Little Love Bug Activities | Artshine

Grade 1:

  • Understanding Life Systems - Needs and Characteristics of Living Things

    • Overall Expectations:

      • investigate needs and characteristics of plants and animals, including humans;

    • Specific Expectations:

      • investigate and compare the physical characteristics of a variety of plants and animals, including humans (e.g., some plants produce flowers and some do not; most plants have roots; some animals have two legs, while others have four; all animals have sense organs)

      • use a variety of forms (e.g., oral, written, graphic, multimedia) to communicate with different audiences and for a variety of purposes (e.g., create a diorama to illustrate the basic needs of plants and animals, including humans)

    • Activity Idea:

      • In your ‘Little Love Bugs’ artwork, you had the opportunity to draw and create a lot of different types of bugs. Which one was your favourite to draw? Have you ever seen that bug in real life?

      • Compare one of the insects from your picture to an ant. What similarities do they have? What differences?

      • Draw a picture of each of the insects and write what makes them the same and different.

Grade 6:

  • Understanding Life Systems - Biodiversity

    • Overall Expectations:

      • assess human impacts on biodiversity, and identify ways of preserving biodiversity;

    • Specific Expectations:

      • assess the benefits that human societies derive from biodiversity (e.g., thousands of products such as food, clothing, medicine, and building materials come from plants and animals) and the problems that occur when biodiversity is diminished (e.g., monocultures are more vulnerable to pests and diseases)

    • Activity Idea:

      • A “Little Love Bugs” artwork is a good representation of one of our environments' many ecosystems. Within the picture you created there are a variety of different insects that impact the environment. Which one do you think would be fun to learn more about?

      • Once you have chosen which insect you would like to learn more about, investigate the impact that it has on the environment and write a paragraph that identifies its importance to our environment and the other organisms in its ecosystem. 

Grade 4:

  • Writing

    • Overall Expectations:

      • generate, gather, and organize ideas and information to write for an intended purpose and audience;

    • Specific Expectations:

      • generate ideas about a potential topic using a variety of strategies and resources (e.g., brainstorm; formulate and ask questions to identify personal experiences, prior knowledge, and information needs)

    • Activity Idea:

      • While creating your “Little Love Bugs” artwork, how did you feel about the insects you were creating? Some people really love insects, and others are terrified of them!

      • Create questions about how people might feel about insects, and interview your family members. Be sure to get information regarding any personal experiences that they may have had with insects.

      • Once you have gathered your information, write a short new article informing the public about what you have discovered about people's feelings about insects.