Insects Preschool Theme

Words to learn : abdomen, antennae, ball, butterly, caterpillar, chrysalis, egg, hatch, head, insect, legs, metamorphosis, puppa, thorax, wings,

Talk to children that all insects have a head, a thorax and an abdomen. They have 6 legs, 4 wings and 2 antennae.

Sing the insect song to make it easier (sing with the tune of Head, Shoulder, Knees and Toes)

It will help the children more if you can find any insects and look at them under a magnifying glass. If you can't, check out a book from the library. We couldn't find any insect (it was winter) so we got a book from the library. It was great !

The activities below are insects preschool theme that were specifically about butterflies and their metamorphosis.

Catch the butterfly
This activity allows children to understand sun and earth rotation as they follow the butterfly's shadows.

What you need : A piece of paper and scissors

Cut out a butterfly shape and tape it to a sunny window. Follow the butterfly shadow and tray to catch it by putting a net on the shadow. Leave the net there and return later. See if the shadow (the 'butterfly') is still in the net. Has it moved ? Has it escaped ?

I am a butterfly
Explain metamorphosis from egg, caterpillar, puppa/chrysallis, and butterfly. Act out metamorphosis, have kids roll into a ball and pretend to be an egg. Then egg hatches and out come the caterpillar. Have kids pretend to be caterpillar (wiggle like a butterfly ! Eat lots of leaves !). Then have them roll into the puppa and out as the butterfly.