Bug Party Fun!

Our bug themed party the year my son turned seven was, by far, my favorite party we've had with the kids ever.    Everything worked, yet it still felt simple.   Part of it was due, I know, to a bunch of parents who choose to stay, help where needed, and a group of kids that just got along so well.   But we had some neat games and activities I wanted to share with you all too. 

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THE GAMES


Game 1:  Cocoon Wrap

We had a race to see who could wrap their partner in a toilet paper "cocoon" the fastest.   When everyone was done the kids burst out of their cocoon in a spectacular explosion of toilet paper.   Luckily we had a lot of adults present to help clean up the mess.   (Totally worth the mess, by the way...the bursting out was unplanned and magical)

Game 2:   Fly Catching

Sadly I don't have pictures of this, but there is a great game we found on 100 Days of Play using party blowers to catch "flies" (like a frog would with its tongue).   The kids were giggling all the way through this game...it was so much fun.  

SUPPLIES NEEDED

• Party blowers (metalic or plastic ones better than paper)
• Velcro Dots
• A box (if you are doing this outside)
• (Optional...printed flies or cut out fly wings...see below)

Attach the soft side of  the Velcro dots to the outside end of the party blowers when they are fully uncurled (soft side because it damages the blower less when it blows in and out).

The flies at 100 Days were made by attaching the other end of the Velcro dots to printed, cut out flies, but since I found black Velcro dots, I cut out little heart shapes in plain white paper and smashed two scratchy side dots together n them so the curved part stuck out the back like fly wings.   You could also just stick two dots together without the wings to save some time.    I suggest making one fly and one blower and testing it out before doing more. 

We put the flies in a box so they wouldn't "fly away" in the wind.   Then we gathered four kids in small groups (3-4 max if you're surrounding a small box...more if you are inside and can spread these out on a table), and had them race to try and catch the most flies with their blowers.  You will want adults around to help them remove the flies from the blowers because it's easy to damage the blowers pulling off the flies.   Paper blowers especially (like we made the mistake of using) can tear too easily while pulling off a Velcro fly.

Game 3:  Centipede Congo Line

You kinda have to have the right crowd of kids and parents to pull this off...and we did.   Parents who really got into it were the key--they got the kids into it.  We basically just walked in a congo line holding onto shoulders...but I told them we were making a giant centipede.   It was simple and fun.   No prep!

THE FOOD

So, originally I was going to make all a mess of cupcakes myself (you can get the details of how to make them here).    But after making these five I realized that this could take all night...and I  suddenly had a brilliant idea!   These cupcakes had been fun to make, even though it was time consuming...and thought how much fun the kids would have DECORATING THEIR OWN CUPCAKES.    So, I brought these for examples, spread out the supplies, then handed the kids a plain cupcake, and plastic knife and a paper plate, and let them decorate their own cupcakes however they wanted.

Did the cupcakes the kids made look anything like the example cakes?   Nope.   Did the kids have a blast making them?   ABSOLUTELY!

And just to have something healthy I also had these caterpillar grapes, 

which a lot of the kids gobbled up!   Originally they were supposed to have 

frosting eyes, but I ran out of time.

We also took off the wrapper on a Sierra Mist and labeled it Bug Juice with a sharpie (like I'd seen on pinterest) .   The kids thought that was HILARIOUS!

Other Fun Buggy Foods

I found these other fun bug themed foods.
We didn't use them for our party, but they sure look fun.

Spiders on a Log (celery snack)

Caterpillar Cupcakes

5 Healthy Bug Snacks

THE PARTY FAVORS

My son's birthday is in April...the perfect time to buy live ladybugs (available at garden centers)....so I thought, why not give away lady bugs in bug jars as a party favor?   They will usually come refrigerated (the cold keeps the docile, and helps them stay alive longer), come with their own bug food.   Be aware that some of them die (and that it's nearly impossible not to get any dead ladybugs into your bug jars), and that they do smell a bit.   Also, if the picture above creeps you out, then I don't suggest this as they look JUST LIKE THAT when you buy ladybugs.   Also, I don't suggest having this as a party favor for indoor parties. 

1. You can buy bug boxes in bulk online, or make your own with clear cups and press and seal plastic wrap (NOT regular plastic wrap, which comes unstuck too easily).  
2. I suggest keeping them in the refrigerator until the day before the party so that they both stay alive and stay sluggish (making them easier to redistribute into jars).
3. Grab a spoon an prepare your jars outside (all lids open), then grab your ladybugs from the fridge, go directly outside, and use a spoon to quickly dish a small amount of them into each of the bug jars.   Then release the rest into your back yard, or put a lid on them, stick them back in the fridge, and take them to the party to release outside there.
4. Before giving the ladybugs to your party kids, make sure to tell kids to ask their parents if it's ok to take the bugs home (to release in their backyard).  If they want to release the bugs at the party (outside) that's fine too.  
5. We also printed out a coloring page on the lady bug life cycle we found free on Teachers Pay Teachers.  I can't remember which one, but I like this one with photos (the Ladybugs Grow Up Fast page) and this coloring page here.   The kids were especially facinated to know about the little "alligator" stage of ladybugs, as several had seen those before and not known they were ladybug larve.

Here's a pic of one of the ladybugs that we later released, keeping the aphids off my plants!

Shared on Camera Critters. Quirky Mamma, You're the Star Monday and the Kids Activities Blog

CRAFT: Wrapped Walking Stick

Decorating a walking stick with yarn/and cloth is a fun craft that can be simplified for a young child, yet is still an enjoyable project for a teen or adult to do!  Learn how to make your own below!

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This post contain some affiliate links through which I can earn a commission. 

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Finding The Perfect Stick
Finding sticks for this craft is easier than you would would think.    You can go to local wooded areas and look for downed branches (sometimes you'll even see downed branches on the side of the road).   Or, look for neighbors pruning their trees and ask if you can take some of the branches.   Once I started looking for sticks for this project, I started noticing them everywhere. 
 
You'll want sticks that are relatively straight, and about 1-2 inches in diameter. Watch out for sticks that are rotten or molded, and make sure to ask if any of the wood had been treated for pesticides (which you will want to avoid.   If any of the bark seems loose, see if you can peel it off as that can be a sign there are bugs underneath.  If you leave on the bark, or are able to peel the bark free, you won't have to sand it.  If you choose to carve off the bark you will want to sand the stick afterwards.  Bark left on may detach on it's own over time.

A good height for a walking stick is about 6-8 inches taller than a person's elbow if their arms are hanging straight down while standing (got that tip from Boy's Life).  Even if you find a stick nearly the exact height you want, you may want to saw one end off to flatten out the bottom of your walking stick.


Wrapping a Walking Stick With Yarn
We decorated our sticks with either yarn or cloth (or both). Below is a video showing a simple way to wrap the stick with yarn. At the beginning of this video I said that I have "a few inches of yarn." I misspoke...I actually had a few feet...but what I meant was that I had a few inches of yarn left over to form a "tail."   You can add beads other charms to the left over yarn tails, as shown in the picture at the top of this page (more on that below).

I love how the yarn looked on this curvy stick.  

When we did these we were looking for simple things we could do with cheep materials.   If you are looking to do something more complex, you can find several more detailed techniques using Paracord (which would also be more weather resistant).  

Turks Head

Cow Hitch

Fish Scale Braid

French Hitching

Solomon V

How to Wrap a Stick With Cloth

You can also wrap a stick with cloth tied in yarn (or leather).  

This is actually a useful feature as it creates a padded area for a hand-hold (the more padding you want, the more layers you will want to wrap around your stick).  We used strips from old t-shirts, but you can use any type of cloth you want (or even scraps of leather).

Wrapping cloth on a stick is fairly simple. First roll a strip of cloth around the stick. Then take a long piece of yarn and tie it tightly near to top of the cloth.  Make your tie in the middle of the yarn so you have two fairly equal lengths of yarn hanging down, and leave about an inch of cloth above where you tie it. For a criss-cross design, spiral one of these down the cloth, and the other in the opposite direction, so that the two lengths of yarn criss-cross, then at the bottom (about an inch from the edge of the fabric), tie these two yarn-tails together tightly.


Adding Decorations

You can add beads or charms to the strings that are left when you are done tying your yarn. You will need beads with a hole large enough that yarn can fit through. I look for beads with holes just slightly larger than the yarn, because then after I've put them on the yarn, all I need to do is tie a double or triple knot in the yarn and that holds on the beads. You can also get charms that tie on the yarn, and those will hold up all the beads above them as well. 

Getting beads onto thick, fuzzy yarn can be tricky! But I have a trick that makes it easy! I use floss threaders (the kind found in the dental aisle of most supermarkets). Just put the yarn through the large hoop of the floss threader, insert the bead over the small pointy end, and then pull the bead down over the yarn. You can see floss threaders in use in the picture below.

I decorated some of the walking sticks with small shells.   Sometimes, while walking on the beach, I find shells with holes naturally worn into them, but you can buy shells buy shells with drilled holes.  Usually these holes are too small to fit yarn through, even with a threader, so I put a small diameter jump ring through the holes and then I can put the yarn through the larger jump ring.

Some Bead and Charm Ideas
(Click to see on Amazon)

 

Other Decoration Ideas 

And a few practical considerations

You can add lots of other decorations as well. You could use decorative tape, paint, ribbons...whatever you can think of.  You can even carve patterns in your stick if you like to whittle. Skies the limit!

But whatever you do keep practicality in mind. Make sure to leave a smooth surface to hold (or a soft one). Don't put hanging beads and baubles where it will hit your hand as you walk. Be careful of putting paint where you will hold your stick as it might rub off over time (stains might work better). And make sure that whatever you decorate with, it's able to withstand a little weather and wear.


Tips for Group Projects

I originally did this project for our church's Vacation Bible School.   Doing this with a larger group is different than doing it with just your own kids.   You can see my suggestions for doing this project with a large group over at my other blog here (just scroll past the how-to in the beginning, since you've already read that here).

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This has been shared on Encouraging Hearts and Home and Littles Learning Link Up.

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Snails

Our snail habitat (and temporary pets for a couple days, before we let them loose)...

It was really simple...some dirt and replanted weeds in the bottom of a tupperware bin.   Some water in a soda cap so the snails had something to drink, and holes in the lid.

No big lesson plan, no videos on the life cycle of snails, just an afternoon of appreciating the little things...that are really quite marvelous.

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(If you would like to make a lesson out of this, though,
I suggest reading this great post at "The Barefoot Mom").

See more cool animal pics on
 Camera Critters

Also shared on
Love to Learn Link-up
Throwback Thursday

Butterflies and a Big Green Spider

I love the ability to change plans on a dime in homeschool.  Because how could we plan for a beautiful day where SO MANY BUTTERFLIES visited our lantana bush (the one nature planted outside our front door several summers ago).  Here's my son trying to lure one on to onto a flower we cut.  That one didn't take his bait, but another did...a little brown jet like butterfly I didn't get a picture of, which I think was a Little Glassywing.

There were 7 types of butterflies that came to visit--the four shown here, the Little Glassywings, a pretty little yellow butterfly who I didn't catch a photo of, and a Monarch who stopped to visit for the briefest of moments, and made my sons day (he's a little obsessed with Monarchs ever since learning about them on the Wildcrats).    He drew this picture afterwards...

With the help of some friends online we found the names for most of them...

Tawny Emperor

These brown pretties are a frequent visitor to my yard.

Gulf Fritillary

This is a Gulf Fritillary...a male one, to be specific (the people in my local garden forum are amazing...that's the only reason I know this).   These have been in my garden many times before, but I just now learned their names.  Isn't "Fritillary" the best name for a butterfly?  Sounds positively Victorian.

Giant Swallowtail

The caterpillar form of these beauties LOVE my dill and parsley, and are just as fascinating to watch as they are in butterfly form.

Pipvine Swallowtail

But this blue/black stunner stole the show.  What a beauty!   She was always in motion so it was hard to get a good picture of her, though I sure tried.  And every time she moved she shimmered!    I had never seen this type before, but several have visited since.

Here's a picture of her in flight.  I didn't realize when I took the picture that this butterfly nearly became dinner.  Can you find the giant green spider in this picture?


No?  Keep scrolling...

Still have trouble seeing it?   Keep scrolling...but warning, it's creepier up close.  No, seriously WARNING...if you are afraid of spiders you may just want to skip the rest of this post.

This is a Green Lynx Spider, sitting on it's egg sack, which looks pretty close to hatch.  This one, as most I've seen, are over an inch long.  (Click picture to see it larger, if you dare!)


My son drew a picture of it too....

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Linking up at Camera Critters,  Hip Homeschool Moms, 

Throwback Thursday, and more great link-ups.

 

Story of the World: Vol 1: Chapter 1: The First Nomads

Post contain some affiliate links, though which I can earn commission.  

This is part of a series where I share about our Story of the World lessons.   Even if you don't use SOTW, I think you'll enjoy the ancient history activities shared (especially if you are studying the Stone Age or Pre-history).

Since my son has a short attention span we did each sub-chapter of Story of the World on a separate day, and sometimes even broke that up into small parts.   I decided to break up "The Earliest People - The First Nomads"  into two parts, then did a special activity on the third day.  We used Stone Age People, a book we found at our library, to supply the pictures Story of the World was lacking.

Stone Age People is part of the Make It Work Series, which has a lot of crafts and projects kids can do related to the time period, as well as a lot of great historical information.  We mainly used it for the pictures, but might do some of the crafts later.

It does have info about human evolution in a few of the beginning pages.  If that's something you want to skip, it's easy to when using the book piecemeal as a backdrop for the Story of the World reading, as we did.

DAY 1

On the first day, we read the first four paragraphs of the section "The First Nomads" in Story of the World.  We were doing this as part of "play school" today  (I teach a lot of my lessons pretending to be a dinosaur teacher, and my son pretending to be a number of toy students in a pint size classroom...it works for us).   So some of the other toy "students" answered the questions along with my son.  My son said that he slept in the same place every night, but his toy "Lion" slept in a different place every night...we even talked about why that might be (ie, because lions needed to follow the prey).  That made a great segue to paragraph two.

At paragraph three I pulled out Stone Age People and turned to the page where they have a scene with hunter gatherers that made a perfect illustration for what we were reading.  As we read the paragraph I asked him to find some of the things it talked about, like people gathering berries and hunting.

 
Then we turned to the next page, where they had pictures of various types of homes and shelters, and I asked him which ones you could take with you or set up quickly if you were traveling around, which ones you could build a fire in, and which ones would be nicer when it was cold vs. when it was hot.  Then I read the last paragraph and we looked at the cave pictures later on in Stone Age People (pg 36 - 37).

Later  we read The First Dog by Jan Brett, a beautifully illustrated story about a boy and a wolf who befriended him, and became the first dog.



Day 2

On the second day we read the story of Tarak and her brother in Story of the World , looking again at page 16 - 17 of  Stone Age People.   Also, the older version of Story of the World actually had a nice illustration of Tarak catching lizards, one of the few illustrations I think is better in the older, un-revised version.

Afterwords we started a book about Tarak and her family using a cave printable I made (free to download). 

You can see she made handprints on the cave wall, like some of the cave art we had looked at, and in this story Tarak had a wolf like the story of the The First Dog (and the wolf had a pup in his version).  The green thing to the left of Tarak is one of the lizards she caught.


EXTRA ACTIVITY - ROCK ART
We didn't do this while studying this chapter, but later we did a rock art activity when we were learning about the prehistoric artwork in the Lascaux caves, and it's something that would fit in nicely here.  

To pique interest you can watch a short video about these caves here, or take a 365 degree virtual tour here (on the Lascaux FB page another cool but shorter interactive Pano).   I also suggest googling pictographs in your local area or state, and sharing any pictures you find with your kids.   You might even find a site you can visit.

First, I collected rocks to paint on.   Because of time we just used regular paint...but I tried to match the colors to those used in the Lascaux cave, and we talked about why they used those colors and what materials they would have made their colors with.   You can also make your own paint using minerals or gathered material, which would be really fun.  For older kids, this article has more about prehistoric paints, and they have some links toward the bottom to paint-making activities that look more at the chemistry of making paints.

Here's our rock art.   Our son really enjoyed this.

DAY 3 - Hunter Gatherer Hike

For our activity we decided to do a "hunter gatherer" trek on a nearby hiking trail.   I invited another homeschooling family to come along, and discovered that they were doing Story of the World too!  

I made some really simple toy bows and arrows and spears.  SERIOUSLY SIMPLE.  Those are branches from our tree and some weed stalks (we have some really vigorous roadside weeds here in Texas...I suggest wild goldenrod if it lives near you). The string is just brown yarn, and the tips are cardboard.

The bows actually sort of  worked (they could shoot the "arrows" a few feet...not fast enough to hurt anyone, but far enough to be "cool."

I attached the tips of the spears by splitting the top of the branches and inserting the cardboard ...then binding yarn around to make it tighter.  If I had thought better I would have cut a "shaft" on the tips and wrapped the yarn around that.  They might have stayed on longer that way....but they worked well enough.  The kids were happy about their weapons.

I've seen some other bow versions that may shoot a little better made from  bamboo or PVC (And I love the idea of an eraser capped arrows).   If you have older kids and want to try your hand at making a really realistic primitive arrow (with bone), there's a nice tutorial here. 

After making our arrows we headed for a nature trail.  We didn't know beforehand that the trail had been decorated with funny scarecrows for Halloween, so we ad-libbed and wondered out-loud who had made these strange statues, and what they might mean.

One of the kids found snails and we talked about how that would be great in our soup that night (No, we didn't really eat them...no wild escargot for us!).

We stopped for a break of seeds and berries my friend had brought (um..."gathered earlier"), and then hiked down to a small stream.  I had hoped to find animal prints near the muddy bank...we did find one dog print (um...I mean..."wolf" print), and lots of tiny fish we pretended to catch for supper.  AND, my friend found an edible plant, purslane, which we tried, with mixed reactions (her daughter hated it so much she drank her whole water bottle to wash away the taste away...but I liked it.  It sort of tastes like lettuce.).

So, if you are trying this, it might be fun to see if your library has a book on common editable plants to familiarize yourself with beforehand (in case you don't have a friend with who just happens to know of some).  Be careful...do your research well, but you should be safe with common, easily recognizable plants like dandelion (purslane actually has a poisonous doppelganger, spotter spurge, so make sure you study up on look alikes and know how to tell the difference before sampling).  Also, you want to make sure to wash anything well before you eat it (you can rinse with a water bottle), and avoid collecting anything where pesticides or herbicides might have been sprayed (our purslane was found well off the beaten path so should have been safe from those).

Overall the nomad hike was a great success!  The kids enjoyed it and it really made what they had read come alive.




RESOURSES/SUPPLIES WE USED:

During Reading:  
Stone Age People (for illustrations)

Supplemental Reading:

• The First Dog 

Rock Painting Activity:

• Lascaux Cave video
• Virtual Tour
• Interactive Pano 
• Rocks
  
• Paint (or gather things to make your own paint)
• Paintbrushes

Cave Book Activity:

• Cave Book Printable
• Crayons
• A stapler
  

Nomad Hike Activity:

• Straight Branches (and something to cut them with)
• Yarn or Twine
• Cardboard  
• Water plus snacks for the hike (berries, dried fruit, nuts, jerky:things available in the stone age)
  
  

MORE RESOURCES

Stone Age Lapbook

Free Cartoonish Caveman and Mammoth Graphics

Stone Age Axe Out of Paper Mache

More Activities to use with The First Dog

LINKING UP AT
Field Trip Friday
Hip Homeschool Moms
Dear Homeschooler Bookshelf
Country Kids at Coombe Mill
Homeschool Highlights
Throwback Thursday

Last Lesson :: Next Lesson

See All Our Story of the World Posts

 

Jump and Learn Game

Here's a fun, active game to play with your kids to help them practice a whole number of things.  You can practice letters, numbers, shapes, colors (in English, or a foreign language).  It can be played indoors or outdoors with different materials.

MATERIALS:

OUTDOORS: Chalk, and an area with cement.

INDOORS: Colored construction paper and scissors (you can also use colored play foam sheets, which cost more, but last longer).


PREPARATION:

OUTDOORS: Draw whatever you want to learn with the different colored chalk.

INDOORS: Cut out shapes in paper or foam sheets of various colors, then draw other things you want to teach (like numbers, letters, etc) on them.  Scatter them around the room.


GAME PLAY:

To play the game, the parent or leader calls out the shape, color, number, letter, etc. The children have to run to what you just called out  and stand or jump on it (for indoors, I suggest telling kids to just touch it with their hand or foot, as the paper gets messed up pretty quick). You can mix it up twister style, and tell them, for example, to put their foot on red and their hand on the number 1.   This is especially fun with several kids but can be played with just one, and you as the caller.


For a little more challenge, for older kids, call out an equation that equals a number you've written, and have them run to it.   Or, for letters, you can call out "the word duck starts with what letter?" or "the word cat ends with what letter?"  You can have them run to "a shape with four equal sides" or a shape that has "no angles."    So, this is a game that can grow with children as they learn new things. 

Linking Up at 

Throwback Thursday

and several of the linkies

Found Here