This post brought to you by The Orkin Ecologist. All opinions are 100% mine.
October seems to be pest season in our house. From the bee that I caught at the bottom of my basement stairs to all of the creepy, crawly spiders that have been scurrying across my floors, I'm not too happy about our visitors. I prefer that they stay outdoors and leave my house to me and my bare feet.
This weekend, though, I invited a few spiders and insects and bugs (oh my!) into my house for a special occassion. AJ, my 3rd grader, and I had SO MUCH FUN completing a just-for-fun science project about bugs…and we learned a ton. Today, AJ took his project to school to share with his class. I wish I could be a fly on the wall to see him teach his class all of the cool things we learned together this weekend.
Our "Scary or Deadly?" Science Project
Because it’s so close to Halloween, I thought it would be fun to create a creepy-themed project, and I found the perfect resource on The Orkin Ecologist to help us pull together the information that we needed.
First step….research!
We started off by doing some research about a handful of bugs that are deadly and others that are just scary. Quite a few of the bugs that made it onto our list were a surprise (I totally thought that the brown recluse would have been on the deadly list!). We printed off some information about each of the creepy crawly creatures (along with the answer to the "Scary or deadly?" question), gathered a picture of each one (my skin was crawling after Googling all of those spiders and insects, but NONE had me squirming as much as the human bot fly!).
Next step…assembling the project!
I gathered a bunch of supplies: a big poster board, a bunch of markers, glue sticks, colorful papers, scissors, tape….and a few plastic bugs to add a little "dimension" to the poster.
AJ and I cut out our bug pictures and snippets on each creature, then lay everything out on the poster to create a lift-the-flap board. One of my favorite parts of the creation process was seeing AJ matching the pictures of each insect and spider to it's description. By the time we were done, he KNEW his bugs!
Last step…share!
AJ was excited to share everything he'd learned with Reese, who was equally eager to come over and try out our lift-the-flap poster. She really got into guessing the answer before lifting the picture to see if her guess was right.
Today, AJ brought his project to school to share with the rest of his class, and I can't wait to hear how excited the other 3rd graders (and his teacher!) were.
Keep exploring!
There's more to learn at The Orkin Ecologist! Check out all of the fun (and sometimes creepy) information from Orkin – it's perfect for both the novice and the experienced science lovers. Orkin has dedicated scientists who study bugs – because every creature has it's place on the planet, and the more we know the better we can live and thrive together.
What project would The Orkin Ecologist inspire you and your kids to do?
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I despise bugs, all bugs, but am fascinated and eager to learn at the same time. Your little guy did an awesome job. I actually miss those days of class projects. So nice to see his share what he learned with his sis too!
my nephew would love this project and playing this game! orkin really has a great site for fun info. learning about spiders in particular is a little creepy for me but for many kids i am sure it is fascinating and fun!
My son loves learning about bugs….I didn’t know that Orkin was share this info! Very cool!
What a fun project!! I would play that game!
This is really cute! I’m going to be at the science fair project stage really soon! I always was clueless as a kid what to do for my project. Thanks for the idea.
Oh my goodness, what fun. I love how you did the flip-up info… I bet everyone had a blast with it…
That’s an awesome way to learn!! When we lived in AZ, they did something similar with the kids at school when they were young. SO many yucky, gross and deadly creatures!! super job!!!
That project turned out great. I bet he learned so much. I would have to say that some of those bugs creep me out!
Wow he did a really great job on that!
What a FUN and CREEPY (yet beautifully educational) project to do with kids! I love this ;) I recently learned about blood sucking insects with my son….. ewe!
Great Scary or Deadly bug project! I bet those 3rd graders LOVED the game.