Putting a Spotlight on creepy crawlies
This is a great theme for this time of year. Children are fascinated by the little creepy crawlies that they might find outside in their back gardens or when they are out and about. Take time to explore these amazing little garden visitors with your child, develop their natural curiosity and celebrate the important jobs and roles that these creatures play in our world. Try some of our multisensory, messy and fun ways to engage with this theme – check out some ideas below.
Whoosh explores the theme
Create a little bug world. You could collect leaves, pine cones, twigs and flowers and bring them indoors OR create a little minibeast haven outside. Remember to check to see if you have had any little creatures visit.
Enjoy some water play in a nice cool pool for some little speckled frogs. Maybe you could sing the song while playing. You could add jelly for frog spawn and cooked green spaghetti for pond weed!
Dig for worms in sand or earth. How many can you collect before they wriggle away?
***worms are cooked spaghetti – don’t use real worms for this kind of play!!!***
Print a snails shell using paint and different printing tools. You could try cotton wool, corks, cotton bud or other items found around the home.
Create a spiders web in a basket.
Can your child collect all the spiders from the web?
Ladybird craft – practise scissor skills to cut the legs and spots and use tissue paper to create its red wings.
Great books to share and enjoy
- Yucky Worms- Vivian French
- Fly – Peter Horacek
- Aaarrgggh Spider! – Lydia Monks
- The very busy spider, The hungry Caterpillar or The bad tempered ladybird – Eric Carle
- Snail trail – Ruth Brown
- Mad about Minibeasts – Giles Andreae
Songs about little creepy crawlies
- Incy Wincy Spider
- There’s a worm at the bottom of my garden
- 5 little speckled frogs
- 1 little, 2 little 3 little caterpillars
- There’s a tiny caterpillar on a leaf… wiggle, wiggle
We have had great fun exploring this theme. Please share any activities that you enjoy at home and happy minibeast exploring. Fancy joining us for a session? Check out https://whooshlearning.co.uk to find out more about our sessions.