For our 15 minute focus series, children learned the basics of insect anatomy and how to draw an insect.

Objectives: children can state that insects have 3 body parts and 6 legs.

Supplies:

toy insects (all with 3 body parts, 6 legs and antenna – don’t bring in arachnids/spiders or millipedes or other non-insect bugs), book, paper, drawing supplies

Activity:

I gave each child a toy insect, and we made observations about them: we noticed the antennas and talked about what they were for. We counted legs – they all had six. (Give them tips about how to remember where you started counting and go around in order so you know when you’re done.) We noticed that all the insects had three body parts, and I taught them the words thorax and abdomen. Then we sang the song Head Thorax Abdomen. (Lyrics in my full bug science post.)

Then I read a book – I read Beetle Bop, but there are many great books about bugs.

Then I encouraged them to all try drawing a picture of a beetle – I put out toy beetles where they could see. They tried on their own for a while. Then I showed them a technique: draw an oval, then draw a semi-circle for the head, then 6 lines for the legs. We all practiced that several times.