Try it out!

We’re going on a bug hunt, and we’re going to find an amazing one!

Invite children to go on an adventure to find bugs in your outdoor area, backyard, or local playground. Ask children where they think they will find insects — always follow their lead in the shared exploration. You can extend the insect hunt by asking predictive questions before venturing out, bringing materials to safely examine bugs before returning them to their habitat, or adding related materials to indoor play.

Did you know that insects and spiders are both a type of animal known as arthropods? All arthropods are invertebrates, meaning they do not have backbones. Shared arthropod features also include a hard, segmented outer covering called an exoskeleton and jointed legs. People often lump all “creepy crawlies” into one group, and they frequently call this group “bugs.” In fact, bugs are just one group of insects, but for this activity we will use bug and insect interchangeably.

What ways do you like to explore your local bug population?

Be intentional in your exploration.

• Model responding positively to insects so that children do not learn to treat them with fear or disgust. See article in the Read About It section on growing outdoor-friendly staff for more information!
• Help children study insects without harming them. Consider ways to "hunt" and observe them in their natural habitat. If examining them indoors, ensure you only look at them briefly before returning them outdoors.
• Follow children’s lead and ideas about where to explore and search for insects. Give suggestions as needed, such as “Maybe we will find them under rocks or on tree trunks.”
• Ask children to draw or otherwise document what they find in small notebooks. Encourage them to observe captured bugs and describe their qualities, like color, shape, number of legs, and any sounds they make.
• Share the names of bugs you find and talk about similarities or differences in their characteristics. Look for lady bugs, grasshoppers, roly-polies (which have different regional names such as pill bug), box elder bugs, caterpillars, and more!
• Bring the bugs closer to younger children for them to see and, if desired, to touch gently with one finger — always consider safety, of course!
• Prepare for your bug hunt by reading books about insects and nature exploration. Both fiction and nonfiction books will help build excitement and knowledge about what children may find.
• Include insect-related materials across multiple centers and areas. For example, plastic bugs for sorting in manipulatives, preserved samples for the science center, or insect songs and chants for music time.

Gather materials to support your nature outing.

• Help children create a discovery bag with observation aids, such as binoculars, magnifying glasses, cameras, and other items to help them document bug life.
• Bring along materials for digging and gathering insects, such as nets, shovels, buckets, jars, or other containers. Help children find out what materials to put in containers to support bug life. Ensure observation is brief before the insects are returned to the ground, tree, or plant where they were found.
• Bring nonfiction books along on your hunt to match pictures with the bugs they represent.
• Give older children small notebooks to take on the bug hunt to draw pictures or “write notes” about what they discover. Revisit these drawings or early examples later and add teacher notes about what the children drew or wrote. Educators can also use materials to make a documentation panel to share with families.

Consider adaptations that help everyone engage.

• Provide children who have sensory sensitivity with different ways to explore bugs without touching them. You might offer gloves, spoons, plastic tweezers, or containers.
• Hunt for insects at different height levels (e.g., in the ground, on trees) so that children who cannot reach the ground can engage.
• Provide different types of books focused on insects (e.g., board books, paper books, big books) and books in different languages.
• Look for bugs in locations where children or adults using wheelchairs, walkers, or strollers can access easily.

Look for connections to the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework (ELOF) goals shown below, though this activity can be adapted with any domain.

• Infant-Toddler Approaches to Learning: Child shows interest in and curiosity about objects, materials, or events.
• Infant-Toddler Cognition 1: Child actively explores people and objects to understand self, others, and objects.
• Preschool Science 1: Child observes and describes observable phenomena (objects, materials, organisms, and events).
• Preschool Approaches to Learning 11: Child shows interest in and curiosity about the world around them.

Connect and Extend

Create a culture of inquiry with great questions.

Asking meaningful questions is one strategy for extending conversations with children. Questions that ask children to provide explanations and make predictions — such as, “What do you think will happen next?” — offer opportunities for them to express ideas. For some children, especially infants and toddlers, this may mean providing them a chance to think, watching for non-verbal responses, and then giving prompts or labeling their gestures.

Ask open-ended questions with many possible answers (including gestures) to encourage engagement and more than a one-word response. For example:

• Can you gently touch the ladybug with one finger? What does that feel like? Is its shell/exoskeleton hard or soft? Does it tickle?
• Let’s talk about how bugs live — where do bugs live? What do you think they eat?
• [before the activity] What kinds of insects do you think we will find today? [during] What different kinds are under the rock? How are they moving? [after] How many insects did we see? Did the insects act like the ones in our books, The Grouchy Ladybug or The Very Hungry Caterpillar?

Develop creative connections and be a “good relative.”

What does it mean to be a good relative? In many American Indian and Alaska Native cultures, being a good relative is a way to describe treating others, the land, and all living creatures with care, kindness, and respect. It is a practice we want to encourage in all children and adults, inclusive of all cultural backgrounds.

Bugs have a purpose in our natural world. Did you know that, in some cultures, ants are revered as being industrious and strong? They are admired for their ability to work together as a team. What are some things you can do to build meaningful and culturally rich experiences for children while they observe bugs? How can you spark a sense of wonder about their bug lives?

Here are some strategies and ideas:

• Engage in conversations with families as the experts in everything about their child. It's important to include children's cultures, home languages, and Indigenous languages. Ask families if there are stories or songs from the cultures of children and families related to insects or bugs that can be told or sung in the learning environment.
• Together with families, create engaging experiences at home by brainstorming play ideas and finding materials for conducting a bug hunt at home or in a local park.
• Observation is key! Listen and learn from children and expand on their ideas to enhance the experience, for example by checking out bug books from the local library.
• Encourage children to create their own bug art through coloring, painting, or 3D materials like clay or play dough.

While getting to know their bug relatives and during their exploration, preschool children can learn about positive connections to each other, engage in cooperative play, and use problem solving skills to resolve conflicts with other children. Infants and toddlers can recognize and interpret others’ emotions with the support of familiar adults, as well as express care and concern toward each other. Help children practice being a good relative by highlighting the importance of bugs in the ecosystem and treating them and their habitats with care.

Take a Look

Nature-Based Learning and Development for Teachers
Playing in nature is fun for children. It also supports learning in all ELOF developmental domains. In this video, learn how to use the natural world as a learning tool to improve outcomes for young children.

How to Play in Nature: Science Ideas for Teachers
Children are born with curiosity, a sense of wonder, and a desire to learn. In this video, explore ways to use ideas from nature to encourage science learning. Learn how to plan science lessons as a sequence of activities with an overall theme. The video also features examples of classroom teachers exploring physical science concepts during everyday learning activities.

Exploring Science with Infants and Toddlers
Discover the science component of STEAM [science, technology, engineering, arts, and math] in this Teacher Time episode. Explore how infants and toddlers use the scientific method to figure out how the world works. Learn more about strategies and teaching practices that help all children explore science concepts, including ways to use art to encourage science learning. Find tips here for exploring science with preschoolers.

Digging Deeper into Science and Insect Exploration

Young children love to play and learn in nature. Whether you head outside or bring the outdoors in, the natural world is full of exciting learning opportunities. Research says a lot about using nature, including insect exploration, as a tool to support children's development across ELOF domains.

We connect to nature through our senses — our eyes, ears, noses, hands, and mouths. This makes it accessible to all children, including children with differing abilities or those with disabilities or suspected delays. A child who cannot see a ladybug can still feel it crawl along their hand or hear its wings flutter by their ear.

In nature, children can follow their own interests and their curiosity. They can use those big outside voices and release energy as they please. Nature-based play and learning with activities like an insect hunt can also support children’s self-regulation skills; for example, increasing their attention span and staying on task during teacher-directed activities.

Read About It

Insects and Spiders 
This resource helps teachers support children's interest and curiosity about the world of insects through planned explorations. It includes background information, specific vocabulary, and a list of books. Teachers can also use this guide as a blueprint to support their investigations into other areas of children’s interests.

Identify and Grow "Outdoor-friendly" Staff
Some adults are comfortable with the outdoors and interacting with nature. They are willing and eager to facilitate young children's exploration of natural elements, such as nonhazardous plants, animals, and bugs; dirt and mud; rain and snow; water; and shells and stones. Some adults are less comfortable or even fearful. For example, some adults have intense, negative reactions to worms, slugs, grasshoppers, praying mantises, and ladybugs, all of which are harmless. Adults who are uncomfortable or fearful may pass their discomfort and fear to young children; in turn, young children may become uncomfortable with, or even afraid of, being outside. Program leaders can use this resource to talk with staff and families about safe exploration of the natural world and provide information about which plants, animals, bugs, and insects are and are not harmless to handle.

Joy for the Journey

Our challenge isn’t so much to teach children about the natural world, but to find ways to sustain the instinctive connections they already carry. — Terry Krautwurst

Encourage your kids to look for nature everywhere you go. It’s the weed breaking through the pavement, It’s the leaves forming small clumps along the side of the road. It’s the sky at any given time of the day or night. It’s the wind doing what it likes to your hair. Look around, it won’t take long to find it. — Penny Whitehouse

Last Updated: October 17, 2024