How to Turn STEM into STEAM with Build a Bug Habitat

Welcome to our fourth week of the FREE ecourse, STEAM: Preschool Activities for STEM Enrichment, Click here to view week 1 , week 2 and week 3.

Preschool art is about exploration and hands on experiences. The focus should be on open ended discoveries and not so much on the final product. Let your preschooler lead the art activity. If you are doing the challenge below and your child wishes to create something other than a bug that is okay! What is important is giving the freedom to explore how to create with their hand and basic tools to stretch their imagination and creative thinking. If you are worried about mess, follow our 10 tips on working with young artists. Scroll below to read our Week 4 Art Challenge.

STEAM Preschool Art Challenge: Build a Bug Habitat

This activity is re-printed with permission from STEAM:Preschool Activities for STEM Enrichment

STEAM: Preschool Activities for STEM Enrichment

Learning Objective:

Create a bug’s environment with a variety of art mediums.

Materials Needed for Fall Bug Habitat

Air Dry Clay / Clay

Crayons

Watercolor Paint or Tempera Paint

Nature Objects (twigs, leaves, or flowers)

Paper Plate

School Glue or Hot Glue (optional and adult use recommended)

Directions for Making a Fall Bug Habitat

Step 1: Go on a nature walk and analyze what trees look like during the season of fall. Keep an eye out for any bugs you spot along the way. You may wish to have your preschooler record what they see in a science journal. Collect a few twigs as you take your walk.

Step 2: Once back at home, draw a tree on a paper plate with crayon. Paint with watercolor over the crayon to fill the paper plate (Lil B painted the plate blue to represent the sky). STEAM: Preschool Activities for STEM Enrichment Step 3: Glue a small branch or stick on to the paper plate to create a three-dimensional tree.

Step 4: Add details such as leaves or other branches to the paper plate. STEAM: Preschool Activities for STEM Enrichment

Step 5: Using air dry clay or regular clay, create a bug or insect for your tree.

STEAM: Preschool Activities for STEM Enrichment

Step 6: Once the clay is dried you may paint the bug and attach to your habitat.

STEAM: Preschool Activities for STEM Enrichment

It so happens Lil B had learned about spiders at school so he wanted to create a spider! He wanted to include a spider web for the spider so we added some white yarn to our tree. We don’t have a lot of fall leaves yet so we created some colorful fall leaves from coffee filters painted with watercolors.

Share with us your bug creations #STEAM.

And don’t forget join us!

Join us this SUNDAY for the third week of our ecourse with a Google Hangout on October 5th @ 8:00pm EST to hear tips and tricks for incorporating Science activities for your preschooler. We will be discussing along with Amanda from The Educator’s Spin On It our own personal experiences and tips for using technology with preschoolers.

No registration is required, but we would love for you to share in the blog comments how your child did, any observations you made, or other tips on how you are improving that area of academics with your preschooler.