It’s virtual book club time with Toddler Approved and The Educators Spin On It- and we have read this book online as our library couldn’t get us a copy in time. So this months is The Very Quiet Cricket. Now I can tell this is a popular book choice for J as he has been going around reciting the bit about “rubbing his wings together” all week. It’s also requested regularly and it’s so nice to have the story read to us with some great animation as well all in the style of Eric Carle.
For a change we decided to take our activity outside (well the weather has been glorious) and we went hunting for some of the creatures that The Very Quiet Cricket met in his first day.
J looking through his bug explorer at the different bugs we found
Equipped with our bug explorer we searched the undergrowth trying to find any of the bugs – I didn’t want to tell J that most of them we wouldn’t be able to find in the UK garden, in fact we didn’t find any of the creatures mentioned in the book. We did however find some really interesting bugs and J got used to handling them, putting them into his bug explorer and then taking them out and returning them to the undergrowth.
Our first "bug" a snail
We first found some snails which J knew where they were from our Snail Hunt last week. Yes we had looked at them last year but not in our bug explorer – J liked the lines on the shell and the circles that he could see – we were able to talk about the spiral instead of circles and I have been asked to draw spirals over and over again for him to make some snails.
Next find was a red and black beetle
We have lots of little beetles in our garden at the moment – this red and black beetle was on our nettles which J has realised aren’t a good thing to touch so I had to put it into our bug explorer to have a look at – he thought at first it was a lady bird – we have had a few black with red spot lady birds in the garden but then realised it wasn’t as curved as they were. We also have some of my nemesis the red Lilly Beetles which J is in charge of finding amongst my Lilies and removing from them.
Our last find was a spider
As the theme for The Very Quiet caterpillar is the noise that the bugs make we listened out for any bug noises (quite difficult over the noise coming from the black bird nest at the rear of the garden) but we were able to hear the buzzing of a bee amongst the honey suckle. I am looking forward to taking J and T abroad where they will be able to find noisier insects as we are very limited in the UK.
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Great post – love it and the photos. Now that’s what I call “taking it outside.”
Susan Case recently posted..Gardening is for the Birds – and Us
You guys found a lot of great bugs! Looks like a lot of fun
thats so funny, we did exactly te same activity – i recon its the hot weather that just means everything has to be outside. You go much more interesting bugs than us though
The Monko recently posted..The Very Quiet Cricket
My children love bugs. I agree we are limited in the Uk, I remember lots of very noisy bugs in the US!
Emma @sciencesparks recently posted..What makes a good sandcastle?
A perfect activity to connect with the book! We love looking for bugs too!
Rebekah @ The Golden Gleam recently posted..I Spy Jar {The Very Quiet Cricket}
I love how being a Mom means that you take the time to go out and observe insects with our children and take such amazing photos of them. Great activity for this book. I have a feeling you’ll be using the bug explorer with J and T all summer long! Thanks for sharing on the Virtual Book Club!
This is really good idea. My little guy is always up for bug hunting…
Lilly Kai recently posted..Cupcake Ideas
Very nice ! Very nice ! I am super inspired by this month’s natural activities.
Since I don’t have the courage to come close to an insect without any glass between us, I’m really encouraged to fight this fear.
I don’t want my son to be like me.
maybe he will be like his father, who loves animal…
Soshanna recently posted..The Very Quiet Cricket
you beat a bug hunt, lovely photos
sarahmumof3 recently posted..Great Garden Moments
[...] Virtual Book Clubs organised by Toddler Approved – Jan Bretts Easter Egg, the Carrot Seed and The Very Quiet Cricket so it’s with great pleasure that I announce we will be joining together with 20+ other [...]
Stopping back to let you know that I featured this post on my Summer Carnival round up as an idea that inspires kiddos to be more hands on with nature! Feel free to grab a “featured on” button!
http://famigliaandseoul.blogspot.com/2012/06/all-year-round-summer-carnival-get.html
We’ve been finding all sorts of interesting bugs in our garden lately, too, including aphids (not so welcome), and stag beetles (fine as long as they keep their distance) – and we even discovered that stag beetles can fly! (Who knew?) Thanks for sharing at the Outdoor Play Party!
Jane @ Mama Pea Pod recently posted..{Outdoor Play Party: Party Games}
Ohhhh Stag Beetles – they are now really rare in the UK – we’re lucky that around June/July time we have some appear in our garden as well although I don’t like the flying bit either