There’s no better way for kids to learn about the world around them than by getting out into it. Bug hunting encourages your kids to explore their own backyard in an open-ended way that will lead to adventures and imaginative play.

What you need:

• Plastic tweezers, or a large wooden spoon
• Clean jars or containers
• Magnifying glass
• A notebook

Activity:

Start your search by looking around flowers, bushes or at the base of trees.

Turning over small or medium sized rocks, you will usually be able to find some bugs.

Once you have found a bug, place some clean dirt in the bottom of the container and pick him up with the spoon or tweezers.

Place him carefully in your container.

Now you can examine the bug through the container and using the magnifying glass.

Once you are finished examining the bug, you can keep him for a day or two and then put him back in the garden.

Notes:

Much of the fun of bug hunting (aside from looking for the bugs of course!) is learning more about the bugs you find. While younger children will be happy just to look closely at what they find, older children will be interested to learn more. Think about the following questions:

• Where did you find him?
• What season is it?
• Were there any other bugs around?
• What colour is he?
• Does he have any distinctive features?
• How many legs does he have?
• Does he have wings?