Goin' Buggy
This August, spread your little butterfly wings and start your ladybug motors! Here are some practical and affordable tips for having some bug fun:
Collect twigs, pebbles and stems. Add these to balls of play-dough to make adorable bugs. Use pebbles for eyes; stems for antennae and stingers; and sticks for legs.
ICK! Buy live fishing worms and learn how to handle them. Then release them in your garden for future visits.
Sing the "Itsy, Bitsy Spider" and let your child "wash the spider out" by pouring water over a plastic spider in the tub tonight. Repeat! Repeat! Repeat!
Stamp fingerprints onto paper. Add antennae, wings, eyes or legs with markers to make cute bug families. Laminate and use as fun, outdoor picnic placemats.
Antsy appetizer: Spread peanut butter along apple slices or celery sticks and help your child add tens ants (raisins) to the ant bed. Eat one raisin at a time while singing "There were 10 in the bed and the little one said 'roll over, roll over.' So they all rolled over and one fell out (to be eaten by the child). There were 9 in the bed…" At the end, the little one says, "go play" instead of "good night."
Make a Ladybug Pizza. Decorate a round pizza with red sauce. Then add sliced olives for spots and olives sliced lengthwise for a divided midsection. Hunt for ladybugs while it bakes.
Flower power: Mix orange juice, 7-Up and orange-flavored sherbet. Tape paper flower patterns around the top of small cups; then, let your child drink this "flower nectar" through a small straw.
*Adapted from "Fun in the Sun" by July Cantrell
(MomSense magazine, July/August 2005)
MOPS International will have another great activity for you and your preschooler next month in the BOZ Buzz. To discover more great Mom-centered resources and tools, visit the MOPS International website.
