Mystical Mini Beast Creatures

Following on from their trip to Tropical World last week where they learnt about different habitats, pupils in Early Years have been exploring the mini beast activity tray. They discussed what they already know about the various creatures they see and considered why they look or act the way that they do.

“I can see lots of bugs with my magnifier glass. I tried to count all the legs on the centipede, but it was too many and I couldn’t count it. They must be very fast with all those legs! I think it lives in the ground because we find them under logs and in the soil.” – Coral 

“I found a beetle! I think it lives in the soil and it likes the dark. It’s the same colour so it’s hard to find and other bugs can’t eat it. It has legs and walks on the ground.” – Annora 

“I like to look at the butterflies because they’re my favourite. They have lots of pretty colours like blue and pink and green and purple and yellow. And they have legs under them, see? And when they are babies it’s a caterpillar, and when it gets bigger it turns into a butterfly.” – Lyra  

“I found a bee and it has wings. It lives in a house that’s called a hive. Sometimes they sting you if you’re in the way, but they don’t mean to. The stripes tell us to stay away because it might sting us.” – Imogen  

“I like bees – they make honey and honey is yummy! It’s got black and orange stripes because it stings. It’s got wings and it flies and it also has legs so it can walk and collect honey.” – Lark  

The girls used what they had learnt about mini bugs to create their own unique creatures. Depending on whether they wanted their animal to be camouflaged, or colourful and intimidating, they chose either dark or brightly coloured playdough to make the body of their creature. For everything else they foraged in the woodland and searched through the shell box.  

Once their animal had been made, they had lots of fun producing a name and a place for it to live and sharing with everyone why. The creatures came in a variety of shapes and sizes, with lots of colour and carefully considered features, such as Florence’s who chose to use playdough to stick items to a stick. She created an amazingly effective bug named ‘Spike Dinosaur’. Brooke hunted carefully for a variety of items to make her bug and she named it ‘The Bird that Flies’. 

The task was not without its challenges, but the girls did not give up. When the body of her bug initially fell apart, Connie persevered, and she named her finished animal ‘Bright Colour Saturn’. Both Ariana and Mirabel gave equally pretty names to their creatures, ‘Rainbow the Unicorn Butterfly’ and ‘Rosie the Flower Bug’. 

Luna successfully created ‘Snowy Gemmy Yellow’, and Emily called her bug ‘The Flying Narwal’. Hattie named hers ‘Spotty the shell’ and she also came across a green caterpillar which she proudly showed the group. 

Previous Story: Molly’s Right Royal Weekend

VIEW ALL NEWS