Crafts, activities, drawings to color, facts and information about bugs and insects for kids. Collect and raise bugs in your homeschool carefully! Experiment with insects which won’t harm you nor get loose and harm your house. Observe, but don’t kill bugs which are good for the environment.
About Bugs ~ Insect Facts for Children
Alien Empire
This special multimedia Web companion to the three-week NATURE miniseries takes you into the bizarre, fascinating world of insects, with amazing graphics, sound and animation, enhanced video, and activities for kids.
Ten things you need to know about bugs
Can you tell a bug from a beetle? Does that bug you? We’re here to help. Our list of bug facts will soon have you in the know about bugs.
Florida 4-H Bug Club
Here you will find information that will show you the best places to look for insects and that will help you identify the ones you have already collected.
Insects
Come learn why not all bugs are bad. In fact, many help by destroying destructive bugs and plants.
‘Wicked Bugs’ An Encyclopedia Of Insect Villains
Amy Stewart, who brought us a disturbing slender volume called Wicked Plants has a new and perhaps even more disturbing book called Wicked Bugs. Guest host Linda Wertheimer talks with Stewart about her A-Z list of the most loathsome insects and the havoc they cause.
Mosquitoes, Spiders And More Of The Most Dangerous Bugs In The World
Although bugs are a crucial part of the ecosystem, some small creepy crawlers pose big threats to humans and animals. From having poisonous venom to carrying deadly diseases and more, these bugs are some of the most dangerous in the world.
Wonderful World of Insects
There are well over 1 million different known species of insects in the world, and some experts estimate that there might be as many as 10 million. They are divided up into 32 orders. Did you know that one in every four animals on this planet is a beetle?
ZooSphere
The ZooSphere solves a central problem for zoologists regarding species identification. Until now, there were two options: The zoologists must travel to the collection’s location – a time-consuming and expensive procedure – or the specimens are sent by mail.
Bug Arts and Crafts and other Insect Activities for Kids
Bug Fun
Collecting bugs, insect crafts and projects, games and jokes, even bugs as food, from the University of Kentucky Department of Entomology. Make Your Own Compound Eye, for example.
Insect Printouts
Printout, label and color these worksheets of outlines of familiar insects: ants, bees, beetles, butterflies, and more. Some show lifecycle.
Insects at Enchanted Learning
Rhymes, crafts, coloring printouts, and quizzes.
Monster Bugs
Insect parts for kids to learn about. Assemble a bug you know or create an entirely new bug out of these drawers full of insect parts.
Bugs As Pets
Bug Pets
One of the best ways to learn about animals is to keep and look after them. insects and other invertebrates are no exception. In most cases they are easy to look after (provided you’ve found out about them first), inexpensive and don’t require a vast amount of space.
Cool Insects You Can Raise at Home
Don’t let Mother Nature have all the fun! Try raising Monarch butterflies, silkworms, crickets, ladybugs, black swallowtail butterflies, and praying mantises.
Raising Crickets for Beginners
A good source of lean protein, crickets are easy to raise and can be eaten by poultry and humans. Here’s what you need to know about raising crickets.
Isopod, Pillbug, Sow Bug Rearing
Unlike many other pet bugs, isopods mature before they reach their maximum or ultimate size. They are capable of producing offspring by the time they are half grown. Cultures can easily balloon with minimal care. Keep their habitat relatively moist or humid.
Keeping Insects
“Why would anyone keep insects and other invertebrates as pets?” you might ask. To me that is an easy question: I love the beautiful, strange shape of insects, their colors, diversity, unusual behavior and interesting life cycle.
Insect Games for Children
How to Throw a Bug Birthday Party for a Kid Who Loves Insects
Is your child a lover of insects and all things bug-related? If so, then they’ll love having a bug birthday party this year with their friends! These insect-related party ideas are perfect for boys and girls that love nature.
Insect Recipes
Iowa State University’s Tasty Insect Recipes
Disclaimer: The Department of Entomology at Iowa State University is not responsible for gastric distress, allergic reactions, feelings of repulsion, or other problems resulting from the ingestion of foods represented on these pages.
Specific Insects
Ants
Ant Facts about raising and observing ants, how to build an ant farm. Learn about Ant anatomy and how to draw an Ant!
Ant Anatomy
The anatomy of ants is very interesting. Use this diagram, that shows the main body parts of ants, and the information below to learn about about the anatomy of ants.
The Ants Go Marching
Lyrics and music for this popular kids marching song.
Anthony Ant in Cyberspace
Educational, inspiring, and entertaining, ‘Anthony Ant finds his groove’ is one you’ll just have to have! Your kids will be on the edge of their seats wanting to know how everything works out.
The Antlion Pit
The larval stage of this insect is a voracious eater of ants, and thus its name. Find out why it is also called a “Doodlebug.”
Build Your Own Ant Terrarium
Step-by-step instructions on how to build a 6″x6″x3/4″ Plaster/Gypsum Ant Terrarium or Habitat. Other types also have instructions on how to make or order.
Building an Ant Farm
This project requires adult supervision for cutting plastic.
Part 2.
Tips for Humane, Nontoxic Ant Control
In a home with children, pets, and ants, you’ll want to discourage or get rid of the ants in ways that won’t hurt the kids and pets. Experiment to see which of these safe ways work best in your home.
How to Make an Ant Colony (Formicarium)
Probably clear plexiglass could be safer to use than glass. A good way to make your own ant farm. Warning, though, ants can escape from the most cleverly made “farm,” so release the ants far from your home when done watching them.
Natural History Museum AntCam
Check out our colony of thousands of leafcutter ants. They live in a large glass ant case called a formicary, in our Creepy Crawlies gallery.
Try to make an Ant Get Lost. Ants Have Some Truly Incredible Built-In GPS
Analyze the ants. Carefully note what they do when they reach the ground again after crossing the obstruction. Do they seem confused? Do they go the wrong way? How long does it take them to figure out the right way? Do your ants eventually learn the new path over the obstruction?
Bees
The Bumble Bee Pages
Bumblebees are large, hairy insects with a lazy buzz and clumsy, bumbling flight. Many of them are black and yellow, and along with ladybirds and butterflies are perhaps the only insects that almost everyone likes.
Hey! A Bee Stung Me!
Honeybees, wasps, hornets, fire ants, and yellow jackets may look different and have different homes, but they all sting when they are upset! If a person is stung by any of these insects, the sting will feel a lot like a shot at the doctor’s office.
Honeybee Information Site
At Honeybee.tamu.edu we hope to provide general information about bees, answer frequently asked questions and solve common problems associated with honey bees, and serve beekeepers with regulatory resources, specific disease and parasite information, and current topics.
The Honeybee Waggle Dance
When an experienced forager returns to the colony with a load of nectar or pollen that is sufficiently nutritious to warrant a return to the source, she performs a dance on the surface of the honey comb to tell other foragers where the food is. The dancer “spells out” two items of information— distance and direction—to the target food patch. Recruits then leave the hive to find the nectar or pollen.
Dancing under a Polarized Sky
Bees returning to the beehive after finding a good supply of food will communicate to other bees by dancing at a particular region in the comb: the dance floor.
Lady Bugs
A to Z Kids Stuff Ladybugs
Poems, art and science projects, even a cute recipe using a half a red apple to make a ladybug snack. For small children.
Let’s Find Out What Ladybugs Eat
Did you ever wonder what do lady bugs eat? As strange as their names, they have got strange eating preferences and due to these preferences, they are also considered as farmers’ farm buddies.
The Lost Ladybug Project
To be able to help the nine spotted ladybug and other ladybug species scientists need to have detailed information on which species are still out there and how many individuals are around. Entomologists at Cornell can identify the different species but there are too few of us to sample in enough places to find the really rare ones. We need you to be our legs, hands and eyes. If you could look for ladybugs and send us pictures of them on Email we can start to gather the information we need.
Roaches
Roach World
Learn amazing roach facts as you follow a day in the life of Ralph Roach. Part of the Yuckiest Site on the Internet.
Whack-A-Roach
Try to “swat” the roaches as they pop up on your monitor screen. Some college kids wrote this game. We created Whack-a-Roach for ourselves and others in similar situations to relieve stress, as we exterminate the roaches one-by-one with different weapons, and to learn more about the common types of roaches on-campus.
Butterflies and Moths – Lifecycle
Learn about raising and observing butterflies and moths, resources for animated gifs of butterflies.
Amateur entomologist – butterfly collection
Whether you are looking for more information about collecting real butterflies and moths or just looking for animated gifs of bugs, you’ll find it on this website.
Butterfly School
Not for the butterflies! For you! Help identifying butterflies, collecting them, and even making a “house” for one to keep and observe for awhile.
The Butterfly Website
Join us in learning more about the fascinating world of butterflies. Here you can tour our photo gallery, learn how to plant a butterfly garden, take a field trip, find a pen-pal, chat with other butterfly-lovers and so much more.
Children’s Butterfly Site Coloring Page
Joy Lewallen at the Houston Museum of Natural Science has created a lesson plan using these butterfly life cycle images to teach students about metamorphosis.
How to Make Butterfly Gardens
Though this site is from Kentucky, varieties of these plants can grow almost anywhere.
The Miracle Monarch Migration
“Most people mistakenly think that the monarch itself is endangered,” says Wilson, “It is the ‘Miracle Monarch Migration’ that is under threat. The west coast version of the migration has almost stopped, and the Eastern monarch migration is under threat “due to habitat loss, fragmentation and the use of pesticides. It would be a sad outcome for it to end.”
Monarch Butterflies
Information and lots of lovely photographs of Monarchs and a few butterflies that look similar. Did you know that Monarch Butterflies are toxic (poisonous) to birds?
Monarch Butterfly Migration Tracking
Help track the migration of these orange and black butterflies. Starts again each spring.
Monarch Watch
Everything you would ever want to know about observing and raising monarch butterflies in your home.
Mosquitos
Here’s What Happens Inside You When a Mosquito Bites
The video here shows a brown needle that looks like it’s trying to bury itself among some ice-cubes. It is, in fact, the snout of a mosquito, searching for blood vessels in the flesh of a mouse.
Mosquito Biology
Only female mosquitoes require a blood meal and bite animals – warm or cold blooded – and birds. Stimuli that influence biting (blood feeding) include a combination of carbon dioxide, temperature, moisture, smell, color and movement.
Other Insects
Bug Identification
If you’ve found an insect and you don’t know what it is then you can use the on-line Key here to find out to what order your insect belongs. It is a good idea to have the insect in a ‘Bug Box’ whilst you use the Key – it’s much easier than relying on your memory.
European Earwig
The name earwig, which literally means “ear creature,” originated from the widespread superstition that these insects crawl into the ears of sleeping people.
Fleas
Let’s follow a flea from cradle to grave to learn about her strange, secret flea life-cycle.
Head Lice
Much to many parents’ annoyance, the head louse is a tiny, wingless parasitic insect that lives among human hairs and feeds on extremely small amounts of blood drawn from the scalp. Although they may sound gross, lice (the plural of louse) are a very common problem, especially for kids ages 3 years to 12 years (girls more often than boys).
Roach Facts: Why Do Cockroaches Die on Their Backs and More
You might consider cockroaches to be the most disgusting creatures ever, but there might also be lot of fascinating facts you don’t know about them, such as their significance in the ecosystem, the reason why they flip over when they die, and whether or not they can drown.
