Insects for children - interesting facts about insects for preschoolers

Our big planet Earth is very hospitable. It contains millions of creatures, including not only humans. Let's tell children something interesting about insects.

Tell me, is it possible to imagine our life without insects? They were one of the first to appear on our planet, and this was several thousand years before dinosaurs! Regardless of what feelings they evoke in you, they surround us everywhere: in nature, and even at home. Let's go out to the park or maybe the forest. Many insects hide from us under the leaves of trees, in the bark of a tree, or underground.

Mantis

Mantises got their name from their unusual appearance. They fold their forelimbs as if in prayer. Mantises are known for their fearlessness. They attack the enemy without hesitation. Praying mantises cannot be called large; they reach 10-12 cm in length. But when threatened, they do not run away, but remain in place and try to look larger and more impressive. Praying mantises spread their wings, spread their front legs and stretch upward. In this position they sway frighteningly to the sides. This strategy works even with much larger animals. They prefer not to mess with a creature that looks menacing and does not run away.

Mantises feed on insects, but can also snack on lizards, frogs, and even small snakes. They even eat poisonous spiders and ladybugs. Mantises are safe for humans. But if you make them angry, they can bite you painfully. Mantis eggs are protected by special capsules. They are not afraid of low temperatures or even toxic chemicals.

Butterfly

These graceful fluttering creatures always attract attention. Butterfly wings are very beautiful and children like them. And it’s so easy to catch them by the wings when they sit on flowers. But we need to explain to children that this cannot be done. Butterfly wings are covered with special scales that are easily erased when touched with your fingers. Butterflies with such damage to their wings will not be able to fly and will die.

Butterflies come in different sizes - from very tiny 2 mm in wingspan to giants of 28 cm. Their wings are beautifully painted in a variety of colors and patterns. Butterflies have an unusual, curled proboscis with which they feed. Their food is plant nectar and fruit juice.

Children will be very interested in learning about the life cycle of butterflies. A caterpillar emerges from the egg, which does not at all resemble the future bright beauty. The caterpillar feeds on plants and can eat them in huge quantities. When its time comes, the caterpillar turns into a motionless chrysalis, within which amazing transformations take place over a certain period of time - the caterpillar becomes a butterfly. And soon he leaves the doll house. This process can be observed with children. Bring home a caterpillar, place it in a clear container with enough food, and soon you will see it become a chrysalis and then a butterfly.

Lesson with multimedia presentation “Insects”

(slide 3)
Message of new information: acquaintance with the structure of a beetle
The teacher tells the children about the origin of the name “insects”,

suggests looking at the structure of a beetle and naming its body parts

-What is located on the insect’s head?

-How many pairs of legs does an insect have?

(slide 4)
Didactic game “Where do insects live?”
The teacher suggests naming the habitats of insects based on the image

(slide 5)
Guessing the riddle
The teacher asks you to guess the insect that lives in the house?

(slide 6 )
Message about bees
The teacher reports interesting facts from the life of a bee

(slide 7)
Products of bees' labor
The teacher asks you to name what benefits bees bring?

(Slide
Didactic game “Assemble a bee”
The teacher offers to assemble a puzzle of 8 cards and compare with the sample

(Slide 9)
Physical education lesson
(Slide 11)
Guessing the riddle
The teacher suggests answering who lives in such a house?

(Slide 12)
Message about ants
The teacher reports interesting facts about ants

(Slide 13)
Didactic game “Help the ant climb to its friend”
The teacher offers to help the ant and draw the path of the ant to its friend

(Slide 14)
Guessing the riddle
The teacher suggests answering why she was called that?

(Slide 15)
Message about ladybugs
The teacher reports interesting facts about the ladybug

(Slide 16 - 20)
Didactic game “Whose shadow?”
The teacher offers to choose from 3 insects the one whose shadow is depicted

(Slide 21)
Physical education lesson
(Slide 22)
Guessing the riddle
The teacher suggests answering who will emerge from the cocoon?

(Slide 23)
Message about butterflies
The teacher reports interesting facts about the ladybug

(Slide 24-26)
Didactic game “Who’s the odd one out?”
The teacher suggests choosing an extra picture that doesn’t depict an insect.

(Slide 27)
Protecting insects from enemies
The teacher suggests talking about how insects protect themselves from enemies

(Slide 28)
Insect protection
The teacher asks you to think and answer the questions:

—

Do we need to protect insects and why? -What can we do for this?

The teacher suggests thinking about if children had the opportunity to turn into insects, then who would they want to turn into and why?

Relaxation. "The Flutter of a Butterfly"

The teacher invites the children to lie down on the mat, close their eyes and remember the insect they liked.

(music sounds)

Imagine a beautiful summer day. You are lying on a green meadow. You feel warm and comfortable, you breathe easily and calmly. Imagine that you are light butterflies with large and beautiful wings. Your arms are light and light—like the wings of a butterfly. And your body also became light, light, flapped its wings and flew. With every inhalation and exhalation you float higher and higher in the air. You feel good and pleased. But now it's time to return home. Stretch and on the count of three, open your eyes. Smile at each other.

Informational resources:

1. Pictures from the site www.Yandex.ru;

2. S.I. Karpov, V.V. Mamaeva “Development of speech and cognitive abilities of preschool children” 6-7 years old S-P, 2010

3. O.A.Skorolupova. Classes for preschool children on the topic: “Insects.” M, 2006

Ant

These insects are very hardworking, friendly and organized. They are always in a hurry and running somewhere. It is very interesting for children to observe the life of an anthill in nature. Ants are very beneficial insects. They cleanse nature of garbage. One ant is stronger than an elephant. Of course, he will not be able to lift the load that an elephant lifts. But an ant can lift a weight that is 10 times its weight. And an elephant cannot even lift a load equal to its weight.

Ants are excellent builders. Their anthills are complex houses with apartments, well-designed ventilation, storage rooms, bedrooms, children's rooms, garbage bins and toilets. Ants strictly maintain cleanliness in their homes. Inlets and outlets serve to supply air inside. They are guarded by soldier ants.

There is a spacious room right under the roof of the anthill, which is the first to be heated by the sun's rays. Ants bask there in the spring. In the depths of the anthill there is a bedroom in which the ants spend the winter. There are separate storerooms for grain and meat food. There is also a “cow barn” with aphids. Ants exploit these insects by eating the sweet substance they secrete. They protect and protect aphids, carry them to the anthill for the winter, and take them out to new succulent plants in the spring.

In the anthill there is a special “royal” room for the ant queen. She is engaged in laying up to 1000-1500 eggs daily. Worker ants take care of it.

Ladybug

Everyone knows the cute red bug with black dots. Surely every child in the summer put a ladybug on his hand and said the rhyme: “Ladybug, fly to the sky, there are your children.” Children will be surprised to learn that this bug is actually a poisonous predator. Ladybugs destroy aphids, dangerous garden pests. They are even distributed in fields and gardens specifically for this purpose.

The red coloration of the ladybug signals to birds and other enemies that it is poisonous. When attacked, she injects a sharp-smelling liquid from her paws. This smell warns predators of danger. Ladybugs also know how to pretend to be dead to save their lives.

About insects for children 6-7 years old

Conversation for older preschoolers “Journey to the world of insects”

Our big planet Earth is very hospitable.
It contains millions of creatures, including not only humans. Let's tell children something interesting about insects. Tell me, is it possible to imagine our life without insects? They were one of the first to appear on our planet, and this was several thousand years before dinosaurs! Regardless of what feelings they evoke in you, they surround us everywhere: in nature, and even at home. Let's go out to the park or maybe the forest. Many insects hide from us under the leaves of trees, in the bark of a tree, or underground. Who are insects There are countless insects on earth. This is the most numerous and diverse class of animals. These include hard-working bees, bumblebees, wasps, grasshoppers, all kinds of beetles, flies, dragonflies... Insects have a number of distinctive features, the presence of which classifies them as their species. Conventionally, they can be divided as follows: • The word “insects” itself comes from the word “incise” and literally means “an animal with notches.” All insects have notches. It looks as if the insect's body is divided into separate joints. • The body of an insect consists of three parts - head, thorax and abdomen. • All insects have 6 legs and wings. Attention: centipedes and spiders are NOT insects. There are about three million species of insects in nature, but scientists have studied only about a million. The number of insects exceeds the number of all animals and fish on earth and even people. Can you imagine how many there are? Let's talk about some of them separately. And it is best to introduce children to insects through their pleasant representatives. Butterfly

Let's start with the most beautiful species - Butterflies. Butterflies feed on the nectar of flowers, thereby pollinating plants. The butterfly is known for its amazing metamorphoses. In the summer season, they lay eggs in the ground or on plants, from which the caterpillar hatches; after a while, the caterpillar enters the pupa stage (this is a small cocoon in which the future butterfly develops). The cocoon hangs practically motionless until the fruit ripens, and then a beautiful butterfly hatches. Dragonfly

The dragonfly is an equally beautiful insect in nature. You can meet a dragonfly in the summer, on the shore of a reservoir. They come in different colors: black, white, blue and green. The dragonfly has 4 wings, two of which are slightly longer; they serve as its controls, literally like a steering wheel in a car. The eyes of a dragonfly are facets, shimmer with all the colors of the rainbow and occupy almost the entire space of the head; they consist of small eyes. There are approximately 28 thousand of them! Ladybug In nature, it is not difficult to recognize this insect. Even the smallest child is friends with the ladybug. Probably, each of us said: “Ladybug, Fly to heaven, There your children eat candy, They give it to everyone, but they don’t give it to you.” It turns out that the ladybug is not so harmless. She is a predator, feeding on aphids, crickets, spiders and other insects that harm plants. This type of beetle brings great benefits to our nature. Ant

One of the social insects. The ant's head, chest and abdomen are connected by a thin stalk; it has six legs and a pair of jaws, which are used for grinding food and protecting it from enemies. Ants live in flocks, each of them is divided into castes that perform their own functions: they build a nest, get food, breed offspring, and some types of ants have their own castes of soldiers, they are distinguished by especially large jaws. Bee

This is one of those insects that bring invaluable benefits to humans. They are loved by many... And internationally recognized as the most hardworking insects. The bee's body is painted in black and yellow stripes, there are wings and a proboscis, with which they collect nectar (and, with the help of special saliva, turn it into honey). Every bee has a stinger, which is located in the back of the body; it serves for protection. When a bee thrusts its sting into an enemy, the sting remains in the victim, and the bee dies. Wasp

The wasp is a close relative of bees. Wasps are slimmer than bees and are lighter in color. Unlike a bee, a wasp can sting many times without sacrificing its life. Wasps also live alone, mainly in burrows on the ground, in tree trunks, or under the eaves of buildings. To reproduce, the wasp pushes a fly or spider into the nest, paralyzes it with its sting and leaves a larva on the victim, which eats this victim as it develops. Fly

This is the insect that most often flies to visit us. The fly is black or brown with a blue or green tint. She has two large eyes, which are divided into 4 thousand facets, and small fluffy antennae that serve her to detect food. Flies taste food with the help of their paw; it is with their paw that they feel the taste and understand whether the food is edible or not. In fact, flies are very dangerous for people; they carry a bunch of infections (typhoid, anthrax, tuberculosis and much more). They can carry the infection 20-25 kilometers. Grasshopper

These are green insects that hide in thick grass. They have large paws that allow them to jump high. It is noteworthy that the grasshopper’s legs contain a hearing organ. Grasshoppers feed on grass and fruits. But there are species of grasshoppers that eat small insects. Author: Lyudmila Potsepun

We recommend watching:

Quiz with answers for children of the preparatory group on the topic “Insects” Tale of the Maybug for children 3-6 years old Tasks for speech development on the topic: Insects Notes of GCD in the senior group of kindergarten. Topic: "Insects"

Bee

Hardworking bees provide humans with tasty and healthy honey. Their shaggy body is covered with villi and has a striped color. Bees use their long proboscis to suck nectar from plants. They process it and turn it into honey. Bees store honey in honeycombs. In the cold season it serves as food for them. To ensure a well-fed winter, bees work tirelessly all winter and summer.

Bees live in large hive families of several thousand insects. Each family member has his own responsibilities. The “queen” lays eggs, builders build honeycombs, workers collect nectar, deal with larvae and guard the hive. Bees build their houses from wax. They make honeycombs out of it with cells in the shape of regular hexagons. The cells are connected to each other and are all the same size, as if the bees were using a ruler.

People obtain honey in a way that does not harm the bees. They only take a small portion of the honey from the hive. Previously, bees were only wild. To get honey, people had to look for bee houses in the forest. It's difficult and long. Then they came up with the idea of cutting down trees with hollows inhabited by bees and placing them in a convenient place. And after that, people began to build special houses for bees - hives - and populate them there. A bee city of hives is called an apiary.

Bees have a stinger and they bite very painfully. But they always do this only for protection. There is no need to be afraid of bees, but you should treat them with caution and respect.

Fly

Interesting facts about flies

The most dangerous type of fly lives in Africa, they are called “tsetse”. They carry the sleeping sickness virus, which kills tens of thousands of people and animals every year. Tsetse flies attack any moving warm object, even a car. The exception is the zebra, which the fly perceives as just a flickering of black and white stripes.
The life of a fly is short - from 8 to 20 days, depending on the environment
Flies live in all corners of the planet. Their number exceeds 750,000 species.

Wasp

Wasps are similar to bees, but they are completely different insects. They also love sweets and feed on flower nectar and fruits. But they don’t know how to make honey. Sensing something sweet, the wasps immediately fly away. Therefore, when relaxing in nature, you need to be careful. A wasp sting is very painful. The insect stings if you accidentally crush or step on it.

Wasps hang their houses on tree branches or in attics. They make them from paper. Wasps scrape wood with their jaws and mix it with their saliva. From these lumps they make thin strips of paper, from which they build multi-layered, durable and warm houses. The female wasp lays eggs in them. And the rest of the wasps take care of the larvae that emerge from them. Under no circumstances should you touch wasp housing. The insects immediately rush to their defense and attack.

Grasshopper

It is not easy to spot a green grasshopper in the grass. You can only hear its loud chirping. Grasshoppers have a slender body, long antennae and powerful legs, with which they can jump very high. Their ears are located on their legs. And grasshoppers “sing” using their wings. They rub them against each other, like a bow against the strings of a violin, and the result is a loud chirping sound. Grasshoppers, seemingly harmless at first glance, are predators. They hunt butterflies, flies, and insect larvae. Grasshoppers escape from their enemies with the help of protective coloring and dexterity. In summer, females hide their eggs in the ground. In the spring, larvae will emerge from them, which will soon become grasshoppers.

Books about insects

This is truly an amazing and unique world of insects. When talking with children about insects, pay attention to interesting books, among which I can recommend my book “The World of Insects.”

"WORLD OF INSECTS"

I also suggest you read fairy tales about insects:

Ivan Andreevich Krylov “Dragonfly and Ant”.
Vitaly Valentinovich Bianchi “The Adventure of the Ant”
Korney Chukovsky “Tsokotukha Fly”
Larry Yan Leopoldovich “The Extraordinary Adventures of Karik and Valya”
Complete encyclopedia "Insects"
The series of books “Entertaining Zoology” from Alpina Publisher will delight you with an extraordinary number of amazing facts in the animal world.

And here are poems and riddles about insects.

Dragonfly

Dragonflies are very ancient insects. They appeared about 350 million years ago. Swift and fast, they are created by nature to hunt and attack. They fly incredibly fast and are able to change the direction of their movement with lightning speed. This can often be seen in the summer. Dragonflies land anywhere very rarely. They spend almost their entire lives in flight; their legs are not at all adapted for walking. And they fly at the speed of a car - up to 14 km/h! Dragonflies can control their two pairs of wings independently. They can fly forward, backward, sideways and hover in place. Dragonflies have simply huge eyes, which consist of 28 thousand individual eyes. These insects are very voracious. In just an hour they can catch and eat up to 40 flies!

Mosquito

These biting flying insects are familiar to every child. Not a single summer is complete without itchy bite marks, which cause a lot of anxiety for children. It is interesting that only female mosquitoes bite. Males are absolutely harmless and feed on plant nectar. When a female mosquito bites, it injects saliva into our skin, which contains special substances that slow down blood clotting. It is this that causes redness, swelling, itching, and in some, a severe allergic reaction.

The squeak of mosquitoes is created by the rattling of their wings. Mosquitoes live only 1-2 months. During this period, females drink 5-7 times more blood than their own weight and lay up to 300 eggs. Eggs develop in stagnant water. Air-breathing larvae emerge from them. That's why they float on the surface of the water. The larvae then turn into pupae, from which mosquitoes then emerge.

Firefly

The flashes of these bugs on a summer night give a feeling of magic and wonder. The glow is produced by a special chemical reaction in the firefly's body. Their light comes in red-yellow and green shades, of varying duration and brightness. And they can glow in different ways. The glow can be continuous, intermittent, pulsating, or flashing. In different species, males, females, or both glow. Fireflies are predators and hunt other insects.

Bugs and spiders: the life of insects in children's books

Gnomes and fairies are not the only small creatures about which children eagerly read fairy tales. Bugs, worms and spiders also become objects of close attention and interest. While many adults are uncomfortable with the idea of landing a caterpillar on their hand or studying a huge fly on glass for a long time, children look at the world of insects without prejudice.

The desire to look at macro photography of frighteningly big-eyed dragonflies or spider legs covered with tiny fibers comes at an older age. And kids enjoy listening to “The Tsokotukha Fly” or reading about the adventures of an ant, and their attention is not at all focused on the appearance of the heroes. Moreover, illustrators smooth out the corners: they depict insects as looking like little fairy-tale folk.

So why do insects turn out to be heroes, interesting on a par with lions or animate toys?

First of all, they are incredibly small. The biggest bumblebee will still fit in a matchbox! The world of insects is completely different; it is not so easy to see with your own eyes. The beauty of the adventures of Karik and Valya, as well as the incredible transformations of Barankin and Malinin, is that they personally see the world around them the way a spider or butterfly sees it. Incredibly huge and full of quirky little details.

Small living creatures and insects become a fertile background for talking about respect for nature, as in Eduard Shim’s story “A Beetle on a String.” For the hero Viktor Dragunsky, a firefly in a box turns out to be more valuable than a favorite toy, because it looks like a miracle, a little star. And also because, unlike a plastic dump truck, it is alive and glows.

Roald Dahl turns the usual course of history about the interpenetration of the human world and the world of insects. Usually people get tiny and get to know the insects better, but in James and the Wonder Peach it is the insects that grow to enormous sizes. It turns out to be fun to be friends with them: the main character can settle a centipede on the sofa or talk with a huge grasshopper... The main thing is that his life certainly can no longer be called boring!

Secondly, they are mysterious. An anthill or a beehive is arranged according to a strict pattern, and each member of the insect society copes with its tasks easily and confidently. The authors play on the inherent traits of certain insects and tell stories about sports competitions (“Report from the Jucamo Stadium” by V. Bianchi) or about hardworking ants constantly engaged in some active activity (“Ants Don’t Give Up” by O. Secor). Eric Carle makes the caterpillar's gluttony an occasion for a story about flowers, various vegetables and fruits, about the life cycle of a butterfly, and at the same time about the fact that overeating is harmful.

In the fairy tales of Yuri Dmitriev, the inquisitive young Mushonok gets acquainted with many representatives of the insect world, studying which legs, wings and eyes are which. On his way he meets water striders, spiders, butterflies and beetles. They all look different, behave differently, and the structure of their bodies is directly related to their habitat and main activities.

Thirdly, whatever one may say, spiders and insects are very creepy creatures, and this trait also turns out to be attractive to those who are gradually exploring the world. An ominous spider destroys the idyllic holiday of the Fly-Tsokotukha (and is defeated by the brave Komarik), the same eight-legged villain kidnaps Bibigon from another fairy tale by Chukovsky (and is also left with his nose). The queen bee from the fairy tale of the same name by Grigory Dikov retains her sharp, stinging character. A strange meeting took place with Kuzma: it so happened that he, without knowing it, promised to marry the queen of the bees, but in fact he loves someone else. But Kuzma, like a real hero of a Russian fairy tale, defeated her with cunning and knowledge of bees’ characteristics and habits.

Of course, heroes do not remain in one role. The spider Charlotte from the book by Alvin Brooks White cares about her friends and tries to help them in every possible way. And the red-haired and mustachioed Cockroach, whom all animals were afraid of, is now not necessarily a negative hero. In Arbenin’s book “On Cockroach Paths,” Cockroach is one of the main characters, along with Bedbug. Insects, which we rightly dislike in everyday life, evoke empathy in the reader, because their journey through the apartment is fraught with many dangers! And these characters are endowed with the most human qualities and character traits.

Be that as it may, the world of insects can bewitch. In Tatyana Mavrina’s illustrations for Yuri Koval’s stories, golden and blue swallowtails and soft blue wrens resemble flowers in their beauty. But they are still lighter and more airy, which is why they flutter over the field, not tied to the ground. And here is a caterpillar of a female bear crawling along a sandy path. Very soon she will become a beautiful night butterfly, but now she is enjoying the silence of the forest. Mavrina’s drawings are incredibly picturesque, and large colored strokes convey the features of the pattern on the wings so accurately that not a single insectologist will find anything to complain about.

Classic children's stories about insects - like many fairy tales, in fact, are about people and the relationships between them. About how important it is to be honest, kind, and responsive. Modern stories also find little heroes, and the moral side remains just as important in new stories.

“Superworm” by Julia Donaldson is a tribute to popular heroes with incredible abilities, however, his main superpower is the desire to help his neighbor. It saves bugs and frogs thanks to its length and elasticity, and in its free time it can easily turn into a jump rope for little bees. He has many friends - and they come to the rescue when the superworm cannot free himself from the spell of the evil lizard witch.

Modern beetles can also be artists, like Marvin from Alice Broach’s book “Masterpiece,” and solve fascinating detective mysteries along with their great friends - eleven-year-old boys.

Chafer

In the spring, in May, large beetles appear in the green forest. Their backs look like smooth brown acorns. They are called May beetles or beetles. They live only one month, during which they lay eggs. Khrushchi are dangerous pests. Their larvae live in the ground, large, with powerful jaws. They feed on plant roots. The larvae live in the ground for 3-4 years and during this time they eat everything around them. Where there are many larvae, the plants dry out and die. The larva turns into a pupa, and in the spring into an adult beetle. He breaks his way and flies up to freedom.

stick insect

Amazing and unusual insects. They live mainly in the tropics and are exotic for our area. They really look like sticks in appearance and color. But there are species that look like pieces of bark and leaves. They are even classified as a special class - ghosts. Stick insects can range in size from 2 cm to 35 cm in length. These insects are ideally suited for camouflage. Even when moving, they slowly sway to the sides, like branches swaying in the wind. And at the slightest danger they freeze in place. A frozen stick insect cannot be distinguished from the surrounding nature at all. Predators do not perceive it as prey and leave. Stick insects feed on plant leaves, fruits, and berries.

In a cruel world where all insects fight for their lives, stick insects have chosen their path. They are not aggressive, they do not have sharp teeth or claws, and they cannot run fast. Their only method of defense is to be invisible and live a quiet life in the surrounding vegetation.

Draw children's attention to the world around them, to the insects that exist in nature. And such as stick insects, butterflies, large beetles can be seen in special zoos with insects - insectariums. Watching them is very interesting and educational. Children learn to understand and protect nature and treat every insect, even the smallest one, with respect. After all, every insect is needed on our planet for some reason.

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Who are insects

There are countless insects on earth. This is the most numerous and diverse class of animals. These include hard-working bees, bumblebees, wasps, grasshoppers, all kinds of beetles, flies, dragonflies...

Insects have a number of distinctive features, the presence of which classifies them as their species. Conventionally, they can be divided as follows:

The word “insect” itself comes from the word “incise” and literally means “animal with notches.” All insects have notches. It looks as if the insect's body is divided into separate joints.
The insect's body consists of three parts - head, thorax and abdomen.
All insects have 6 legs and wings. Attention: centipedes and spiders are NOT insects.

There are about three million species of insects in nature, but scientists have studied only about a million. The number of insects exceeds the number of all animals and fish on earth and even people. Can you imagine how many there are?

Let's talk about some of them separately. And it’s best to introduce children to insects through their pleasant representatives: