Beneficial Buggies

Class 1

Materials Needed

Purpose: The purpose of this activity is to talk to the students about different types of bugs and why they are so important to the health of our food systems. I will introduce some new vocabulary: pollinators, decomposers, and give examples of insects that fall under those terms. Understanding which bugs are beneficial to our gardens and crops is an important first step in recognizing the mutual relationship between humans and nature. After the presentation I will explain the activity to the students. For this project, they will focus on bees, our most efficient pollinator, which is essential for the survival of our food systems. They will get a bee template that they get to color, cut out, and piece together with glue on a new piece of paper. They are encouraged to draw details onto the background if they have time like flowers, a garden, or even other insects.

Instructions

  1. Begin class by having students gather at the front of the classroom in the meeting area

  2. Show them the presentation about insects and why they are such an important aspect of the health of our gardens and crops (For the Love of Bugs)

  3. After the presentation, send them to their seats and hand out the bee template, the crayons, glue, and scissors

  4. Students will color the template and cut it out and the paste it onto the remaining sheet of paper

  5. If there is time left after the craft I will play this video about beneficial insects (PBS Kids)

Class 2

Materials

  • Laptop

  • HDMI cord

  • Projector

Purpose: The purpose of this activity is to show the students different types of bugs and why they are so important to the health of our food systems. Last class we talked about many beneficial insects such as ladybugs. I explained how they protect our gardens from pests like aphids that want to eat our plants and how that makes them an integral part of the garden ecosystem. In today’s class we will watch an Episode of Nature Cat called Runaway Pumpkin/Ladybug Trough. I thought this would be a good way to start wrapping up not the Fall season, but the topic of bugs and the garden ecosystem as well. In part of this episode a rose garden struggles to survive because of the overpopulation of aphids eating away at the leaves. They learn that introducing ladybugs into the garden may be the perfect solution and get to work saving the roses.

Instructions

  1. Warm-Up

2. Watch Nature Cat episode called Runaway Pumpkin/Ladybug Trough

3. Debrief the episode with the students

Why were the roses struggling to survive? What did Granny Bunny recommend to them for this problem? What ended up saving the rose plants?