Insectropolis bugseum!

We finished our summer insect activities and lessons with a field trip to our local insect museum. It ws a wonderful day and all the children really enjoyed themselves. Here are a few pics of our day!

Bug Museum

These are some of the murals on the walls of the room where we were able to touch some of the creepy,crawly insects at the museum!

 

 

 

The Spiderweb on the ceiling of the museum

The bug university sign at the entrance of our independant exploring of the museum!

This was cute, a large sign in the “Prison” section of the museum

One of the Mass Murderers in the “Rock Prison” These models were so detailed and neat to see up so large.

Mass Murderer the Flea!

Last mass murderer of the museum, the housefly!

Tarantulas

Talk about creepy crawly creatures! This hairy tarantula was only one of the many they had in the museum!

Ok, yes creepy crawly creatures. This Chilean Rose Hair Tarantuala was that, but look how beautiful the color of it! Allahu Akbar! We even saw a bird eating tarantula!

Only one word for this tarantuala “GARGANTUATE” lol!

This guy had made such a big and thick web it looked like it was ready to capture it’s prey!

Yet, another scary hairy tarantula!

Yes, the kids did get to touch this tarantula! They said it wasn’t rough like it looks but the hairs were soft as a peach. This tarantula’s name was Rosie and she was very delicate!

Millepedes

 

Kids were able to touch this guy too. They said he felt like plastic and not so real. haha, there descriptions!

The display of different millepedes

Centipedes

Centipede in it’s container

The Centipede display case

I forget the species of lobster,but he was lurking in the museum too!

Yep, we even saw a few hermit crabs!

I am not totally sure what this is, creepy looking and not sure if I want to know, lol 

Still neat huh?

Cockroaches

These big guys are called Cave roaches

They had a large variety of Roaches in the bugseum but these ones were quite busy and interesting.

Could you imagine these big ones in your home! EWWW! Interesting to look at but not live with, hahah!

Bug Displays

Beetle displays

 

 

 

Look at those cockroaches!

Huge Waterbugs!

One of my “Big Lugs” faves Praying Mantis!

Another of my “Big Lugs” faves The walking sticks! He was a bit disappointed that he wasn’t able to touch one!

More Walking sticks!

Okay, after such a wonderful day, we visited the store at the bugseum so the kids could choose something to go home with.

My husband found himself wanting to be brave that day and purchased bugs to eat! Yes, You read that right EAT!

Here are the box of “larvets” he bought and made us all taste! They were cheddar cheese flavored and let me just say…the flavoring did not help at all! They were yucky! The after taste, subhan Allah. I will not be eating bugs again anytime soon!

As you can see, very little nutritional value! haha!

Well, that has ended our summer insect adventure. My boys sure love insects and I thought after all we did learning about insects that they would all be tired of them. Nope, this made them love bugs more! Masha Allah.

Ladybug Emerge & Release!

That time has come where we have said goodbye to our ladybugs! The children can’t wait to get their hands on our little guys!

We decided to release them off our balcony where we have our flowers, and if they stay they do, but if they don’t Alhamdulilah!

EMERGE

It was so neat to see they had no spots to start out and they were so pale in color. We only experienced one emerge, the rest were too shy so they emerged overnight,masha Allah

Can you see the underwings still hanging out? They were drying out to tuck in.

The spots really started to appear so fast, it was so amazing, Alhamdulilah!

This was probably 15 minutes after the emerge, look how much darker the spots are! so neat!

Here is our lady sitting next to it’s cocoon casing after it’s emerge!

This is as dark as it gets for our lady’s. They weren’t quite red, but the kids were still amazed and loved it so much!

RELEASE

Only 2 pics of the release. They flew immediately as we opened the lady bug land up! One stayed behind to explore our little garden of flowers so we were able to get these 2 pics.

We also did some coloring activities for ladybugs which you can download

Color a number of spots on ladys: Spotty dotty laybugs

Ladybug colors coloring book: Ladybug colors

Matching/Memory Game: ladybug matching game

We enjoyed our ladybug lessons! Masha Allah!

Paper Bag Ladybug Puppet

How can we not do some ladybug crafts? *smile*

Simple as usual as my kids are still quite young, masha Allah.

Nothing too major here, we used a lunch bag for the main part and just used construction paper to cover the bag. We cut a big circle for the wings of the ladybug and the head and 2 rectasngles for the front and back of the bag. glued added some dots and we had our ladybug puppet.

We did some research and the kids learned that there are many different colored ladybugs and some have spots and others have stripes and some have none! Alhamdulilah!

Maybe more crafts to come???? *smile*

Raising Ladybugs…Pupa Stage

 

We have had our lady’s for 5 days now and already they have gone into the pupa stage of their lives. Masha Allah.

Here is one guy attached to the dome of the ladybug land habitat.

This guy set itself up in a nice location where we can see all that happens in this stage. They just curled up a bit then in a matter of hours this hard shell like covering was surrounding the ladybug. Truly amazing, Subhan Allah!

Okay, this is another one that attached itself to the dome of the habitat. I will say this, after a couple hours we looked back at the habitat and saw this one change from the brownish color the others ones were to this pale almost transparent yellow color. It was really so neat, it also started wiggling a bit.

I know it don’t seem like much to watch and learn about the ladybug, but we have seen and learned more than we actually did before.

 I will say go  and head to toys r us or your local learning store or even Insect Lore Site and order or buy your kit today! Your kids will love it, insha Allah.

Here is the next picture of what one of my kids drew in their observation book:

The colored larva page of the book

My 6 yr olds interpretation of what she observed in her ladybug land habitat, pupa stage. She wanted to start over as she thought to draw the dome later on, but she was happy with what she did,masha Allah.

 

Ladybug Life Cycle Posters

Well, I did some searching on the net and couldn’t find anything that looked more like our ladybugs lifecycle so I went ahead and made one up for the kids. We had a lifecycle poster with our butterflies, so I thought it would be nice to have one for our ladybugs. This helps the kids track what should (insha Allah) happen next.

Each child colored and placed their stages themselves. I thought to reinforce fine motor skills for my 3 yr old by using scissors and of course my now 5 yr old son needs a little more cutting help.

Here is one poster colored in

Here is another poster colored. They all really enjoyed this one,masha Allah.

Here is the last of our lifecycle posters. I must say my Missy who is now 6 really took her time and tried coloring in everything! Masha Allah. She still loves to color so much!

Here is the file if you would like to download it and use it to aid your kids in learning all about ladybugs!

Ladybug Lifecycle Poster

Raising Ladybugs…Larva Stage!

We have met our lady’s and the kids are really enjoying their time learning all about the little garden critters,masha Allah.

I have continued to reinforce Allah has created insects,masha Allah.

I tried getting some good clear pics of these little guys, but they are Little! Masha Allah. Here is one going for the water, it is the largest in out habitat so far!

Here is one that seemed to lurk at the edges so I was able to use one of the kids magnifiers and take a nice up close image to show you the detail of this big guy! How amazing, Alhamdulilah!

Here is another, I must say the magnifying glass sure makes it look much larger than it is. they are about the size of my lil ones fingernail,masha Allah.

These guys took no time to learn their new habitat and get familiar. They are so active and everywhere! The kids were able to really see these guys in action, masha Allah.

I made the kids up some observation books to keep track and draw their interpretation of what they see in the ladybug land habitat.

Here is the file if you would like to use it: Ladybug Observation Book

Here is one of my kids interpretation of what they observed :

The cover to the book

The larva stage of the ladybug. I always love to see what imaginations they have & how they see things. My child sure hit the nail on the head with his drawing. He even thought to draw some greenery as he saw it in the habitat,masha Allah.

Raising Ladybugs!

 

Okay now we can officially call my house insectropolis! Haha! We finally received our ladybug land and ladybug larvae. Masha Allah.

Once again the kids are super excited and can’t wait to hold the little critters!

Here is what it looks like if you haven’t see it before:

The whole land with the clear plastic dome covering for full viewing!

The land a little bit closer. It looks like a plastic garden of fun for the little ladybug larvae to temporarily enjoy!

Here is the top of the domed habitat. What you see is a magnified view in the little circle. This helps for our little observers to see the little critters a bit easier! The magnifyer is actually the cap that comes off and you gently drop your ladybug larvae through there then recap.

This is a picture inside the little cap, as you can see there are 3 little spots in the habitat. That’s 3 of our lady’s! The darker part where you see the 2 spots is where they drink water from a built in sponge, You add water as needed for the lady’s. So far, we have seen 6 live larvae in our kit, could there be more hiding? *smile*

Firefly Explorer Containers

 

Summer is here! Masha Allah! The weather has been quite humid and HOT! Subhan Allah!

We have still found ways to enjoy ourselves crafting and exploring. We have learned about so many insects during our Spring insect Lessons including the firefly or more known to others as the “lightning bug”

While playing outside the kids discovered the lightning bugs and grew extremely curious of them.

CRAFT TIME!

We made firefly explorer containers! I wanted to make sure kiddy hands didn’t hurt some of Allah’s fragile creatures so I decided to help them make Explorer containers. This way they are able to study and observe the lightning bugs and not harm them.

Our containers:

 

I will say as you can see that 2 are round and the other is square. I always like to try other ways to make our crafts to make it easier for the next person who decides to make these and don’t have the necessary material the crafts asks for. Thinking out of the box so to speak!

First one made out of a 1/2 gallon milk container cut in half!

The bottom will actually end up being the top of the container. I cut a small section at the edge to fold back with a utility knife.

Used the utility knife to make windows on all four sides of the carton.

Next you take some plastic protector sheets and tape them on the outside of each window. You don’t have to worry about neatness as this will later be covered.

The top of the box where it opens up.

The finished box up close.

We used felt to cover all the carton parts. Using tacky glue or fabric glue, you can even use a line of hot glue.

I did cut a small square of cardboard for the bottom of the box and hot glued it. I also took some velcro and added it to a small piece of felt and places it on the top flap to hold the top closed.

We used puffy fabric glue to paint fireflies on the outside of the box.

We also added a chenille pipe cleaner for the handle.

These two explorer containers are made from cozy shack rice pudding containers!

I just used a utility knife and cut windows around it, then cut plastic protector sheet to size and taped the windows. Cover with felt the same way we did the milk carton. I liked these explorer containers especiallay because the lids come off so easliy to add or free the lightning bugs.

 

We have already put our explorer containers to use!

Here you can see some of the lil guys walking around the explorer box.

The kids had so much fun capturing, obseving and freeing the lightning bugs. They even remembered that Allah created lightning bugs, masha Allah. The baby even got a little involved, I think he may be like his big brothers and be an insect fanatic! lol

Here is where I found this idea: Highlights Kids

Start your summer crafts yet?