Homeschool: Mini Beasts (Week 3)

We just completed our third week of homeschool. You can view our daily schedule (including which curriculum we use for math, reading and writing) by clicking the link. Below you'll find the art and science activities we did this week - focusing on Mini Beasts. 




MONDAY:
  • Book: Minibeasts under a stone (where to find mini beasts) by Sarah Ridley
  • Activity: Hunt for Mini Beasts
  • Supplies: Scavenger Hunt Worksheet, Magnifying Glass, Bug Jars
After reading our book, we went outside and looked under rocks to find mini beasts. My boys LOVED this and we spent about an hour and half exploring and catching little bugs. We found spiders, millipedes, snails, slugs, ants, a beetle, and woodlice. We had just read about ant eggs and found a ton of them under one of the stones! We caught a few mini beasts and put them in bug jars (from the dollar store) to get a better look before returning them to their home.





TUESDAY:  
  • Book: Spinning Spiders by Melvin Berger OR Spiders by Gail Gibbons
  • Activity: Catch a Spider's Web
  • Supplies: Black paper, hair spray, white spray paint.
We were planning on "catching spider webs", but it rained today! We made these mini beast art projects instead. These projects never turn out how I imagine them in my mind. I enjoy seeing my boy's creativity and what they envision in their minds.


My four drew a blue spider under his "rock" and my five drew a black widow. 

WEDNESDAY:
  • Book: Wiggling Worms at Work by Wendy Pfeffer OR Yucky Worms by Vivian French
  • Activity: Build a Worm Hotel
  • Supplies: Glass jar, rocks, sand, dirt, leaves, grass, worms
Digging for worms was so exciting and fun. We've enjoyed watching them build tunnels this week!

Fill a large glass mason jar in layers - small rocks, sand, dirt, sand, more dirt, leaves and grass. Find lots of worms and add them in. You'll immediately start seeing them bury themselves in the dirt. Keep the jar in a dark place. Add squirts of water as needed to keep the soil moist.






THURSDAY:
  • Book: Ladybugs by Gail Gibbons OR Ladybugs: red, fiery and bright by Mia Posada
  • Activity: Lady Bug (Directed Art)
  • Supplies: White paper, crayons
These turned out so cute. Although this was a directed art project, my boys chose the color of their ladybugs and what they wanted the grass/sky to look like. We also bought Ladybug Land to watch ladybugs transform from larvae to ladybugs and The Lady Bug Game to play this week. This board game is a great number review and helps us learn to take turns and be good sports. My boys have requested to play this game a ton this week! 



Our ladybugs came in the mail! My boys are doing "team work" to bring them inside.
They start as tiny black bugs and we are going to watch them "molt" into a pupa and then into a ladybug. This will take a couple weeks. 

We loved playing the Lady Bug Game. 

FRIDAY:
  • Book: Review Books. 
  • Activity: Play Dough Mini Beasts
  • Supplies: Easy Homemade Play Dough, googly eyes (dollar store), pipe cleaners
It was raining again today, so we made some hot chocolate, grabbed our mini beast books and a blanket, and read books outside. We each chose our favorite mini beast book to read. We also enjoyed  these other books this week: "The Hungry Caterpillar" and "Inch by Inch".

Reading in the rain with hot chocolate. I have a feeling we're going to be doing this a lot this year.

Afterward, we made a batch of home made play dough (seriously, so soft and easy to make) and made mini beast bugs. Play dough is so great for strengthening fingers, fine motor skills and so much creativity.



My five wanted to build an army of slugs. Blue against green. The guys in the middle are ghouls. 
This caterpillar was my four's favorite. 
Keeping baby busy while we play with play dough. We LOVE these squigz. They suction to the table and provide lots of entertainment for this little guy. 

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