Background information:

Learning goals: Students will explore bugs and slugs living outdoors. They will learn how to observe them and how to interact with them.

Content information: For the purposes of this activity, 'bugs and slugs' refers to all the small creepy crawlies you may find in your yard (see the Slugs and bugs identification sheet). Technically however all bugs and slugs can be referred to as 'invertebrates'. This means they are a complex animal that does not have a backbone. (Humans and other mammals have a spine and belong to the category 'vertebrates'.)

Bugs and slugs that you may find in your garden could include:

Insects - Insects are defined as having a body made up of three parts; a head, an abdomen and a thorax (the bit that lies between the abdomen and the head - in humans this would be the chest). They have two antennae, three pairs of legs and a hard exoskeleton. Some examples of insects are bees, ants, beetles, mosquitoes, crickets and butterflies.
Spiders - Spiders are arachnids, not insects. They are defined by having eight legs and don’t have antennae.
Worms - Worms tend to be tube shaped, slimy and live underground or under cover (such as in soil or logs).
Snails - Snails and slugs belong to the phylum mollusca which they share with squids, cuttlefish and octopus.

Without bugs and slugs our world would be a very different place. This is because insects pollinate so many food crops and are a critical part of the food chain for many of the animals that we eat. Without bugs and slugs, our choice of foods would be drastically decreased. In addition, we would have a hard time moving around because of all the dead animals and plants lying undecayed. Creepy crawlies may be creepy but without them the world would be a sadder, smellier, quieter, blander and more boring place to be.

"If all mankind were to disappear, the world would regenerate back to the rich state of equilibrium that existed ten thousand years ago. If insects were to vanish, the environment would collapse into chaos." - E. O. Wilson

You may prefer to allow students to first observe the creatures outdoors. Later, the creatures are collected in bug catchers or petri dishes for observation in the classroom.

Safety – Provide students with a ruler or something similar to poke around with when looking for bugs and slugs so that they don't pick up dangerous creatures. Please also ensure that students are gentle with the bugs and slugs!

Concepts and definitions:

Pollination - the process by which pollen is transferred in the reproduction of plants, thereby enabling fertilisation and reproduction.
Decompose - make or become rotten; decay or cause to decay.

Activity: Bugs and slugs

What to do

Preparation: Collect a range of 'poking' tools, such as spoons, sticks or rulers. Print out a copy of Activity Sheet 1 and Activity Sheet 2 for each child.

Begin this activity by asking your class some of the following questions about bugs and slugs:

What are bugs and slugs?
What types of bugs and slugs can you think of?
What types of noises do bugs and slugs make?
How do bugs and slugs move around (hopping, slithering, flying, etc.)?

Give students a copy of 'Activity Sheet 1' and ask them what kind of bugs or slugs they think they might find in the yard at their centre. Have students seen some bugs and slugs in their yard when they've been outside? Ask them to fill in the activity sheet.

Once complete, give each student a copy of 'Activity Sheet 2' and organise children into pairs. Head out into the garden and ask each group to look for bugs or slugs.

As children look for bugs talk to your children about being safe with bugs:

Some bugs – such as ants or spiders – can bite.
Bugs shouldn’t be eaten – they may be poisonous.
Always check with an adult before you pick up a bug.

When the children have filled in their activity sheets, gather your children together and talk about the bugs and slugs that the groups found and the features that they discovered about their bugs and slugs. Use the Slugs and bugs identification sheet to help identify the bugs and slugs the children found.

Optional: Where do your bugs and slugs live? With your children, see if you can find any places where bugs might be living. You may see a spider’s web or an ant nest. Can you help the bugs by making a house for them so that they stay warm in winter and cool in summer? You could make a bug house out of a pile of sticks and leaves, or you can use the Build a bug house instruction sheet to make one out of milk cartons, other containers or cardboard.

Provocations:

I wonder what bugs and slugs we have in our yard.
I wonder what the bugs and slugs in our yard eat.
I wonder if we can find any bugs or slugs in the soil.
I wonder where the bugs and slugs in our yard live.
I wonder if any other animals eat the bugs and slugs that live in our yard.
I wonder what the biggest bug and the biggest slug in our yard is.
I wonder what the smallest bug and the smallest slug in our yard is.

Possible lines of development:

World’s biggest and smallest bugs.
Dangerous bugs (spiders, ants etc).
Looking after other animals in the garden (e.g. build a possum box, bird baths, logs and stones for bugs and small animals).
Arrange an 'Insect Incursion' for your children.
What should you do if you find a bug or slug inside?

Evaluation

Complete an analysis of learning, listing evidence about:

Belonging	Find something of interest
Communication	Express an idea or feeling
Exploration	Engage with challenges and persist when difficulties arise
Well being	Being involved

Embedding into daily practice

Grow flowers containing nectar. Some birds, mammals and bugs need nectar for food.
Provide hollows, rocks, logs and leaf litter, which are used by many little and large animals for shelter and nesting.
Don’t pour chemicals down the drain - these can hurt little animals in your local creek.

Sharing

Share with the school community what you are doing during Enviroweek in parent newsletters, children’s artwork and photographs.

Enviroweek Green Thumb

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Learning intentions:

Students will...

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