Building Better Bug
Bodies
Today's
Snack: Bugs on a Log - Cut ribs of celery into three pieces. Spread the inside
"gutter" with peanut butter. Stick plump raisins on top.
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Sample bug
body-building parts to gather in advance:
Plastic eggs
Plastic wrap
Wire
Pipe cleaners
Springs
Green strawberry
baskets
Toilet-paper
tubes
Gift wrap
Kitchen
implements such as mini-tongs
Egg carton
sections
Colored foil
Nylon fastening
tape
Cotton balls
Colored plastic
links
Junk jewelry
Plastic straws
Paper cups
Clothespins
Bright fabric
Insects
have fascinatingly functional bodies. The things they can do with their amazing
array of body parts!
Did you
know:
- A honey
bee's wings beat 15,000 times a minute.
- The mole
cricket doesn't have legs up front - it looks like they're tiny shovels!
- The
butterfly's tongue is really a flexible tube that coils up into a spiral,
to be "unwound" deep into a flower.
- Grasshoppers'
legs have jagged edges to rub together and send signals.
- A scale's
mouth is like a bottle opener to pierce the stem or leaf and drink up.
- The enormous
eyes of the dragonfly let him see at all angles; they are like a ballroom
globe with many, many "facets," which are small, smooth, flat areas such
as you can see on a cut diamond.
- Many flying
insects have bristly legs to help them hang on to their prey.
- A fruit
fly's eyes have tiny hairs to help him feel as well as see!
- A longhorn
beetle's antennae may be three times as long as his body.
What's your favorite insect? Find
a picture of one whose body functions you like, or go from memory. Then
scrounge around for items such as those listed above that you can use to build
a model of your favorite insect. Let's build a model that shows how that bug's
body really works!
