An Insects Lesson Plan for Preschool full of Play & Learning

An insects lesson plan for Preschool is easy because Preschoolers love learning about bugs! I like to begin my insects unit by showing lots of colorful pictures of different insects and talking about the characteristics of insects. I find a good picture that clearly shows the 3 main body parts-the head, the thorax and the abdomen. Then I move on to the 6 legs, and the antennae. While we talk about the 3 body parts, I ask the kids to touch their own heads, their chest for their thorax, and their own bellies for the abdomen. This is helpful because it makes the insect bodies a little more relatable, and helps them remember those key vocabulary words.

Bring Your Insects Lesson Plan for Preschool Outside Where the Bugs Are

One of the easiest things to do is to get he kids outside for a bug hunt! This accomplishes 2 things…your class gets a chance to explore bugs and insects in their native habitats, and it gets you out of your classroom! Because ants are usually pretty easy to find at our school, I focus on finding ants. I like to have some non fiction books about ants on hand to read and explore when we come back into the classroom. Books usually show the ant habitat that we aren’t able to see. Also, if the weather is rainy or cold, we have an alternative.

Combine 2 insect concepts in one fun center activity

I have found a super simple science/art center to bring 2 key learning concepts together! All you need is a big piece of brown paper cut into the shape of an anthill, some stamp pads, and dark markers. Set the anthill on a table and place the stamp pads and markers around it. Using your fingerprints, demonstrate how to stamp the ‘head’, ‘thorax’ and ‘abdomen’ by placing your fingerprint stamps close together. Then, using the markers, add the 6 legs and the antennae!

In one simple center you have touched on 2 main concepts of learning about insects-body parts and habitat!

For this and other fantastic Bugs and Insects ideas for Math, Literacy, Science and Art…check out this fantastic time-saving resource! Read about some fun activities for The Grouchy Ladybug here.

Have fun exploring!