Chip Bee Science Playdates
春蚓秋蝉 – each insect plays an important role in the world
Investigating Insects
As usual, we start with 10 minutes of free play at different stations until everyone arrives (with exciting and new post-Christmas toys!) Our book this week is 丛林里边 谁在叫 Cónglín lǐbian shéi zài jiào (Jungle Sounds), an interactive story exploring creatures and sounds of the jungle. We will then join in together dancing to 颜色儿歌合集 (the colours song) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gop5IOZtVrc) and practice naming our colours before we embark on our forest exploration (within the home garden).
Please ensure every child is accompanied by a guardian and wears clothes that can get dirty. Please also note that there are squirels in the neighbourhood so we cannot guarantee against nuts being present. We don’t recommend joining if your child has a severe nut allergy.
A Bug’s Life
In every garden, tiny creatures are crawling around. Let’s find out who they are! This week we will go on a bug hunt in the garden using magnifying glasses. We talk about how important it is to look and not touch the animals so that both humans and animals can live happily together.
Next we explore the circle of life with montessori lifecycle toys, from eggs to butterflies, ladybird and beyond. We order then from baby to adult and talk about the circle of life.
Learning objectives: Foster an appreciation for garden insects and understand their role in the ecosystem.
Words: 虫 (chóng) – insect, 叶 (yè) – leaf, 耳 (ěr) – ear, 眼睛 (yǎnjing) – eyes, 看 (kàn) – look, see, 小 (xiǎo) – small, little, 香 (xiāng) – fragrant, 绿 (lǜ) – green
The Hungry Caterpillar
We read the story of the Hungry Caterpillar and then recite the classic Chinese poem “虫虫飞 Little Bugs Fly“.
We dance to the bug song 昆虫歌 and then play along with a selection of instruments. Finally, we finish off this segment by meeting our friends 绿宝 (Lǜ Bǎo), 珠珠 (Zhū Zhū) and 忙蜜 (Máng Mì) in our Chip Bee theatre. 绿宝 (Lǜ Bǎo) goes through some big life events – how will her friends react?
Learning objectives: We encourage children to practice empathy by questioning consider how they might feel and react to changes in their own lives and in the lives of their friends, and talk about lifecycles and change, recognising that change is a natural and beautiful part of life.
Words: 玩 (wán) – play, 朋友 (péngyǒu) – friends, 小 (xiǎo) – little, 睡觉 (shuìjiào) – sleep, 美丽 (měilì) – beautiful, 又 (yòu) – again, 蝴蝶 (húdié) – butterfly
Create Your Own Creature
We use non-toxic, washable paint to create fingerprint paintings of different bigs, with different numbers of limbs. We will then count the number of legs on each insect we drew and place them on the counting mat. then we order the insects based on how many legs they have. For the older children – what is similar about each group? Why might some animals have more legs than others?
Learning objectives:
Words: finger: 手指 (shǒuzhǐ), animal: 动物 (dòngwù)
Insect: 昆虫 (kūnchóng); legs: 腿 (tuǐ), wings: 翅膀 (chìbǎng), first: 第一 (dì yī), second: 第二 (dì èr), third: 第三 (dì sān)
Home is Where Our Bug Is!
We play with clay and forest materials to make a home for our insect friends. What kind of things might the insect need?
Learning Objectives: Younger children learn to build a small structure with clay, sticks and leaves, developing key motor skills and sensory awareness. Older children can explore what insects might need to thrive and what kind of environments they can live in.
Words: home: 家 (jiā), stick: 棍子 (gùnzi), clay: 黏土 (niántǔ), safe: 安全 (anquán), shelter: 庇护所 (bìhù suǒ), family: 家庭 (jiātíng)