Taste Safe Insect Hunt Tray

This week we set up an activity for the children to learn all about insects/ minibeasts but also tapping into the areas of learning. Not only is this activity simple and effective but you are assured to be calm as if they ingest any of the fake soil it is safe ( double check ingredients for allergies.)

To set up this tray you will need:

• Coco pops

• Fake Insects

• Magnifiers

• Pinchers

• Tissue paper- I used this to put into the other compartment to represent “grass”

Images, information , book of choice

All that is needed to do is crush up the Coco pops into a soil like substance and place your insects and other resources inside!

Our newest addition to the play room has been a peg board, this has been so effective displaying relevant information and even a safe place for a book that links to the tray for circle time!

So what does this tray teach the children? Even though its important to focus in on one intent for your activities this activity can be adapted for each individual child, Bellow we have listed what areas of learning this activity supports and how.

Communication and Language - throughout all activities you should be talking to the children to spark conversation. For older children it can be teaching them the different types of insects and asking them how many legs do they have? Or are they small or big? For the younger children you can focus on the colours of the insects or even simple counting.

Physical Development - If you add in the pinchers and magnifiers then this will support their physical development, by encouraging them to look through the magnifier, picking the insects up with the pinchers. This helps their hand eye co- ordination and fine motor skills: from the motion of gripping onto the magnifier, moving it to their face and manoeuvring the pinchers to picking up the insects and moving them to the other side.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development - Participating in this activity with a small group of children of all ages encourages the younger children to get involved in a a wide range of activities and helps them to grow in confidence. The special thing about being a childminder is we provide so many different activities for all ages so all children of all ages learn from one another , for example the younger ones learn from the older children ( role modelling.)

Maths - Asking the children how many insects are there? How many legs do they have? How many have wings? or if they are using the pinches taking them out of the "soil" and placing them into the "grass" , how many is left in the soil? This can be used to teach them/ introduce them to adding and subtracting.