Bugs & Creepy Crawlies

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Young children’s innate curiosity about investigating their world makes them natural scientists. Young children are born scientists, whose boundless curiosity and developing skills give them the motivation and capability to investigate and better understand their world. To learn about science is to…. • Learn how to think • The abilities to comprehend • To Apply • To Analyse • To Synthesise • To Evaluate To learn about science is essential for higher-order of thinking and problem-solving skills. These skills are needed to form the foundation of all learning. When we teach children science in their early years we are laying the foundations for skills children will need throughout their lives to think about a problem and to explore its possible answers. When teaching science to preschoolers you are also incorporating Math, Literacy and Motor Skills. As we teach children to “experience” science, remember that it’s an approach to learning and life. These activities are designed to be open-ended. Remember that hands on learning, is the most appropriate way for children to explore and learn about their world. Bugs & Creepy Crawlies Development A constructivist approach to education is based on the understanding that knowledge is constructed by children versus being given or transmitted to them. In this approach, children are viewed as “intellectual explorers” (Lind, 1999) and “theory builders” (Chaille & Britain, 2003). This approach assumes that as they interact with the world around them, young children develop their own complex and varying theories about this world. Bugs & Creepy Crawlies Bugs and creepy crawlies - Child Care Centre Desktop© 2015 child care centre desktop

Transcript of Bugs & Creepy Crawlies

Page 1: Bugs & Creepy Crawlies

Young children’s innate curiosity about investigating their world makes them natural scientists. Young children are born scientists, whose boundless curiosity and developing skills give them the motivation and capability to investigate and better understand their world.

To learn about science is to….

• Learn how to think• The abilities to comprehend• To Apply• To Analyse• To Synthesise • To Evaluate

To learn about science is essential for higher-order of thinking and problem-solving skills. These skills are needed to form the foundation of all learning. When we teach children science in their early years we are laying the foundations for skills children will need throughout their lives to think about a problem and to explore its possible answers.

When teaching science to preschoolers you are also incorporating Math, Literacy and Motor Skills. As we teach children to “experience” science, remember that it’s an approach to learning and life.

These activities are designed to be open-ended. Remember that hands on learning, is the most appropriate way for children to explore and learn about their world.

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DevelopmentA constructivist approach to education is based on the understanding that knowledge is constructed by children versus being given or transmitted to them.In this approach, children are viewed as “intellectual explorers” (Lind, 1999) and “theory builders” (Chaille & Britain, 2003). This approach assumes that as they interact with the world around them, young children develop their own complex and varying theories about this world.

Bugs & Creepy Crawlies

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Educators working from a constructivist approach provide a supportive environment where young children are encouraged to go about testing and revising their original theories. Key ingredients for a supportive environment include:

a) a variety of interesting materials for children to explore and manipulate, b) unstructured time for children to develop and test their own ideas, and c) a social climate that tells the children that questions and experimentation are as valuable as knowing the right answers. Productive questions posed by the Educator at just the right time are also critically important to helping children construct their own understandings. Productive questions are, in fact, one of the most effective tools for supporting constructivist learning (Martens, 1999).

Most children have difficulty constructing understanding simply by engaging in an activity – that is, they “fail to make connections necessary to arrive at a desired understanding” (Martens, 1999, p. 25). Productive questions provide a bridge between what the children already know and what they experience through an activity. Productive questions therefore “take a child forward in his or her thinking; they enable a teacher to provide scaffolding for students beginning to build their own understandings” (Martens, 1999, p. 25).

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When playing with sensory items, some items can be smaller than normal and pose a choking hazard with babies and toddlers particularly. Please remember to complete Risk Assessments and ensure supervision is paramount at all times.

SAFETY FIRST

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Box of Bugs (1.2, 1.4, 3. 1, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 5.1, 5.4)

Babies love opening and closing boxes and filling and emptying so this is the perfect activity to engage and stimulate the littlies. The babies will enjoy finding a box filled with different types of plastic bugs and insects. Educators can encourage babies to grasp and feel the variety of creepy crawlies, providing labelling words as they lift out a particular bug. “Oh look, this is an Ant!”. Educators can crawl on the floor with babies, showing them how bugs move. A visit outdoors to find some real bugs will allow babies to make essential neural connections.

Bug Playdough Prints (1.2, 1.4, 3.1, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 5.1, 5.4)

Using plastic bugs and playdough, the babies can make some great bug prints in the playdough. Not only is this a fabulous fine motor and gross motor activity, but it reinforces the child’s visual understanding of the bugs they are playing with. For example, they can see the outline of a bug, as well as the 3D image, all helping to establish a deeper cognitive understanding.

Crawling with Bugs (1.1, 1.2, 1.4, 3.1, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 5.1, 5.4)

Babies love exploring new environments, so to maximise their interest in the world around them Educators can set up play experiences with lots of bugs around the room. Perhaps Educators could dress up as buzzy bees, or amazing ants and crawl around the floor singing some relevant songs with the babies.

BabiesIn their first year, babies are learning very important concepts. They learn about cause and effect when they shake a rattle and hear a sound, or when they pull on their mother’s glasses and hear her voice (much sterner than usual) tell them not to pull! They learn about size and shape by stacking blocks, mouthing them, and trying to fit them into the correctly shaped holes. They learn to solve problems when they discover how to turn the crank to get the jack-in-the-box to pop up. They learn about gravity when they drop a spoon from the high chair and look down to the floor to see where it lands. They learn object permanence—that things they can’t see still exist—when they play peek-a-boo or crawl into the next room to find you.

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Bug Painting (1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 2.4, 3.1, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 5.1, 5.4)

Bugs in the Mud (1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 2.2, 3.1, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 5.1)

ToddlersToddlers are little scientists. They are eager to figure out how everything works. They do this through “experiments.” They might throw a ball to the ground and see that it bounces, then throw a doll to see what it will do. They also learn to use objects as tools—for example, using a stick to try to get an out-of-reach toy. And their growing memory takes on an important role in helping them learn. For example, they imitate what they see others do, even hours or days later.

As an extension from using plastic bugs to makeplaydough prints, the children will love using the critters to make some amazingly creative art pieces.

Educators can ask the children “what else” they could use to make bug prints, or “how else” they could play with the bugs?

• Ask the children to mix some mud, and hide some bugs in there for them. Educators can send the children on an amazing journey of discovery as they dig and scour through the mud to find the creepy crawly critters.

Resources:

Plastic Bugs Bucket of water & towel for hand washing Collage Items Art Easels / Painting paper Variety coloured paints

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• Offer the children a variety of creatures, and resources to select from and offer help as needed. The children will enjoy rolling the bugs around in the paints to make their masterpieces. • Perhaps they can add glitter or other collage items? Sticks, leaves, buttons etc

Resources:

Containers Outdoor Tubs / WheelbarrowsDigging tools Sand & Water to mix mudPlastic bugs

• Educators should constantly reinforce communication by questioning the children about their activity, “what did you find?”, “How does that mud feel?” etc.

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Big Bug Hunt (1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 2.2, 3.1, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 5.1)

Pre-schoolers At this stage, children are making a huge leap in their thinking skills, as they are now able to use their imagination and develop lots of their own ideas. The problem is that they still do not have all the skills or the control over their world they need to follow through on all of their ideas. This naturally leads to anger, confusion and frustration—feelings they do not yet know how to manage very well. So they have a lot of breakdown, fondly known as tantrums. Lots of hands on “doing” activities help these little ones to cope with their day-to-day frustrations along with developing brilliant higher order thinking skills.

Resources:

• Bug container a clear plastic tub or jam jar with air holes so your find’s can be fully examined before being released back into the wild.

• Tweezers for picking up creepy crawlies (A plastic spoon is often a better choice for smaller children who may squeeze a little too hard with tweezers!!)

• Camera or sketchbook and pencil for recording your findings, you can then either refer to an identification guide either while you are on your hunt or when you get back to the room and see what kinds of bugs you have discovered.

• Hand wash gel/ sanitiser for obvious reasons!

• Magnifying glass for an extra close up look

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• Before you begin it is a good idea to discuss the qualities of a good bug hunter with the children to avoid any nasty stings or an unfortunate squashing of their find. Remind children that they need to search carefully, disturb the surroundings as little as possible, handle only a few, but look at many creatures and replace any sticks or stones that they overturn.

• Encourage the children to search for their bugs, and document their findings, pictures, maybe they can take photos etc. These can later be used for discussion or in a creative extension. Perhaps Educators could incorporate the use of technology assisting the children with their investigation about their findings…

• The children will love getting up close and personal with the creepy crawlies so emphasise safety and ensure that all risk management plans are completed before commencing.

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Pre-schoolers Insect Lab (1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 2.2, 3.1, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 5.1, 5.4)

Following on from the Big Bug Hunt…

Educators can provide children with resources to enter the world of scientific research. Ask the children to advise you of what they would need to begin “investigating” their creepy crawlies.

• Once the children have, sorted and classified their findings, encourage inquisitiveness with some of the following types of questions: o What colour is it? o How many legs does it have? o How big is it compared to a coin? o Does it have wings? o Where did you find it? o How does it move? o Is it eating anything?

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Linking to OutcomesPr

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1.1 Children feel safe, secure, and supported.

1.2 Children develop their emerging autonomy, inter-dependence, resilience and sense of agency.

1.4 Children learn to interact in relation to others with care, empathy and respect.

3.1 Children become strong in their social and emotional wellbeing.

4.1 Children develop dispositions for learning such as curiosity, cooperation, confidence, creativity,

commitment, enthusiasm, persistence, imagination and reflexivity.

4.2 Children develop a range of skills and processes such as problem solving, inquiry,

experimentation, hypothesising, researching and investigating.

4.3 Children transfer and adapt what they have learned from one context to another.

5.1 Children interact verbally and non-verbally with others for a range of purposes.

1.1 Children feel safe, secure, and supported.

1.2 Children develop their emerging autonomy, inter-dependence, resilience and sense of agency.

1.3 Children develop knowledgeable and confident self identities.

1.4 Children learn to interact in relation to others with care, empathy and respect.

2.2 Children respond to diversity with respect.

2.4 Children become socially responsible and show respect for the environment.

3.1 Children become strong in their social and emotional wellbeing.

4.1 Children develop dispositions for learning such as curiosity, cooperation, confidence, creativity,

commitment, enthusiasm, persistence, imagination and reflexivity.

4.2 Children develop a range of skills and processes such as problem solving, inquiry,

experimentation, hypothesising, researching and investigating.

4.3 Children transfer and adapt what they have learned from one context to another.

4.4 Children resource their own learning through connecting with people, place, technologies and

natural and processed materials.

5.1 Children interact verbally and non-verbally with others for a range of purposes.

5.4 Children begin to understand how symbols and pattern systems work.

1.1 Children feel safe, secure, and supported.

1.2 Children develop their emerging autonomy, inter-dependence, resilience and sense of agency.

1.3 Children develop knowledgeable and confident self identities.

1.4 Children learn to interact in relation to others with care, empathy and respect.

2.2 Children respond to diversity with respect.

3.1 Children become strong in their social and emotional wellbeing.

4.1 Children develop dispositions for learning such as curiosity, cooperation, confidence, creativity,

commitment, enthusiasm, persistence, imagination and reflexivity.

4.2 Children develop a range of skills and processes such as problem solving, inquiry,

experimentation, hypothesising, researching and investigating.

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Bugs & Creepy Crawlies

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Linking to Outcomes

4.3 Children transfer and adapt what they have learned from one context to another.

4.4 Children resource their own learning through connecting with people, place, technologies

and natural and processed materials.

5.1 Children interact verbally and non-verbally with others for a range of purposes.

5.4 Children begin to understand how symbols and pattern systems work.

Bugs & Creepy Crawlies

Bugs & Creepy Crawlies

Bugs and creepy crawlies - Child Care Centre Desktop© 2015 child carecentre desktop