There are a so many flying, fluttering, creeping, crawling, digging, and running insects in our world! Take some time and investigate what insects are around you. Some of these insects are beneficial like pollinators or insects that prey on bad bugs. Some insects are considered pests, especially to our garden plants. Can you find examples of these?

Supplies

• Yourself and your keen powers of observation.

• Optionally, you might want to bring a magnifying glass, a collecting jar (see critter chamber activity) or a plastic bag and print one of the insect checklists to guide your discovery.

• Safety Note: Always be careful when observing insects! Some insect sting and bite and you might have a severe allergic reaction - ask an adult if this is true for you. Also when looking through wood piles, be careful of snakes and black widows.

Let's Do It!

Go outside and explore your world! How many insects can you find? Where can you look?

1. Step outside and look around. Do you see any flying insects? What do they look like?

2. Carefully look under the leaves (but don't touch poison ivy!) of plants and shrubs. Find anything?

3. Noodle around on the ground. Push aside dead leaves, twigs, and soil. See anything?

4. Is there a pond or a creek near you? Ask an adult to walk you to the water. Look for insect friends that might swim, dive, or even "stride" on water.

5. What about your home? Some insects are good at living in homes; cockroaches, camel crickets, ants, or termites, oh my!

6. Where else can you find insects?

7. Use the "Garden Insect Checklist" and mark the ones you find!

Talk It Over!

1. How many different insects did you see today? Did you catch more or fewer insects than you predicted?

2. Why do we find certain insects in certain environments?

3. How can you pay attention to the insects you share your world with?

4. Why are insects important? Are insects helpful or challenging? Why? What do different insects do?

5. What did you learn today?

After observing different insects flying, crawling, and hopping around. Try to catch one for a short or long observation by putting it into a critter chamber.

Supplies

• Empty, two-liter plastic soda bottles, 3­-liter size preferred

• A round section of turf containing clover, about 4 inches in diameter

• Scissors

• Trowel or small shovel

• One or two crickets, grasshoppers, or another type of insect, roly-poly, etc.

• Optional (for crickets only) a slice of fruit such as an apple

• Magnifying glass (optional)

Let's Do It!

1. Cut a 2­ or 3­ liter soft drink bottle in half.

2. Make eight parallel cuts around the edge of the open end of the bottom section, spaced evenly apart and about 2 inches long to form a series of tabs.

3. Cut alternating tabs off about 1/2 inch so that every other tab is slightly shorter (see figure).

4. Dig a piece of turf that contains some clover from a lawn. Be sure to include the soil covering the roots. This may be kept in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for several days. Plants such as beans, which could be started from seed a week or two ahead, may be used as an alternative to turf.

5. Place your turf plug or plant in the plastic base. Turn the clear cylindrical portion down over the base, sliding alternate tabs inside and outside the rim.

6. Catch common insects, such as crickets, grasshoppers, or caterpillars (or buy crickets from a bait shop). Crickets will need extra moisture and food so add a slice of fruit such as an apple slice. If you find a caterpillar, collect the plant or part of the plant on which you found it. Place them in through the top of the bottle, and replace the lid.

7. Your bug observation chamber will probably not need water often. If it does, a little may be dripped in through the top of the bottle.

8. Do not let sunlight shine directly on the bottle and do not leave it in a car.

9. Release your plants and insects back into their natural habitat within one week.

Talk It Over!

1. Where did you find your insects?

2. What did you observe your bugs doing?

3. What is your bug? Use the “Garden Insect Checklist” to determine what kind of bug you have.

Time needed: 10 minutes

Bees and plants rely on one another for survival. Bees help plants by pollinating flowers, which allows plants to produce fruit and seeds they need to reproduce. Plants provide nectar that bees collect and use as a source of food. When foraging for food, a bee can travel up to four miles (6 km) if needed. The average bee flies about 500 miles in her lifetime of 10-21 days. This game will give youth an idea of what a bee experiences when foraging for nectar.

Supplies

• 2 cups

• Water

• A water dropper or plastic pipette

• A stopwatch or timer

• A measuring cup

• Optional: two friends

Let's Do It!

1. Place the two cups far apart. This can be on opposite sides of a room or across the yard if you are doing the activity outside. If you have friends to help you do this activity, you can have one friend hold each cup. Otherwise, place each cup on a table or other level surface, such as the ground.

2. Fill one of the cups with water (nectar). The cup containing nectar is your flower, the empty cup is your hive, and you are the bee.

3. If you want, you can decorate each flower and dress like a bee!

4. Set your timer for one minute. Be ready with the dropper.

5. Once you start the timer, use the dropper to “suck” or pull nectar from the flower cup.

6. Walk to the hive cup and transfer the nectar into it. Continue collecting nectar until a minute has ended.

7. Measure the amount of nectar you were able to collect and write it down.

8. Repeat the activity. Measure how much nectar you can collect each time, or have your friends try it out to record how much nectar they can collect.

Talk it Over!

1. Did you collect a lot of water? Why or why not?

2. If you repeated the activity, how did the amount of nectar you collected change over time?

3. What was challenging about being a bee?

4. How do you think this activity would have been different if you had more friends to participate?

5. Did you know: an individual honey bee will collect 1/12 teaspoon of honey in her life? How does that make you feel?

6. How does being part of a group or colony help bees survive?

7. Why is it important to work together with a group?

8. Can you think of something you do in your life that is similar to bees collecting nectar?

Optional Activity Extension

• Decorate your cups to represent flowers and a bee hive, and dress up like a bee.

• Work together - do this activity with your friends or family members. At the end, combine your nectar and see how much you can collect when everyone takes a turn being the bee.

• Spend some time outside observing bees. Watch and see what they do as they are visiting flowers.