Crawling, Flying, Hopping or Slithering

by Early Math Counts

Categorizing insect and bug attributes by size and color is one way to separate and sort them.  It might be more fun to use your insect and bug collections to create gross motor movement activities using the attributes of how they move rather than how they look.

Some bugs fly (butterflies, ladybugs, bumblebees), some bugs crawl (spiders, beetles), some bugs hop (grasshoppers, cicadas), and some bugs slither (worms, caterpillars).  Using these attributes, children can sort themselves into groups who move the same way. Using your giant bucket of bugs, have the children close their eyes and pick one out.  They can then decide if their bug hops, crawls, slithers or flies.

At group time you can introduce the song about Sammie. It goes like this.

This is a story about Sammie.

His father sent him out to buy bread.

But Sammie didn’t feel like walking,

he wished he could fly instead.

“If I was a  butterfly (pick a bug that flies), I would fly to the store, fly to the store, fly to the store.

If I were a butterfly, I would fly to the store to buy bread.”

 

This is a story about Sammie.

His father sent him out to buy bread.

But Sammie didn’t feel like walking,

he wished he could crawl instead.

“If I was an ant (pick a bug that crawls) I would crawl to the store, crawl to the store, crawl to the store.

If I was an ant I would crawl to the store to buy bread.”

You continue this until all of the bugs have had their turn.  Sammie is an absolute favorite and a great way to get the kids moving.  Remember to discuss how the bugs are the same and how they are different.

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