Ugly Bug Ball

Have you ever heard this song by Burl Ives? Well it's one of my childhood favorites, and it inspired our theme this week. We learned all about bugs! To be honest, I didn't really want to get all "sciency" with this unit. We checked out a few non-fiction, real-life pictures of bugs books from the library...and they slowly made their way to the back of the book bin...BLECH! HA HA!

So....we kept things cute and simple. No learning about thoraxs or pinchers. Just silly bees, pretty butterflies, and happy, little, ladybugs. =) He's a toddler, he can learn about the gross stuff later. HA!

First we talked about ladybugs (this snack idea called for a grape "head" but Ezra's not a fan...so I substituted a strawberry..which I knew he would eat.)

He did a mixed-medium, abstract painting (homemade paint and finger paints, with crayon dots) we titled it "Ladybugs in the grass" and hung it on the wall.

Next we talked about caterpillars (I know, I know...these look like snakes..BAH! His favorite part of this snack was the hummus...he licked it off of the cucumbers!).

We read The Very Hungry Caterpillar and then he created his own from cut paper circles.

Thank heavens for glue dots is all I have to say! The genius that thought those up should be kissed daily!

We worked together on the crayon additions and I built the face. The foam stickers were Ezra's idea. =)

Next we talked about ants and butterflies (This snack is called "ants in your pants" I'm still learning how to cut pants from bread. HA!).

This was possibly his favorite craft so far. All he had to do was SMASH tissue paper...

and OH how he loved it!

Then I wrapped a pipe cleaner around the middle and twisted "antennas".

We hung them above the play table. I love how the "flutter" in the breeze. The next morning, Ezra took Daddy to the front room and pointed to them. He babbled on and on while Talin nodded his head politely listening to him talk about his butterflies.

For field trip Friday I had planned a trip to the Nectar Gardens in Coyote Hills. But, a SUPER long, late nap forced us to improvise. We needed to stop by Stratford to drop off a gift...and their HUGE lawn was perfect for a bug hunt....that lasted all of 2 minutes.

Then Ezra was off to the playground.

It was kind of surreal standing there watching him play where I stood and watched OTHER people's kids play for years. =)

We were lucky enough to talk Allyson into staying and playing with us. She is the BEST!

Today we had an extra craft, and poor Talin had to work, so Ezra and I squeezed in one last bug themed activity. Remember the foam square shark? HA HA! He put two squares on this bee and then handed it to me.

I smashed all of the colored squares into the right place and then he came back and put the googly eyes, wings, antennas, and stinger on. He kept kissing, and kissing, and kissing this bee. =)

Due to it's tendency to fall apart (ahem...what do you expect from a craft kit that cost $1) we taped it to the wall next to our hungry caterpillar.

I really like bugs...well...nice, fun, storybook kind of bugs. This week turned out to be lots of fun!

Our books this week were: The Very Greedy Bee, Crickwing, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, and The Very Tired Ladybug. I think these were his favorite books so far!