Preschoolers love learning about insects! Whether it is spending time exploring and finding bugs outside, or learning about them inside the classroom, young children are fascinated by critters. These engaging, hands-on activities capture young learners' attention and give them a fun way to expand their knowledge of insects, with fine motor, literacy, and math skills thrown in! These preschool insect theme activities will be a hit at home or in the classroom.
1. Play Dough Bug Fossils
Kids can explore the art of fossil making using play dough and plastic insects. This is a great fine motor and sensory activity that will keep little hands busy creating and learning.
Learn more: No Time for Flashcards
2. Felt Butterfly Wings
Make a set of wings that kids can design and create themselves, then wear! Pair it with a pipe cleaner antennae headband and kids will enjoy hours of creation, imaginative bug play, and this butterfly craft.
Learn more: Fun Family Crafts
3. Bugs in a Jar Counting Game
Practice preschool math skills with this fun game for early counters. Place different amounts of bugs in jars and kids can count and order them. Switch up this activity and use real photographs or plastic insects for more hands-on fun!
Learn more: The Measured Mom
4. Bug Rescue Fine Motor Activity
Let kids practice fine motor skills as they rescue little plastic insects from a box, using tweezers or tongs. Make it more challenging by adding masking tape obstacles on top!
Learn more: Turner Tots
5. Fingerprint Caterpillar Counting
Kids love to finger paint! This insect math activity has kids making caterpillars and practicing one-to-one correspondence math skills using fingerprints on this fun preschool insect theme worksheet.
Learn more: Fun Handprint Art
6. Wiggle Worm Writing
This insect theme preschool activity uses a sensory tray to make letters, numbers, and shapes. A fun way to incorporate learning into play!
Learn more: Turner Tots
7. Symmetrical Butterflies
Preschoolers can practice cutting out paper butterflies using the symmetry method for this butterfly craft. Add drops of paint to one side and fold in half. Unfold and let dry to see unique and perfectly symmetrical butterfly halves!
Learn more: Super Simple
8. Fly Swatter Painting
Make bug crafts more hands-on by using a fly swatter! Splatter paint and let kids have fun "swatting" the paint and making fun pictures and designs! This activity is messy and fun, perfect for preschoolers!
Learn more: Play, Teach, Repeat
9. Stomp the Bug
This outdoor activity with sidewalk chalk gets kids moving and works gross motor muscles while getting energy out! Kids can use identification and classification skills to stomp the bug that the teacher describes. You can modify this activity to make lots of insect games, or let the kids make up their own!
Learn more: Happy Toddler Playtime
10. Bug or Not Bug Learning Tray
Have kids practice their sorting and identification skills with this bug or not bug learning tray and insect sorting activity. This activity provides different samples of insects and non-insects, and kids sort them accordingly! There are plenty of opportunities for fun insect play with this activity.
Learn more: A Little Pinch of Perfect
11. Pom-Pom Stamp Caterpillars-
Preschoolers love pom-pom stamps. Kids can make fun colored caterpillars and practice using color patterns in this fun bug stamp activity.
Learn more: Mrs. Plemon's Kindergarten
12. Coffee Filter Butterfly
This classic coffee filter and clothespin butterfly activity is a favorite for preschool learners and will be a great addition to your insect unit. Drop colors onto the filter and watch them expand to make a beautiful butterfly!
Learn more: Preschool Plan It
13. Bumble Bee Letter Sort
This matching game helps students find the lower case/upper case matches for all of the letters of the alphabet. Put the two sides together and get a bumblebee! This printable can be used for home preschool and preschool classrooms.
Learn more: Modern Preschool
14. Feed the Bee Alphabet Practice
Letter identification and sound practice are made fun in this feed the bee bug activity. This printable can be used by classroom teachers at school or parents at home Help kids locate and identify capital and lowercase letters, and make the sound before feeding the bee!
Learn more: Miniature Masterminds
15. Play Dough Bugs
Roll play dough into balls and connect them with pipe cleaner pieces with this insect play dough activity. Add legs and eyes and you've got caterpillars! Children can use their imaginations to create insects of different shapes and sizes. Play dough is a great option for a caterpillar sensory activity.
Learn more: Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls
16. Caterpillar Measuring Activity
This insect craft uses pom-poms to make caterpillar patterns that measure the lengths of leaves. Basic math and measuring skills are utilized with a fun, hands-on approach with a bug theme that makes learning concrete and tangible.
Learn more: Turner Tots
17. Move Like an Insect Gross Motor Game
Kids love movement and this activity allows them to move like a bug! This is a great opportunity for kids to use gross motor muscles and get some energy out. Follow the instructions on the block and have fun pretending to be an insect.
Learn more: Life Over C's
18. Bugs in Muck Sensory Bin
Insect sensory bins are a great way for kids to explore their surroundings. This one uses cornstarch, cocoa powder, and water to create taste-safe "mud" that children can dig through to find different creepy crawlies in a play insect habitat.
Learn more: No Time for Flashcards
19. Bee Finger Puppet
Yellow and black pipe cleaners turned into a finger puppet provide a fun insect activity that can be used for storytelling, imaginative play, or pattern practice.
Learn more: A Dab of Glue Will Do
20. Insect Sand Tray
This sensory activity helps kids use their imagination to write and create shapes in the sand, using a variety of different toy insects. Math and literacy skills can be incorporated for letter and number recognition, or kids can practice insect classification.
Learn more: Simply Designing
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