Tag Archives: creativity

Build An Insect Habitat

Getting kids outside and teaching them about insects is an important part of childhood. Encourage kids to not be afraid of bugs. Exploring safe creatures such as the Pill Bug or Rollie Pollie‘s as most kids call them is a great way to start young explorers off with insects. Kids can learn about the stages of a bugs life from egg to adult. They can also do a bit of research at their local library after a day of outdoor play and learn that Pill bugs are actually not insects, they are crustaceans. They are related to shrimp and crayfish, breathe with gills, and need humidity or moisture to survive.

Insect habitats teach kids so many life lessons. Ants demonstrate the importance of working together. Praying mantids teach children about the food chain. Butterflies exhibit the beauty of metamorphosis bot to mention lessons in biomimicry. Bugs and insects make ideal pets for children who cannot own larger domesticated animals due to allergies, housing restrictions, or family finances. There are many prefabricated habitats available in the marketplace, but parents and children can also build their own. Check out this bug mansion:

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With this knowledge they could build a Rollie Pollie habitat to study and observe these creatures.

 

Share nature with kids while they are young and you will create, in them, a life long love of the outdoors. This is important to cultivate future scientists, conservators and explorers along with naturalists and artists inspired by nature.

 

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Play in Water

In the ongoing desire to get kids outside and off of tech give them access to one thing all kids universally love – water! Kids are naturally drawn to water and will happily spend hours playing in it or near it. Take kids out in nature and let them explore natural bodies of water near your home or make a day trip of it an drive to a near by lake, stream or creek.

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Things to bring along:  a net, a jar or container, a shovel to dig in the mud, and buckets to collect things to investigate on site. Get the kids to catch little creatures to observe, looking at colors, shapes and textures. Kids love discovering things like minnows, salamanders, crayfish, snails and insects in these habitats.

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Can’t make it out to a nearby body of water? Create an outdoor water play station for the kids right at home. Let them explore the movement of water – they can use a spray bottle or a hose tow write words with water. Put their swim suites on and let them play in the sprinklers.

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Listen In Nature

Many children in this country have lost all understanding that they are part of nature and are connected to nature.We live so fearfully that children will be nabbed or will get hurt that we keep them inside and away from danger. But ultimately we are harming them far worse by robbing them of the experiences that can only be found outside in nature.

“To become stronger adults, kids need to be outside and allow their bodies to do what they’ve been designed for from the beginning. – Kacie Flegal, a chiropractor in Ashland, Ore., who specializes in pediatrics.

In college I studied Ornithology because I was obsessed with the film maker Peter Greenaway. His film A Walk Through H: The Reincarnation of an Ornithologist change my view of birds, film making and visual experiences.

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Some of Greenaway’s other best-known films include:  The Draughtsman’s Contract (1982), A Zed & Two Noughts (1985), The Belly of an Architect (1987), Drowning by Numbers (1988), and his most successful (and controversial) film, The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989) also include references to Ornithology, birds and nature.

As a parent this has me thinking about sharing a love for birds with my children and if I want to get them outside to listen more I can start with the sound of various songbirds. Doing this can really can teach a child about the diversity of the natural world.

Once you spend time outside listing for birds why not get creative?  Set up an outdoor creativity studio where you can build and make things! Go grab these Free plans to build a birdhouse for your own back yard from Ana White

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ADDED BONUS:

While building your bird house listen to some classic music inspired by birds.

Laboratory5 Inc. is a small business based in Tempe, Arizona

Visit our website: Laboratory5       Follow us on Twitter: @lab5     Become a fan on Facebook: Laboratory5
Contact Us at anytime – we’d love to hear from you

 

 

 

 

 

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