Backyard Bundle – Insect Explorer Activities

1. Learn About an Insect’s Life Cycle

Use our Life Cycle of a Monarch Butterfly from the Safariology collection to help children learn all about the changes this insect goes through as it transitions from a caterpillar to a beautiful butterfly.

a. Go over the life cycle stages with your children (The packaging provides a guide to the different life cycle stages of the Monarch Butterfly to help with this)

b. Using flash cards or other pintables, play a matching game where your children put the life cycle stages in order and match the figures with the correct flash card.

2. Explore Insects with a TOOB Sensory Bin

Sensory bins can help children as they develop their senses. Sensory play helps develop motor skills and memory and can also help calm a frustrated child.

a. Creating a sensory bin is easy – all you need is a tray or bin and something to fill it with – beads, gravel, rice…any tactile substance that’s safe for kids to feel their way through.

b. Simply pour the filling material in the tray, and your sensory bin is almost good to go. Add figures from our Insects TOOB and you’re good to go. With 14 miniature figurines of insects and other creepy crawlies, there’s plenty to keep kids engaged.

3. Explore the Backyard – the Search for Bugs

Go on an expedition to the wild, untamed world of the backyard in search of critters to give kids an up-close brush with nature.

a. See if they can find real life versions to match the figures from the Insects TOOB – butterflies, dragonflies, ants, ladybugs and more are all common enough creatures in and around the backyard area, but going on a hunt for these often ignored or abhorred invertebrates can give kids a whole new perception of the natural world that surrounds them.

b. Using the World’s Best Bug Jar, have kids collect and observe specimens to learn even more about these crawly critters. With a built-in magnifying glass, this bug jar lets kids get right up close to view things that might have been too small to notice before.

4. Cut Loose and Play with Incredible Creatures

After they’ve had their fill of the small world of TOOBs and real-life insects, introduce them to the jumbo-sized Incredible Creatures. The Honeybee and Scorpion showcase details that even the World’s Best Bug Jar’s magnifying glass might miss.

a. These larger sized figures are perfect for free and imaginative play. Kids can fly around with the bee or crawl around with the Scorpion, getting a bug’s eye view of the world as they imagine living a bug’s life.