During one of our science sections this week there was a suggested activity to go out and make a square, and count the bugs inside it. The girls thought that this would be a really fun thing to do, so instead of using rope or something else, we measured roughly equal length agapanthus stalks, and used those to make a rough square.
I asked Ivy where in the garden she wanted to try, and the first spot she picked was one in the shade. We’d brought the magnifying glass, so the girls got down on the ground and tried to see if they could find anything. What we learned is that there aren’t many bugs in our grass 😉 a few ants scurrying around, too quick, too small to really count properly.
Undeterred, Ivy decided to try another spot, and moved into the sun in another area of the backyard. I don’t think she was too keen to look in the actual garden, because she’s a little afraid of some bugs. Anyway, the next spot contained just ants as well, and a few mosquitoes which flew through the square. Lauren took her turn with the magnifying glass here and was pretty focused as she looked through the grass and tried to count the ants.
While the big girls looked inside the square, I looked outside, and noticed there were some more interesting bugs elsewhere. Including this little fella. He is one of the smaller praying mantis that we’ve seen around here – they are quite common and the girls love to watch them. After all having a turn of him walking along our skin we returned him safely to the garden.
Lauren asked if I could move one of the rocks so we could see what was under it – more ants, and some slaters too! She wanted to collect the slaters and bring them inside, but I’m trying to keep the bugs outside the house at the moment, and teach the girls that everything has an environment it’s happy in, and that we should leave animals where they will be safe and thrive.
I’d love to take our magnifying glasses into the bush one day and see if we could do something similar to see what cool insects we might be able to find in the woods. Not sure the kids will go for it though as usually when we’re out bush walking they like to move along the track as quickly as possible! lol