Category: Naturalist - Badge: Bugs
Badge Purpose: When girls have earned this badge, they’ll know all about bugs.
Activity Plan Length: 1.5 hours
Welcome everyone to the meeting, recite the Girl Scout Promise and Law.
Activity #1: Draw a Bug - Time: 15 minutes
Badge Connection: Step 1 – Draw a bug poster Materials Needed: Book about bugs; large paper or poster board; coloring utensils
Prep Needed:
Download: Beatrice the Rusty Patched Bumble Bee Goes to Work by Isabella G. Rubietta from http://www.sites.google.com/view/gsbeethechange/kids-garden
1. Read the book to introduce girls to Rusty Patched Bumble Bees and other pollinators. 2. Individually or in small groups, ask girls to draw a Rusty Patched Bumble Bee or their favorite insect and include all they know about that insect. 3. Girls can include the following information on their posters:
- Where the bug lives
- How long it lives
- What it eats
- What is good about this bug
- What is not so good about this bug
- Its enemies
OTHER BOOK SUGGESTIONS:
- Ultimate Bugopedia: The Most Complete Bug Reference Ever (National Geographic Kids) by Darlyne Murawski and Nancy Honovich
- Bugs Are Insects by Anne Rockwell and Steve Jenkins
- The Secret Lives of Backyard Bugs: Discover Amazing Butterflies, Moths, Spiders, Dragonflies, and Other Insects! By Judy Burris and Wayne Richards
- Big Book of Bugs from DK Publishing
Activity #2: Crafty Bugs - Time: 15 minutes
Materials Needed:
- Build Your Own Rusty Patched Bumble Bee Templates (one for each girl) printed on white card stock/construction paper and cut out (found at http://www.sites.google.com/view/gsbeethechange/kids-garden)
- Markers or crayons
- Popsicle sticks
- Non-toxic glue or glue sticks
- Glitter glue, pipe cleaners, googly eyes, or other small decorative pieces. (Optional)
- Give each girl all of the bee pieces, as well as a Popsicle stick. The girls can share the other materials.
- Assemble the bee by gluing the cutout to a Popsicle stick
- Color in the bee using the markers or crayons.
- Decorate the bee. (Optional)
- The girls can hold it and pretend it's flying.
Activity #3: Snack Chat - Time: 10 minutes
Materials Needed:
Healthy Snack Suggestion: "Bugs on a Log"
Cut celery sticks into 4 inch lengths, place peanut butter or almond butter on the celery sticks, top with raisins or craisins.
1. While enjoying a healthy snack, here are some things for girls to talk about:
- What is your favorite bug?
- If you were a bug, what would you be?
- Can you list more than 10 bugs?
- Tell some bug jokes!
- What did one cockroach say to the other? You bug me.
- What do you get when you cross a bee and a cow? A humburger.
- What do you get when you cross a pig with a centipede? Bacon and legs.
- What goes snap, crackle, fizz? A firefly with a short circuit.
- What creature is smarter than a talking parrot? A spelling bee.
- What is the biggest ant in the world? Ant-arctica.
Activity #4: Bugs in Action - Time: 20 minutes
Materials Needed:
- Writing Utensils and Notepads to write down observations
Prep Needed:
- Find a local pollinator gardens that the girls can visit. There, they can observe pollinator bees, (these bees don't sting!), butterflies, ants, beetles, and other types of bugs and pollinators.
1. Tell the girls that they will be heading outside to search for bugs. Walk to the designated outside area. 2. Give each girl a pencil and notepad. 3. Have the girls look for three different bugs in the area. (For example, an ant carrying food, a beetle chewing on a leaf, and a roly-poly (sow bug) on a porch.) 4. Have the girls identify the bugs and try to find out what they are doing and why. 5. Have the girls share with one another the fun things they have learned.
- What is cool about bugs?
- What do bugs do?
- What bugs are faster than others?
Wrapping Up - Time: 15 minutes
Close the meeting by doing a friendship circle and singing a song of your choice.
More to Explore
Field Trip Ideas:
- Go the the MN Valley National Wildlife Refuge to see native bugs in their natural habitat.
- Go to a zoo and look at a wide variety of bugs from around the world.
- Visit museum with an entomology section.
- Go to a botanical garden with a bug collection to learn about the relationship between bugs and plants.
Speaker Ideas:
- Invite a bug expert come and talk to the girls about bugs.
- Invite a horticulturalist or landscape architect to speak with the girls about bugs and plants.
Adapted from the Girl Scout River Valleys Bugs Badge