cooking oil first, then walking across the sticky “web”.

Spiders in the Sensory Table

[Sensory Table]
Children used Jurassic sand with Tree Blocks and plastic spiders for creative play. The plastic spiders are spider rings with the ring part cut off.

More Activities

Play Dough Bugs

[Fine Motor]
We place strips of green construction paper (for grass) in some small bug boxes (available at the Dollar Tree). Children make model bugs with play dough to put in the boxes.

Egg Carton Bugs

[Art]
We make bugs using half of a cardboard egg carton, paint, wiggle eyes, pom-pom balls, and other materials.

Click Beetle

[Art]
This activity goes with the book, The Very Clumsy Click Beetle, by Eric Carle. You can read about this activity at the Eric Carle Caterpillar Exchange.

Story Retelling

[Literacy]
Choose any bug-themed book that you would consider good literature (good characters, plot, beginning, middle, end, etc.) Show the book to the children and tell them to think about what happened in the story, and the people (characters) and places they saw in the story. Think about what each character said. Give each child a piece of paper and ask them to draw something they remember from the story. Remind them that this should not be a picture of their cat or their friends, but only pictures of things from the book. After each child has illustrated the story, have them retell the story in their own words. Either record each child with a voice recorder or write their dictation on the page.

Bug Twins

[Literacy, Social Skills]
Children are given a simple bug outline. This is not a color sheet, the page only has 3 circles. They work in pairs to create bugs that are the same (“bug twins”). One child has the role of communicator and one child had the role of listener. The communicator adds features to the bug by drawing & coloring, and communicates each step to a partner. The partner listens and adds the same features to the bug without seeing the other child’s paper. This project helps with communication skills, listening, following directions, and cooperation.

Bug Stamping Game

[Math, Literacy]
Write a letter or numeral on each bug, and make a copy for each child. Children will draw a number or letter card from a stack (or roll a die), find that letter/numeral on their mat, and stamp it out. You can use rubber stamps or bingo dot markers. As an alternative, you can have children draw an “X” over the bug if stamps or bingo dot markers are not available.

Bugs Bingo

Bug Grid Game

[Math]
To play a grid game, children roll a game die, identify the numeral and count out that amount of manipulatives. Each manipulative is placed over one picture in the grid. Children play until the whole grid is full. This grid game uses any kind of plastic bugs. Mine are from Big Lots. Plastic bugs can usually be found in any dollar store. Children place the bugs on the leaves.

Grid Game 10 Spaces

Grid Game 20 Spaces

Counters: Plastic Bugs

$Preschool Bugs Theme$

Bug Jar Counting & Sorting Mats

[Math]
Read more about this activity & download the printable mats on the blog post here: Bug Jar Counting & Sorting Mats.

Counting Flies

[Math]
As gross as it sounds, children are fascinated by this game. Each child has a handful of 8 plastic flies. They throw them onto the table, and count how many flies are dead (on their backs) and how many flies are alive (on their feet).

Sorting by Sizes

[Math]
We use three sizes of craft pom poms (our pretend fuzzy bugs) to sort by size into different sized containers.

Bug Counting Book

[Math]
We make a bug counting book by stamping bug stamps on each page of the book. The words to the book are:
1 bug,
2 bugs,
3 bugs,
4; Those were good, but I want more!
5 bugs,
6 bugs,
7 bugs,
8; The big fat juicy ones taste just great!”

Bug Sensory Table

[Sensory, Fine Motor]
I added about 3 bags of green Easter grass to the sensory table, and hid plastic ladybugs and ants in the grass. Each child at the sensory table used a pair of tweezers and a bug box. They searched through the grass to find the bugs, picked them up with tweezers, and placed them in their bug box.