After the previous week’s homelearning on plants, N requested to learn about insects next, so I did some quick research, and found a couple of useful sites. I saved some of them on Pinterest HERE, if you’re keen to take a look at more ideas.
We started with some three-part cards on different types of insects, and after N matched all the cards, we talked a little about those that he found interesting.
Three-part Cards
I picked out our insect-related books, and we read them over the week. I’m glad we had some local titles this time round, and you can read my reviews on them HERE, HERE, and HERE. We’ve studied the life cycle of butterflies before, and watched our own caterpillars turn into butterflies, so naturally, we talked about that experience again, and read the caterpillar-related books as well. (Yes, I know snakes aren’t insects, but I included the book for fun.)
Chinese books
Local books (missing Maxilla, which I forgot to include!)
Eric Carle titles
Other insect-related books
We also worked on the life cycles of some insects, using the materials I found on this website. I jumbled up all the smaller cards, expecting N to match them to the larger pictures haphazardly, but he surprised me by going through the cards to complete one life cycle at a time. We also spent time talking about the different life cycles, and picking out which ones looked similar.
Life cycles
I also printed some colouring sheets for N from this website, even though he’s not a fan of colouring, because they included some simple facts on each insect. N also had to come up with an adjective to describe each insect, and although I helped him to spell the first two adjectives, I told him to try spelling the others on his own, because I read this article on invented spelling. N was reluctant to spell the words on his own, and it took every ounce of self-control within me to NOT help him out, but he managed to do it in the end. I had to ask him what some of the words were, but it’s okay, it’s all part of his learning process!
I helped N a little with the colouring, because he asked me so nicely to help, and also because I secretly enjoy colouring. Haha. He wanted colourful insects and words, and after a while, he started giving me instructions on which colours to use, and even how to mix the colours.
Trying to turn his head 180 degrees, like the praying mantis
Colouring
Spiders are arachnids
Mosquitoes are dangerous
Ladybugs are good
Ants are cute
Bees are helpful
Butterflies are beautiful
Snails are slimy
Worms are yucky
Grasshoppers are musical
Praying mantises are cool
When we went out for lunch, N was bored while waiting for our food to arrive, so I got him to draw on the placemat. I love that he was still really into our theme of insects, and was really focused on his drawing.
Drawing
Painting that he did the previous week
N said he was particularly interested in spiders, so I selected two spider-related craft activities for him. We read The Very Busy Spider, then worked on weaving our very own spiderweb together.
What you’ll need
Cut the inside of the paper plate out
Punch holes
Tie a piece of twine or string to one hole
Start weaving!
We ran out of twine, so we added some gold string
Done!
This was actually our second web, as N liked the activity so much that he asked to make another one. This was our first, which we made with only gold string.
First web
If you look closely, you’d notice that there’s a spider stuck on the web, which we made with our new sticker maker (you can get yours from this website or from selected Times Bookstores), kindly gifted to us by our friends. It’s really easy and fun to use! I got N to draw a spider, cut it out, then put it into the sticker maker.
Making our own spider sticker
N copied the spider from the book cover for his second spider, and pasted it onto the web with great pride.
Second spider
With his two webs and spiders
To round up our week on insects, N made a spider headband (instructions HERE), and spent some time that morning crawling around like a spider. I tried convincing him to add eight eyes to his spider, since most spiders have eight eyes, but he insisted on only drawing two eyes, because “some spiders have two eyes”. The babies weren’t too sure what to make of their strange KorKor, and crawled away in fear after a while.
Making his spider headband
Who’s this strange spider guy?
N also watched a few videos about insects, which I found on this website. We didn’t go through all of them, because we had less time for homelearning this week, so maybe we will watch some of the videos together next time.
School just started today, which means we will have less time for homelearning, but I hope we’ll still be able to work on topics that he’s interested in.
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