Materials
plastic horses in a variety of sizes and
colors
plastic people
plastic fence pieces
yellow and tan craft paper
scissors
two old coffee cans
plaster of Paris
two dowel rods
craft paper in various colors
Instructions
* Cut the bottoms of egg cartons into two-bump sections, three-bump sections,
and four-bump sections. Poke holes in the center of the bugs.
* Cut pipe cleaners to 5" lengths and cut tissue paper into 4" by 1 1/2" rectangles.
What to Do
1. Show the children images of bugs of various sizes. Explain that some bugs are
very small, while some can be quite large.
2. Give each child one of each of the three sizes of insect "bodies" (egg-carton
cutouts).
3. Help the children pick out tissue paper for wings and secure it to the bug by
folding a pipe cleaner in a "U" shape across the middle of the tissue paper,
poking the pipe cleaner ends through the hole in the bug, and twisting the
pipe cleaner together on the underside of the bug.
4. When all three types of bugs have wings, help the children glue wiggle eyes to
the bugs.
5. Challenge the children to line their "insects" up by size.
6. Ask the children to hold up a particular size of insect. Ask the children to
imagine what that insect does all day. Listen to their responses.
7. Repeat with the other egg-carton insects.
8. Challenge the children to count the total number of body sections the insects
have.
9. Set out various small, medium, and large groups of objects. Challenge the
children to match these objects to the correct insects in their sets.
Assessment
Consider the following:
* Can the children distinguish between the small, medium, and large eggcarton
insects?
* Can the children match other objects to the correct insects, according to size?