Mini Beasts (5)

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 5 PRESENTERS Karen Pang & Teo Gebert PIANIST Peter Dasent TOLD STORY The Mini Beast Ball (A story told by the Play School team) FILM Tulip Time (Play School, ABC) IDEAS FOR LATER Make a night-time garden collage by pasting newspaper, magazine & coloured paper cut-outs onto a piece of black cardboard or paper. Paste on a moon, trees, flowers, bushes or anything you like. You might like to add some night-time mini beasts, such as an owl or a firefly. Make a peg firefly or dragonfly by twisting a small square of cellophane or tissue paper in the middle and taping it to a peg for wings. Make up a dance to a piece of music you like. SONGS Tiptoe Through the Tulips Composers: Al Dubin & Joe Burke This Little Light of Mine Composer: Harry Dixon Loes Incy Wincy Spider Composer: Traditional Publisher: Origin/ABC Music Publishing Spots Are Great Composers: Peter Dasent & Mark Barnard Publisher: Origin/Control Heel and Toe Polka Composer: Traditional Publisher: Origin/ABC Music Publishing MAKE AND DO How to Make a Lantern You will need: - A paper gift bag with handles - Safety scissors - Coloured cellophane - Tape - Recycled newspaper - A small LED torch Cut a shape, such as a circle, square, or triangle, from one face of the paper gift bag. Cut the same shape from cellophane, but make it slightly larger than the shape you have cut from the paper bag. Tape the cellophane shape over the shape in the paper bag. Open up the bag and sit it upright. Scrunch up some old newspaper and put it in the bottom of the bag, to weigh it down. Stick the torch to the back of the paper bag, so it will shine through the cellophane when turned on. Use the handles of the gift bag to hang up your lantern. MAKE AND DO How to Make a Garden Painting You will need: - A large piece of calico - Thin A4 cardboard - A pencil - Safety scissors - Paint This activity can get messy, so cover your workspace in some old newspaper or a plastic worksheet, put on an old shirt or painting smock and keep a bucket of warm soapy water and some old towels on hand. Draw a flower shape on a piece of cardboard and cut out to make a stencil, with a flower shaped hole in the middle. We made a tulip stencil. Lay the calico down flat on your workspace. Place the flower stencil onto the calico and paint over the surface in any colour you like. You might like to use green paint for the leaves and stem of your flower, and a different colour for the petals. Remove the stencil to reveal a colourful flower. Use the same stencil to paint a few more flowers on the calico. To make a bug stencil, draw a round shape on a piece of cardboard and cut out. Place the stencil on the calico and paint over the surface. Remove the stencil to reveal a round body for a bug. Dip a finger into a different colour of paint and decorate your bug with spots, stripes, legs and antennae. You might like to paint a red ladybird with black spots or a yellow bee with black stripes. Hang your garden painting out to dry.