Mini Beasts (Thursday)

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 4 Come along with Leah and Teo as they create kitchen space bugs, make some picnic creatures with fruit and vegetables and see a picnic by a river through the windows. PRESENTERS Leah Vandenberg – Teo Gebert PIANIST Peter Dasent TOLD STORY The Inchworm and the Grasshopper (A story told by the Play School team) FILM Picnic at Torrens River (Play School, ABC) IDEAS FOR LATER Make a cardboard roll rocket! To make the nose of your rocket, cut a small circle from cardboard and make a slit in the middle, so you can roll the circle into a cone shape. Secure the cone with tape and stick it to the top of the cardboard roll. Stick red streamers, or thin strips of crepe paper or cellophane, to the other end of the cardboard roll for flames. Go on a picnic and look out for different types of birds. Move like different animals - jump like a frog, slither like a snake and creep like a mouse! SONGS Making Things Composers: Scott Aplin & Phil Barton Publisher: ABC Music Publishing Rocket Song Composer: Peter Dasent & Mark Barnard Publisher: Origin/Control The Ants Go Marching Composer: Traditional Publisher: Origin/ABC Music Publishing Everybody Likes Fruit and Vegetables Composer: Jay Mankita Publisher: Dreams on Tape Music Jump and Jiggle Composers: Edna G. Buttolph & Evelyn Beyer Publisher: Willis Music Co. Incy Wincy Spider Composer: Traditional Publisher: Origin/ABC Music Publishing Inchworm Composer: Frank Loesser Publisher: Kobalt Music Publishing Two Little Apples Composers: M. Miller & Paula L. Zajan Publisher: EMI Music MAKE AND DO How to Make Picnic Creatures You will need: - Small zip lock bags - Fruit and vegetables, small or cut into bite size pieces, such as blueberries, melon balls, cherry tomatoes or chopped celery - Pegs - Pipe cleaners Fill a zip lock bag about a third of the way full with fruit or vegetables. Squeeze the air out of the bag and zip it up. Scrunch the bag in the middle, pushing fruit to either side, to create a butterfly shape. Peg the bag in place. Tie pipe cleaner antennae around the peg. MAKE AND DO How to Make Space Bugs You will need: - A collection of safe, unbreakable items from your kitchen, such as a small sieve, an egg beater, a small colander, a mini fry pan and a wooden spoon - Pipe cleaners - Aluminium foil Create bugs using safe, simple kitchen objects. Use pipe cleaners to attach different objects, or to create antennae or feelers. For example, make a “Zip, Zap, Boing Bug” by attaching two pipe cleaner antennae to the front of a sieve; an egg beater with pipe cleaner antennae tied around the middle could be a “Spin, Dive, Egg Beetle”; and, a colander with two pipe cleaner antennae, each with a small piece of foil scrunched onto the end for an eye, could be a “Colander Critter”. Use your imagination to create your own exciting space bugs!