Bugs

When Ammon was in 2nd grade, he had an insect collection project that was due in the fall. I remember us looking for bugs and insects and collecting them for weeks, trying to get the minimum number that was required to complete the project.

Well, this summer, it occurred to me that Jonah and Micah would be in 2nd grade this year and that meant that the bug project was coming up. Because I remember having a difficult time finding bugs with Ammon's project, I knew that with TWO boys it would even be harder, because that meant there were TWICE as many bugs we would have to find. So, we started collecting bugs in July! Every time they found a bug or a spider, they'd get a container out of the cupboard, put the insect or spider in it, shut the lid, and put it in the freezer. After the bug was frozen, they'd take the container out of the freezer and put the dead bug in a separate jar. By mid-September, I was so sick of the whole process and tired of all the containers they were using that had to be washed over and over!!! And after two MONTHS of collecting bugs, I was so glad when we finally put all of the bugs together on display boards and the boys could stop collecting them! We took all the bugs out of the various containers that were taking up space on a shelf and a counter, and laid them out on the boards. I was amazed at how many the boys had collected!

The only problem was that since both boys had helped in collecting the bugs, they couldn't remember which bugs belonged to whom. They remembered individually catching specifically some of them, but when we started pinning them on the boards, I just made executive decisions for them so that the boards would look about equal regarding the number and size of the bugs. 

Jonah's board had a butterfly, silk moth, cabbage white butterfuly, various moths, a chrysalis, an imported fire ant, a lady bug, gnats, a bee, a wasp, a damselfly, flies, mosquitoes, grasshoppers, spiders, a beetle, a centipede, a cricket, and an unidentified bug.

Micah's board had a butterfly, a large silk moth, a cabbage white butterfly, various moths, a chrysalis, a crane fly, gnats, a wasp, a bee, flies, a box elder bug, a long horned beetle, a black beetle, a centipede, a hobo spider, grasshoppers, and one very large winged unidentified insect.

The boys wrote their names on the display boards, typed up and cut out and taped on all the insect labels, and they wrote a report about their insect findings. Then they took their boards to school and had to present their collection to the class. They were and still are so proud of their bug projects! And rightfully so!