Bug Spotter Sticks

These bug spotter sticks have proved to be a big hit in our house garden! I made a set for Minnie last year & she's loved using them to mark where she's found bugs, track their movements & count the number of different bugs she's discovered in one area of the garden.

Before we decided which bugs to add to our sticks, we took a trip around our garden to make a list of all the bugs we could find. We made a list of the most common bugs in our backyard & then headed off to the computer to collect images of them from the Internet. Minnie did a great job of recognising the insects & soon we had a collection of 9 different minibeasts.

We cropped the images so they were all the same size & printed off on sheets of card. (We chose to print off 4 of each image.)

I printed the insect names on a sheet of paper, cut out & stuck to the back of the bugs.

To prevent the images from ripping I laminated them (6 to a laminating pouch) & then cut them out.

For our sticks we used wooden kebab skewers & attached to the back of the images using sellotape (we used a couple of strips of tape to make sure each stick was held in place).

Our Bug Spotter Sticks were ready for bug hunt!

It's been great to see these suddenly appearing around the garden, & watching Minnie's interest in minibeasts develop. It's also been interesting to observe which areas of the garden & which plants the insects prefer.

These Bug Spotter Sticks are ideal for encouraging observation & recall skills, an interest in nature, insects & habitats, & for exploring shape, form, size, movement, colour, number, & patterns.