apple Posted July 21, 2007 Share Posted July 21, 2007 Hi all and happy holidays to each and everyone of us okey dokey... need some help. i would like to set up an area in the nursery where the children can explore insects and other tiny creatures. Has anyone got something like this? though of giant african snails and stick insects as a starter. I'd like to know what kind of container they should be kept in and anything else to make this a 'bug world'. I thought about making a camolflage canopy over the top and kitting the area out with magnifying glasses etc. Can you think of anything else i could add. Looking forward to ideas, resources contact firms, dos and don'ts etc. Thankyou in anticipation apple Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
narnia Posted July 21, 2007 Share Posted July 21, 2007 (edited) my daughter keeps her land snails in a large fish tank,where they seem blissfully happy..................don't know about stick insects, but i have heard of people keeping them in large sweet jars which have air holes punched into the lids.....my guess is you wouldn't be able to keep mor ethan one or two this way!What about a wormery............and you can purchase ladybird and bee homes too, possibly insectlore?? Don't forget to have simple things such as an old cardboard box outdoors too, in the corner of your garden (if you have one?), as lots of minibeasts love them..........we do this and peep under it every few days, to count the slugs, snails, woodlice, worms etc which live underneath it! Our lead teacher happened to visit on one of our 'box' days and was enthralled by how much the children gained from it..........................one of the children was thrilled because a slug curled itself into a 'C' shape, which is the first letter of his name...........and he yelled with delight, 'look, it's saying hello, to C.......'....................fabulous stuff! be careful with spiders though, if you're nervous of them!.............I alwys remember my old group, when the children were running around screaming that there was a big spider on the floor.I am EXTREMELY 'nervous' about spiders, but, I decided i didn't want the children afraid...so went to investigate, and thought the spider was dead......it was curled up, and clearly, one of the children had stood on it, soooooo, in I went, best Mary Poppins voice..... 'oh, look, there's no need to be worried, he's very friendly and he's just having a sleep, let's put him outside where his friends are'......oh ho ho ho....spider firmly in hand, teeth gritted even more firmly, and i set off across the room with a trail of children following in my wake................only for the wretched spider to decide to 'wake up' in my hand!! So, I hope the children have eventually regained their hearing..........and recovered form the sight of me, running round the room, screaming and trying to shake it off my hand!!!!!!! Edited July 21, 2007 by narnia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 21, 2007 Share Posted July 21, 2007 Our local authority will not let you have stick insects in school- helath and safety!!! very strict on that and lots of other animals are completely at the discretion of the head. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apple Posted July 21, 2007 Author Share Posted July 21, 2007 Thanks for that Narnia. love the cardboard box idea and will make sure we so that too. saw some great stick insects at the education show this year. They were giants and were spiky in appearence; forget what they are called now but they were brilliant to handle, very gentle and totally fascinating. Sorry to hear that your LA are anti living creatures in school Blossom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Reb3 Posted July 22, 2007 Share Posted July 22, 2007 Leaving fruit outside such as apples is another good way of collecting insects. My class loved looking at how a range of insects had eaten their way into the fruit turning it into their own little home & there was a real collection of bugs inside there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MaryEMac Posted July 22, 2007 Share Posted July 22, 2007 What a great idea, Apple. Just be careful with the stick insects though. We had three which were fascinating to watch and some of the braver ones handled them, but the three turned into about 500 . We had a lot of trouble getting rid of them and even ended up on local TV news but that is another story. What about an ant farm, our children were fascinated and came in every morning looking for new tunnels. Let us know how it goes. Mary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apple Posted July 22, 2007 Author Share Posted July 22, 2007 thanks Maryemac will look into getting an ant farm and a wormery. Thought that the money we raise from the sponsored event could go to fund it. Would like to equip it with maynifying glasses saw some lovely brightly coloured wooden ones in a Nursery I visited recently- no idea where they are from- kaleidoscopes etc. Can you think of anything else that may be good for an investigating and exploring area? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apple Posted July 22, 2007 Author Share Posted July 22, 2007 thanks Maryemac will look into getting an ant farm and a wormery. Thought that the money we raise from the sponsored event could go to fund it. Would like to equip it with maynifying glasses saw some lovely brightly coloured wooden ones in a Nursery I visited recently- no idea where they are from- kaleidoscopes etc. Can you think of anything else that may be good for an investigating and exploring area? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 23, 2007 Share Posted July 23, 2007 Our local authority will not let you have stick insects in school- helath and safety!!! very strict on that and lots of other animals are completely at the discretion of the head. Just out of interest do you know what the risks with stick insects are, I know that there are some attached to african land snails although I have to say I did have them - but stick insects - would like to know just for future reference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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