Mini Beasts (3)

Series 286: Mini Beasts We see insects and other small creatures almost every day of our lives. These “mini beasts” are one of the first introductions young children have to the natural world. They come in countless varieties, shapes, colours, patterns and sizes and are celebrated in favourite pre- school nursery rhymes, such as “Incy Wincy Spider”, “Ladybird, Ladybird” and “The Ants Go Marching”. In this series of Play School, we explore “mini beasts” through craft activities, play, songs and stories. We are also visited in studio by some real-life insects: slaters, snails, worms and even a stick insect! Episode 3 PRESENTERS Luke Carroll - Leah Vandenberg PIANIST Peter Dasent STORY “Slinky Malinki, Open the Door” by Lynley Dodd, Puffin Books New Zealand 1993 FILM Wildlife Montage (Play School, ABC) IDEAS FOR LATER Make a snail from play dough or clay! Roll out a long piece of play dough or clay and twist about three quarters of it into a shell shape. The rest of the play dough can be the head of your snail. Make some bugs from egg carton cells. You might like to make a caterpillar with three or four egg carton cells for a wriggly body, or an ant with just one egg carton cell for a small body. Paint your egg carton bugs and stick in short lengths of pipe cleaner for antennae. SONGS Mrs Snail Composer: Traditional Publisher: Origin/ABC Music Publishing There’s a Worm at the Bottom of My Garden Composer: Traditional Publisher: Origin/ABC Music Publishing I Have Made a Pretty Nest Composer: Ann Elliot Publisher: Steiner & Bell I Can Fly Composer: Lucille Wood Publisher: Chambers Harrap Who’s That Tapping at the Window? Composer: Traditional Publisher: Origin/ABC Music Publishing Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes Composer: Traditional Publisher: Origin/ABC Music Publishing Go, Go, Goanna Composer: Colin Buchanan Publisher: Universal Incy, Wincy Spider Composer: Traditional Publisher: Origin/ABC Music Publishing The Bee Composer: Hylas Irish & Aleta Rossiter MAKE AND DO  How to Make a Birds’ Nest with Hatching Eggs You will need: - A small basket - Craft bits and pieces, such as wool, ribbon, torn coloured paper or crepe paper and craft feathers - A paper plate - Coloured A4 paper - Safety scissors - Sticker dots - A peg - Craft feathers - Tape - Thin, white A4 cardboard - A marker To make a nest, fill the basket with craft bits and pieces. To make a mother bird, fold a paper plate in half for a body. For wings, fold a piece of A4 paper horizontally, concertina style (like a fan). Make a hole through the middle of the paper plate, where the wings should be, and push the folded paper through. Fan out each side. Add two sticker dot eyes and clip on a peg for a beak. Decorate with craft feathers. To make two hatching eggs, draw two big egg shapes on thin, white A4 cardboard and cut out. Fold each egg in half so, when the eggs are ready to “hatch”, you can fold one half down to reveal your chicks! Draw the head and body of two small chicks on coloured paper. The chicks should be small enough to fit inside the eggs. Decorate the chicks with sticker dot eyes, beaks and some craft feathers. Tape the chicks to the back of the folded eggs, so their heads poke up out the top of each half. Unfold the eggs to hide the chicks. Put your unhatched eggs and mother bird into their nest. When it’s time for the eggs to hatch, bend each egg in half, at the fold, to reveal your chicks! MAKE AND DO How to Make a “Buggy” Picture You will need: - Bits and pieces collected from your garden, such as stones, twigs, seed pods, fallen flowers and leaves - A small patch of dirt, such as an empty garden bed or an empty pot plant - Gardening gloves Put on a pair of gardening gloves and arrange the bits and pieces collected from your garden in a small patch of dirt to create different bug pictures. For example, line up stones in a row to create a long body for a worm, or create a stick insect with a body and six legs from twigs. You might also like to make a face from your bits and pieces, like the one pictured above. Remember to wash your hands well once you have finished.