Create a worm farm in your classroom for students to enjoy. Fill an aquarium with layers of gardening soil and sand, which will make it easier for students to see how the worms create tunnels and move the dirt. Find worms outside or purchase worms from a bait store to place inside the aquarium. Worms eat decaying organic materials, so add egg shells, lettuce, coffee grounds and bits of apple for the worms to eat. Avoid adding meat or dairy foods, which will rot quickly and begin to smell. Engage students in this activity by asking them to help you prepare bits of fruit or vegetables for the worms to eat. Let students hold the worms, and encourage them to use words to describe how the worms feel and move.
Encourage your students to become bug hunters. Fill a sandbox or large empty container with sand. Bury realistic-looking plastic bugs, snakes and spiders in the sand. Give students buckets and shovels to dig in the sand and collect the toys. As an alternative, place snakes, frogs and water bugs in a container filled with water and rocks, and invite students to find the bugs in the water. Ask students to pay attention to the characteristics of the creatures they find; for example, to look for the colors on the snakes, the number of legs on the ant or the hairy legs of a spider.
Take students outside on a bug catching expedition, suggests the website Preschool Rock. Before you begin, show students pictures of the types of bugs they might encounter, and which bugs should be avoided, such as bees or other stinging insects. Instruct students to find the bugs, but leave the bug catching to the teacher. Take a small clear jar and net or other utensil for scooping the bugs into the jar. Add a few leaves or twigs to the jar. Encourage students to look for bugs like grasshoppers, flies, ants and crickets. Catch as many bugs as you can, and then bring them into the class for observation, moving them into a larger container if necessary. Let students observe the bugs, then help you to release them back into the wild.
Teach students about spiders. Bring in pictures of different types of spiders, including small jumping spiders and large tarantulas. Discuss the features of spiders that make them different from insects, including the number of legs. Explain to students that spiders build webs to catch bugs. Help students create a spider web by dipping pieces of yarn into paint and moving them across a piece of paper to create a unique web design. Complete the project by asking students to draw a spider or other bugs caught in the web.