Preschoolers use natural items or art supplies to create a bug that does not crawl away. Let the children go outdoors to select pebbles and rocks in assorted shapes, sizes and colors. The children wash and dry the rocks. Examples of natural materials include leaves or flower petals for wings, and small twigs or pine needles for legs and antennae. Combine the natural materials with pipe cleaners, markers, paint, wiggly eyes and glue. Demonstrate how to make a bug's body by gluing a small rock on top of a larger rock. The small rock forms the bug's head. Encourage the children to use imagination in creating the bug's legs, wings and antennae.
This caterpillar requires two simple steps that enable preschoolers to complete the caterpillar independently. Let the children cut out a leaf from green fun foam or construction paper. The children glue three brightly colored pom poms to the leaf to complete the caterpillar. Another caterpillar project requires a clothes pin, green paint, markers, pipe cleaner, toilet paper roll and brown yarn. The children paint their clothes pins with green paint and add eyes with markers. Use a pipe cleaner to make antennae. Make a "chrysalis" with an empty toilet paper roll. Place the clothes pin inside the toilet paper roll and wrap several times with brown yarn.
Talk about the types of habitats, or homes, that bugs construct. Examples of habitats include spider webs, bee hives, ant hills with tunnels and caterpillar cocoons. Discuss the importance of giving appropriate food and providing water for bugs that children take out of their habitats. Release bugs to allow them to return to their habitats. Let the children create bug habitats with construction paper, paint, crayons and markers.
Let the children go outside to look for spiders and spider webs.Demonstrate how to use a magnifying glass to examine their discoveries more closely. Go indoors to make a spider mask with a paper plate, black paint, yarn and a garbage bag. The children paint the bottom of paper plates with black paint. Hole punch two holes on both sides of the plate. Cut four 16-inch strips from the garbage bag. Thread one strip through each hole in the plate. Tie the strips in the center to form eight spider legs.