Today is World Honey Bee Day!

To celebrate, here is a DIY solution to help a distressed bee get back to business. We’ve also got ten fun facts you might not have known about bees!

Revive-A-Bee-Solution

You can often see bees not moving for a really long time. Wrong misconception may lead to the assumption that they are dead, but they aren’t! These bees will have flown miles and miles and have miscalculated their journey back to the hive. They are exhausted and in need of some sustenance. What can I do? You can mix a special drink for them!

Recipe:

1. Mix 1 tablespoon of water with 1 tablespoon of sugar until they are dissolved.
2. Either place into a shallow plate or simply place on a spoon on a garden table or near where you have spotted the bee.

10 Fun Facts about Bees:

1. The reason bees are so noisy is because they beat their wings 11,400 times in one minute!
2. Only female bees can sting. Male bees don’t have stingers.
3. Honey bees communicate through a series of dance moves.
4. A hive of bees will fly over 55,000 miles to make 1lb of honey and can create 100lbs of honey in a year.
5. Bees can sense the hormone a human gives off when they’re scared. If they feel their hive is threatened they’ll attack.
6. The Honey Bee is the only insect that makes food man can eat.
7. Each Honey Bee from the same hive has their own specific color identification.
8. The Ancient Egyptian King Pepy II came up with a clever insect repellent. He would cover a slave completely with honey so they would be attracted to the honey and not him.
9. Eating honey makes you smarter! It has an antioxidant that improves brain functions.
10. 1 bee has 5 eyes! Check them out in the photo above.

The post 10 Fun Facts About Bees! appeared first on Super Simple.

In this episode we are exploring amazing bugs! There are so many incredible kinds of bugs and insects. Did you know that all insects have six legs? Did you know that there are more bugs in the world than there are people? A lot more! Join Caitie in the classroom, and then recreate the activities and craft from the classroom at home for more learning and more fun, all about bugs!

Afraid Of Bugs?

If your little one is afraid of bugs, watching this episode is a great place to start to overcome those fears. Caitie speaks about how some people are afraid of bugs, and gives some tips to feel better about it. Near the end of the episode, we also read a story about Little Miss Muffet who didn’t care for bugs herself! Here are some other tips that you might like to try.

• Talk to your little one about their feelings. You can tell them that bugs are more afraid of us than we are of them. Bugs might be curious about it, but usually they won’t hurt us. Try to be calm and watch them without bothering them, and they won’t bother you.
• Talk about the importance of bugs. They are an important part of the intricate web of life and we need them. They are a part of all living things.
• Do your best to model calm behaviour. Children often look to the grown ups for how to behave. If you are not afraid, they might be less afraid too. Try to face their fear gently, observing with them and show that they won’t bother you.
• Do let your little ones know that if you don’t know what kind of bug it is, it is best to leave it alone and give it a lot of room for it to do it’s thing.

Counting & Movement

Exploring bugs is a great opportunity to practice counting and to do some fun movements.

• Follow along with Caitie in the classroom as she counts and moves like different bugs.
• You can try counting different things on different bugs, using these bug flashcards. Count how many bugs, count the legs, and count the spots on the ladybug, like we do in the classroom. Then try moving like the different bugs.
• Practice counting and writing with our Amazing Bugs Count & Write worksheet. Count the spots on the ladybug and write in the correct number.

The Itsy Bitsy Spider

Itsy Bitsy Spider is the perfect song to sing when exploring bugs!

• Sing along with Caitie in the classroom, and then try singing along with our animated music video.
• We have a wonderful Itsy Bitsy Spider dramatic play set that you can print out and use to act out the song!
• Practice the hand movements! Caitie shows us how to do the hand movements in the classroom, but they can take a bit of practice. Keep trying until you get it!
• Try singing the song in different voices, like we do in the classroom. What other voice can you try? Maybe underwater, or opera!
• Can’t get enough of Itsy Bitsy Spider? You can sing along to the Itsy Bitsy Spider with Caitie in the classroom with this video too!

Discovery Bin – Bugs!

Let’s dig in the discovery bin and find bugs! Here are some ideas for your own buggy discovery bin.

• Fill a bin with some dirt or other sensory material. We used potting soil purchased from a garden store. Then put in some rocks, sticks, leaves, and other items from outside. Now add your toy bugs for your little ones to find! Try hiding them under rocks and leaves, or in the dirt. Give your little ones some small shovels and other gardening tools to dig in the dirt with!
• You can also get your gardening tools and dig in the garden! See what bugs you find in the ultimately discovery bin!
• Instead of making a discovery bin, try hiding toy bugs around the classroom or playroom for your little ones to find. If you don’t have any toy bugs, you can use our bug flashcards!
• Gather up a bunch of rocks and put a picture of a bug underneath the rock. Our bug flashcards work well for this too! Have your little one lift them up to discover the bug underneath!
• Once you have found all the bugs, anyway you like to do it, be sure to count all the bugs you found and talk about the colors you see. Do you know what kind of bug it might be? Does it fly? How many legs does it have? If it has six legs, it is an insect!

Rock Bug Craft

Our craft in this episode is making rock bugs!

• Find details on how to make your own rock bugs.
• Find more Super Simple bug craft ideas – there are lots of different ways to make a crafty bug!

Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory Field Trip

In this episode we take a field trip to the Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory and meet some incredible bugs. Our friend Jenn shares some very interesting things about the bugs we see, and we even get to hold a few of them!

• Try visiting a place near you where you can get close up to bugs in a safe way. Nature museums, nature centers, parks, butterfly gardens or conservatories and nature conservatories might have options in your area!

Little Miss Muffet

Little Miss Muffet doesn’t care for the spider who visited her in this story, but she learns they were friendly after all.

• Watch our full animated episode of Paper Puppet Playhouse Presents: Little Miss Muffet.
• Once you are familiar with the story, try acting it out with your little one. One person can be Little Miss Muffet, and another can be the spider. Or trying acting it out using a toy spider. The spider can try drawing out a web and a special message to become friends with Little Miss Muffet at the end!

We hope you have fun singing, playing, learning, and creating! We love to see photos of our friends having fun in the classroom and of their wonderful creations! You can share them with us through social media or by sending us an email to hello@SuperSimpleOnline.com.

Follow Caitie on Facebook and Instagram!

Instagram

Facebook

The post Amazing Bugs! appeared first on Super Simple.

Ants are fascinating insects. They may be small but are extremely strong, being able to carry between 10 and 50 times their body weight. They can be found everywhere in the world, except for Antarctica and Arctic. And it has been estimated that there are about 1 million ants for every 1 human. Impressive, right?
Today, we will get busy making our own ant finger puppet: a happy ant, with big eyes and 6 fluffy legs. The best part of our craft is that once we are done making it, we can play with the ant.

Supplies:

• Black thick card stock paper
• 3 black pipe cleaners
• 2 googly eyes
• Small round bowl
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Circle punch
• Hole punch
• Silver marker
• Glue

1. Use a small round bowl to trace 3 circles on the black cardstock paper and cut them out. One of the circles will become the head, the second is going to be turned into the body and the last circle will help us make a cute finger puppet out of our ant.
2. Let’s start with the first circle and glue the googly eyes on it. Cut out two strips of black cardstock paper and glue them to the back of the head. These will be the antennae. Use a circle punch to make two small circles from the same black paper and glue them on top of the antennae, one circle on top of each paper strip. Draw the ant’s mouth with a silver marker.
   
3. Make 6 holes on the second circle, 3 on each side. Thread the 3 black pipe cleaners through the holes to create the legs.
4. Use the circle punch again to make 2 holes at the bottom of the third circle.
5. Now it’s time to put our ant together and glue all circles one on top of the other. Start with the head and glued to the body and then glue the bottom of the body to the top of the last circle.
6. It’s time to stick 2 fingers through our ant puppet and play with our cool craft.

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook!

Contributor
Stef is the mom of 2 little boys and the blogger behind Non-Toy Gifts. Here she shares fun and simple crafts and activities for young kids.
www.nontoygifts.com

Original content © 2018 Super Simple. Not to be reprinted without express written permission. Terms of Service.

The post Ant Finger Puppets appeared first on Super Simple.

The post Ants appeared first on Super Simple.

The post The Ants Go Marching appeared first on Super Simple.

The post Ants Go Marching appeared first on Super Simple.

The post The Ants Go Marching #2 appeared first on Super Simple.

Ants are insects, like grasshoppers, beetles, and butterflies – they have three body segments, six legs, and two antennae, and the hard part of their body is on the outside.

Unlike most insects, ants live and work together in huge teams called colonies. A colony can have hundreds or thousands of ants, and different ants in the colony have different jobs.

The ants that you see walking around outside are the workers. They collect food for the colony, dig the tunnels, and take care of baby ants. There are lots and lots of them, and they’re all girls—in fact, they’re usually all sisters! Some kinds of ants have a few especially large workers that are soldiers, protecting the nest from other ants.

Deep inside the nest lives the queen (or sometimes more than one). She’s usually bigger than all the other ants, and her job is to have babies. In fact, she’s the mother of all the workers.

There aren’t many boy ants, called drones. They usually have wings, so that they can fly away and help start new colonies.

The colony needs all the different jobs in order to work. The queen can’t collect food, so she needs the workers. But the workers can’t have babies, so they need the queen.

By cooperating, ants can do amazing things, like dig huge nests, use their bodies to form rafts or bridges, sew leaves together, or farm other insects for food! Some scientists say that a colony of ants acts like one single animal.

Find some ants outside and watch them. Put a couple of crumbs of food down for them and see what they do. When a worker ant finds some food, she takes a piece back to the nest, leaving an invisible trail that the other workers can smell. They follow the trail to the food and help collect it too.

Because small animals are much stronger (compared to their size) than large ones, ants can lift objects that are bigger than they are. That’s like if you could pick up a car!

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, Instagram,  Pinterest, and Facebook!

Contributor
Grant Harding is a puppeteer with a degree in biology and a passion for education and the environment. Follow Grant on Twitter, or check out his website.

Original content © 2018 Super Simple. Not to be reprinted without express written permission. Terms of Service.

The post Ants: The Power of Cooperation appeared first on Super Simple.

In this episode of Caitie’s Classroom, we are exploring butterflies. Butterflies are incredible creatures! In this episode we get to see them up close during a field trip to the Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory, we learn that butterfly wings are symmetrical and explore metamorphosis. We make our own butterfly crafts, and make butterfly hand puppets! Below are some ideas and tips on how to recreate the classroom fun at home or in the classroom, and to expand on it for even more fun and learning with butterflies!

Matching Butterfly Wings

Butterfly wings are symmetrical, that means they are the exact same on both sides. In the classroom we enforce this idea by matching butterfly wings together. We can tell if they are a match if they are symmetrical or not. You can do this at home too! You can make your own butterfly wings, or print our butterfly wings to use. Once you have your butterfly wings, cut them in half down the body so the wings are separated.

• Have your little ones mix up and then match the butterfly wings together.
• Turn the butterfly wings over to play a matching game of memory. Turn a card over and then another to find a match. If they are a match, pick them up! If not, turn them both back over and try again.
• Try hiding the butterfly wings around the room and have your little one go on a hunt to find them. Once they are found, match them up!
• Be sure to talk about the colors and shapes you see in the wings, and point out when something is symmetrical or not.

Symmetry in Butterfly Wings

In the classroom we make our own symmetrical butterfly wings using paint and paper! It is simple to do and helps demonstrate the meaning of symmetry.

• Take a piece of paper and fold it in half, then open it up. Squeeze blobs of paint onto one side of the piece of paper, and fold in half. Carefully press down so the paint transfers to the other side of the paper. Then open the paper to reveal a symmetrical painting! Once the painting is dried, you can cut out the shape of your butterfly wings. Be sure you fold the paper in half and cut both sides together to keep it perfectly symmetrical! You can add a butterfly body and antenna cut out from black construction paper.
• Find more details about butterfly symmetry and this activity.

Rock Scissors Paper

Our butterfly episode starts with a beautiful butterfly puppet flying around the classroom. We can make our own butterfly puppet using our hands! We use our hands to make a butterfly and much more with the song Rock Scissors Paper!

• How To Teach Rock Scissors Paper #1
• Sing Along With Tobee – Rock Scissors Paper
• Rock Scissors Paper #1 – Animated music video
• You can also find three other Super Simple versions of Rock Scissors Paper!

Metamorphosis

In the curiosity cupboard, we find the stages of metamorphosis and learn how a butterfly grows from a tiny egg, to a caterpillar, to a chrysalis, and emerges as a butterfly! You can explore the stages of metamorphosis at home too!

• Try drawing the four stages we explore in the classroom. Encourage your little one to try drawing them, or have them put them in order.
• Download and print the same illustrations of the butterfly’s life cycle from the classroom! Cut them out and place them in order. Try hiding them around the room first for extra fun.
• Try acting out the stages with your bodies!
• Try using a scarf, like Caitie does in the classroom, to show the stages. A scarf or any kind of small fabric will work – a napkin or t-shirt!

Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory

On our field trip to the Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory, we are able to see butterflies emerge from their chrysalis. It’s an amazing thing to see!

• See if there is a Butterfly Conservatory or Butterfly Garden near you that you can visit.
• Look for butterflies outside.
• Try planting certain flowers and plants that butterflies like in your garden, like blooming flowers and milkweed, to attract them!
• Look for caterpillars in the ground – they will soon become butterflies. If you are able to find a caterpillar making a chrysalis, check back to see when the butterfly comes out. When the butterfly emerges from the chrysalis, it is their birthday! You can make the butterfly a birthday card or sing happy birthday on that special day!

Butterfly Discovery Bin

Colored bowtie pasta looks a lot like butterflies! We made sensory material from bowtie pasta for our butterfly discovery bin.

• Learn how to make your own colorful bowtie sensory material!
• You can also use any kind of sensory material to fill the bin and hide the butterflies inside. If you don’t have toy butterflies, make some out of paper! Be sure to talk about the colors and shapes you see on the wings when you discover a butterfly.
• Make the whole world a discovery bin and search for butterflies outside!

More Butterfly Fun
Try our Clothespin Butterfly Craft.

We hope you have fun singing, playing, learning, and creating! We love to see photos of our friends having fun in the classroom and of their wonderful creations! You can share them with us a few different ways:

Instagram
Facebook

The post Beautiful Butterflies appeared first on Super Simple.