Guest Posted October 1, 2010 Share Posted October 1, 2010 Hello there everyone, Ive got an area in my class that really needs changing now as it has ran its course...Currently te chn are into minbeasts, finding spiders in the classroom, snails and wood lice crawling about outside, digging for worms and some are very well looked after, other unfortunaetly have come to a frightful end by being placed in the water tray outside, and much to the chn's excitement watch them wiggle in the water like snakes. Very sad i know. I'm wanting to develop a rsather large asrea into a minibeast haven and would love someideas thrown my way o develop it. I was thinking of collecting pet snails in a large container and doing an experiment to see if they like, cake, bread etc along with the usual leaves they eat. Also an investigation area that will include magnifying glasses, bug boxes, non fiction texts, markmaking resources etc. Does anyone have any more lovely ideas that have inspired their chn, would love to hear them zxxxxxxx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finleysmaid Posted October 2, 2010 Share Posted October 2, 2010 what about a wormery- use an old fish tank fill with layers of soil and sand and add worms wirh a sprinkle of leaves on top! watch them make pathways through the layers (i'm sure there are instructions on line but can't find them at the mo. We did a lovely project in this area a while ago using the half sphere cardboard inserts for hanging baskets to make minibeasts the children came up with some fab ideas! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 2, 2010 Share Posted October 2, 2010 I have GALS which when I'm in a nursery go down a treat, my partner doesn't like having them at home much!!! I was given a yoghurt pot full of eggs, I left one setting with about 40 of them in a tank!!! I took two with me! I think you have to be very careful with garden snails, there was something negative in the press recently. If you have soil, wood and bark, you will attract lots of minibeasts! I had a wormery which wasn't great as we could never see them!! I had to spend ages pointing them out. I think it's a good idea to teach children how to respect minibeasts, I am currently looking after a 9 year old boy and he kills everything he sees! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 2, 2010 Share Posted October 2, 2010 I too would agree that it's a good idea to teach children to respect the minibeasts they find eg. by not dropping them in the water tray or squishing them! We would never allow them to harm say a dog in the interests of child led learning, so why a helpless and harmless insect? There is also the danger of some of them enjoying the sense of power from the fact that they can kill something helpless which then leads to them moving on to harm bigger creatures or even people. It might seem extreme as they are only 3 or whatever at the moment, but sadly it is very true. As for your new area wormerys can be a problem when you end up not being able to see the worms, and those things with ants in them have a tendancy not to contain the ants too well! I've not heard anything negative about garden snails so this might be my choice as well, unless I anyone knows what the negative press was? Stick insetcs can be quite good but they have a tendancy to breed and then you end up with baby stick insects escaping the tank as they are so very tiny! Failing that a huge tray full of natural materials and fake insects can make for some excellent small world play! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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