Insect Habitat-- Lesson Plan-- 3rd Grade

Third graders worked together to make an insect habitat on large butcher paper.  They had been studying habitats in their Science class.

We used Model Magic, beads, pipe cleaners and corrugated paper to make the insects and oil pastels to color them. 

The kids did a great job, but I'm not sure how I feel about Model Magic... we've been having a tough time getting the pieces to stay together.  Some of the heads and body parts had to be hot glued back together.  If I did this project again, we might just make the insects from painted papers. 

Insects, Spiders, Bugs and More-- 2nd Grade

The second graders drew a bug of their choice on white paper.  I had photos for reference and showed them how to use the pencil to create shading and how to blend it with a blending stub.  (I call them "smudgy sticks").  Later, they cut out their bug and glued it to another background page.

The students looked at this image by Louise Bourgeois and answered some discussion questions about the artwork.

Then, they filled out a sheet which prompted them to detail their experiences with insects or spiders.  What is a memory they have of an insect?  What would they do if they were an insect?  How do they feel about insects?  Have they ever had a dream about an insect?  If they had no answer, they could leave it blank.  They used watersoluble crayons to color a background page.  Using markers, they drew images related to insects, bugs and spiders on top of the background.  They could illustrate the prompts they responded to or create new imagery of their own.  Then, the pencil drawing was glued on top.