Tag: learnthroughplay

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Build a Bug Hotel Activity for Kids

We love the book Bug Hotel by Libby Walden and Clover Robin. My kids like the idea of bugs living together in a cozy hotel so much that we thought we’d try building our own.

diy bug hotel for kids

For the “hotel”, I used a cardboard box with 2 bamboo utsenil box inserts from Dollarama. Then I placed a number of materials in the tray that the kids could put in the hotel for different insect habitats. The Bug Hotel book provides the perfect guidance for this activity. Our habitat materials were mostly gathered from around the house and outside. We used mini stumps, pine needles, sticks, pinecones, scrunched paper filler, seed heads, moss, egg carton, bamboo pieces, toilet paper rolls. I also cut some slits in pieces of cardboard to use for butterfly habitats. Everything was easy to collect, with the exception of the bamboo pieces. I bought the bamboo pole from Dollarama and had to use some muscle to cut it into 2-3 inch pieces with a saw.

bug hotel with cardboard and bamboo utensil box

Other Materials Used in the Activity:

  • Bug Hotel by Libby Walden and Clover Robin – Amazon
  • Bugs in the Garden Dirt Scented Sensory Bin in a Bag – Readymade Play Canada (code PLAY10) (note: I used 2 bags of dirt scented filler here)
  • Felt ladybug, bees, butterfly & Safari Ltd. life cycle figures – Sewing Seeds Play (code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
  • Artificial worms – Amazon
  • Tuff Tray – Scholar’s Choice
  • Small assembled Bug Hotel – Dollarama

*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

mini stumps with toy spider
dirt scented sensory filler and felt worm
bug hotel kids activity bee habitat

My kids really enjoyed this activity and used the book as a reference for creating various habitats for the different insects. There were a number of textures to explore as well as an exploration of containment as they tried to fill the open spaces with different materials. The small assembled Bug Hotel went outside immediately so that real bugs could move in as soon as possible.

bug hotel activity with bamboo, sticks, stumps and felt ladybug
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Monarch Butterfly Learn & Play Activity

“I gotta go! I gotta go! I gotta go to Mexico!”

flisat table monarch butterfly sensory activity

The kids have been loving the book, Gotta Go! Gotta Go! by Sam Swope about the monarch butterfly life cycle and migration. 

I thought it might be fun to show the kids a map of how far the monarchs travel, so they could get a better sense of their amazing journey. I put the map over our Lite Brite trofast insert and used the lights to plot the migration path from central Canada to Mexico. Along with the map, I included the Safari Ltd. monarch life cycle figures, a Folkmanis Monarch Butterfly finger puppet and a bin of sensory filler for the caterpillars and butterflies to play in. I also decided to make an easy monarch themed jar for scooping rice into. I used some paper butterflies from Dollarama and secured them to the jar with Mod Podge.

monarch migration activity for kids

The kids loved this activity and have enjoyed acting out the life cycle and journey of the monarch butterfly. And of course, we have read the book many, many times. They now know very well that monarch butterflies migrate to Mexico!

diy butterfly jar
monarch butterfly finger puppet
life cycle tray with monarch butterfly props

Materials

  • Gotta Go, Gotta Go by Sam Swope – Amazon
  • Felt monarch butterfly, Safari Ltd. Life Cycle of a Monarch Butterfly, Folkmanis Monarch finger puppet – Sewing Seeds Play (code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
  • Yellow Door Education Natural Flower Tray – Scholar’s Choice
  • Monarch Meadow sensory filler – The Creative Mix Shop
  • Wood Light Brite Insert – Eye Spy Club
  • DIY butterfly jar (paper butterflies from Dollarama and Mod Podge)

*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

boy playing with monarch butterfly activity
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Open-Ended Small World Play

Last week, I attended a Scholar’s Choice free webinar hosted by Teresa Hadley (Instagram handle @joys.of.learning) called “Small Worlds, Big Stories: Inspiring Storytelling and Writing Play”. Teresa showed many inspiring small world play ideas, but the one I was drawn to the most was a open-ended type of small world play where the young learners could choose what kind of stories they want to tell.

If you know me, then you know I love an epic setup – and I think there is a place for it. Both my kids and I enjoy it and it probably provides some good modelling for them. However, sometimes I worry I’m doing too much of the creative thinking up front and complicating the activity more than I need to. 

open-ended small world play invitation

So, when I saw Teresa’s simple, pared down approach to a small world play invitation – I wanted to try it and see what my kids did with it. 

What is Small World Play?

Small World Play is using imagination and small props to create miniature or scaled-down scenes where stories can take place. A common example would be using blocks and figures to create stories about a family living in a house. Kids will often start by acting out stories they are familiar with (e.g., eating dinner, taking a bath and brushing their teeth) and then will expand into more imaginative and fantastical stories as they get older.

Our Experience with this Open-Ended Small World Play Activity

My kids do a lot of small world play; however, this type of small world play invitation was a bit new for them. Of course, they are used to using toys and other loose parts to create their own small worlds in an “open-ended” manner, but they haven’t been presented with that type of play in an activity tray. They were a bit hesitant at first.

loose parts from nature
kids color peg dolls
threading branch through large wood bead

The progression of play was

1. They coloured the wood peg people as representations of themselves (of course they did, my kids love to colour natural wood! lol)

2. They started experimenting with the materials and threaded some branches through bead holes. 

3. Then the play kind of stalled, and they left the activity. 

4.  The next morning I tried modelling what they might do with the materials – I drew a road and put out a basic foundation for a house… and then the play exploded. 

5. They drew more roads, they each built their own house across the street from each other and put a sidewalk in between.  They veered into some STEM building with their houses, which was great! They made gardens, deserts where lizards could live, and stacked cups on top of each other for a “hideout” at each house. 

So, in the end, this turned out super fun and I loved watching their creativity. We will be trying more of this type of invitation, now that the kids have a taste for it. I think it adds some wonderful variety into the type of activities we do and encourages the kids to use their imagination and creativity in new ways.

loose parts small world play
nature loose parts small world play house
small world play garden and hideout

Materials

  • Tuff Tray – Scholar’s Choice
  • Within & Co. Mat and Wooden Loose Parts Large Surprise Bag – Sewing Seeds Play (save with code: HOUSEOFPLAY10)
  • Peg People, planting cups, tongue depressors, small stumps, river rocks – Dollarama
  • Loose parts from nature (sticks, branches, evergreens, pinecones)