My, What Big Eyes You Have!!!

"Inchworm, inchworm....

 measuring the marigolds..."

A Buggy Kind of Day

This morning began as a regular homeschool day, we got busy at the kitchen table, and then someone noticed this fellow on the window. Of course, being the mom that I am, I went out and caught it.
A Fork Tailed Bush Katydid

Putting the books aside, I decided to let the kids make a cricket habitat....we have done this in years past with the older (now grown) kids, but it was a first for the littles.

But, instead of a cricket, the first creature was this Forest Wolf Spider. Mark was able to capture this guy.

We got our cricket habitat ready. An old fish tank with sand in the bottom, some sticks and rocks, and pieces of apple for food. (Crickets also seem to love Cheerios.)

The current count is 12 females and 13 male crickets.

Luke then brought me a grasshopper.

He was very proud.

I love this grasshoppers personality. Luke named him, Super Super Jumper.

Adding more crickets to their new home.

Kimmy with her captures.
Daddy had to work today, so he didn't know it was bug day. But he called and told us that he had caught us a Praying Mantis. (His co-workers were a little surprised to hear that his wife would love a Praying Mantis)

We looked up what to feed our Praying Mantis, and would you believe it....it told us to feed it crickets. This made Gracie cry, but our Mantis is too small for crickets so the kids are finding smaller bugs for it to eat.

Happy bug day, everyone!

Today's visitor

Of course, when I saw this katydid on the back window, this mother did what she does best, I went out and caught it to bring inside and observe....(aka: science class)
The sweet little katydid then did us the favor of remaining on the picnic table for a good fifteen minutes or longer, so long in fact, I had to tell the science students we had to return to the house and finish our other schoolwork of the day.

God's creatures are truly amazing!

It was a very successful science class.....thanks to our friendly katydid.

The Catch of the Day

The Green Clearwing Dragonfly

Macro Monday---And A Poem

In honor of the praying mantis we caught last weekend....

That praying mantis over there

Is really not engaged in prayer.

That praying mantis that you see

Is really preying (with an e).

It preys upon the garter snake.

It preys upon the bumblebee.

It preys upon the cabbage worm,

The wasp, the fly, the moth, the flea.

(And sometimes, if its need is great,

It even preys upon its mate.)

With prey and preying both so endless,

It tends to end up rather friendless

And seldom in commended much

Except by gardeners and such.

By: Mary Ann Hoberman

Make sure to visit Lisa's Chaos to join in Macro Monday.

We Made It: Friday Showcase....Buzzy, Buzzy Bee

Keeping with our springtime and insect theme, this week we made bees out of throw-away bowls. I saw the basic idea at DLTK crafts.

We started our bees by painting paper bowls yellow

Painting seems to have overtaken every other art activitiy in popularity around here lately.

Maybe it is the "messy" factor".

It took patience, but they got the job done.

Phew! That is a job well done, Kim!

After the paint on the bowls dried, I outlined stripes to be colored in with black marker. Kim and Luke just turned 3 and 4 so I gave them the outline, but the older kids easily did this step on their own.

Add a triangle stinger, wiggle eyes and draw on a mouth. We also used pipe cleaners to make antennea.

The pattern said to use wax paper for wings. We didn't have any wax paper so I used a clear laminating sheet to make wings. Cut a large heart from the clear sheet and then cut it in half down the middle. These make very nice bee wings. Glue them to the top of the bowl. Happy bee crafting!!

We Made It: Friday Showcase....Ladybug, Ladybug...

fly away home......

I found very cute ladybug crafts for this week's insect fun.

I found the pattern for this ladybug at First-School.

I cut out the pieces using foam sheets so we would have long lasting magnets.

Kimberly was very careful to get the eyes on "just right".

To help Kimmy get her ladybug pieces in the right spot, I put the glue down on the main red heart and Kim added the legs.

The legs are also L's---so we worked on a little letter recognition also.

Gracie made a different, 3-D ladybug. This pattern is found on this page, along with many other very cute ladybug activities.

I first printed this on regular printer paper, so that we could try the proper folding technique. After we knew how to accomplish the folds, I printed it on card stock and made our final ladybug. Instead of gluing the edges together as the directions told us, I used staples to hold the ladybug together.Putting 6 legs onto her insect.

Add wiggle eyes and antennae--and our friend is complete.

Our magnets have joined the growing crowd on the fridge.