Henry David Thoreau wrote that “Nature will bear the closest inspection. She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain.”

Insects are invertebrate meaning that they have no backbone. The typical insect body has three main parts: the head – which has a pair of feelers or antennae, some kind of feeding apparatus and usually a pair of eyes, the thorax - the middle part of the body which has three pairs of legs, and the abdomen – which may have a tail at the end but no legs.

Insects play an important role in our lives, although many are considered pests, many produce useful things like honey, wax and silk. In many parts of the world insects are used as food although this is not popular in America. Some are beautiful to look at, many help in cross-pollination of plants, and others serve as food for birds and other insects. Ladybugs feed on aphids which destroy plants in the garden.

The insect population includes more than a million species and represents more than half of all known living organisms. Although most adults are not crazy about insects and view them as pests, young children are usually fascinated by them and can spend a long time watching them crawl around both inside and outside.

Infants: Insect Puppets - Get a few bees, butterflies and/or ladybugs puppets which are easy to find, and use them to mimic sounds and actions when taking infants on a walk outside. Real insects may move too quickly for infants to focus on them. Read insect poems and nursery rhymes while using the puppets to engage the infant’s attention.

Toddlers: Looking at Ladybugs - Choose a plant outside and make a clear plastic cover for it by cutting the top and bottom off of a large plastic soda bottle. Catch a couple of ladybugs and put them on the plant. Cover the top of the soda bottle with mosquito netting or window screen which has been cut and hot glued in place. Let the toddlers watch the ladybugs as they climb up and down the plant. Look for double wings. Have the toddlers count the spots on the back of the ladybugs.

Preschoolers: Catch a Cricket – Make a cricket cage by using a clear plastic shoe box. Put an inch of soil on the bottom and some sand on top at one end which is covered with wood chips. Add some grass at the other end, moisten it, and put a couple of broad rocks for the cricket to stand on. Go out and catch a cricket and put it in its new home, only keep it about a week, let it go and then catch a new one. Feed it apples or fresh fruit in season. Cover the shoe box with mosquito netting or window screen. Have the children count the chirps for one minute and make a chart. See if the number changes each day.

Hurt no living thing: ladybug, nor butterfly, nor moth with dusty wing,
Nor cricket chirping cheerily, nor grasshopper so light of leap.
Nor dancing gnat, nor beetle flat, nor harmless worms that creep.
NOR CHILDREN THAT YOU KEEP.​(Christina Rossetti)