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Dancing Insects
Nicole Fougere
Grade Kindergarten
Subject: Science
Topic: Insect Cycles
Descriptive Sentence
Hop, wiggle and fly on an insect adventure! Discover the characteristics of insects by observing live
insects and reflecting and responding to those observations through creative movement.
Curricular Outcome or Expectation
Please see the lesson plan preview for the expectations/outcomes for your province.
Materials
Insects: wax worms, crickets, praying mantis or other live insects
Containers and food for the insects
CD Player
Chart Paper and markers to record observations
CD’s from a variety of ethnic cultures and several percussion instruments, such as a small drum, bell
and rattle to accompany the movement
Space Requirements
You need a large, clean space to dance in, such as a gymnasium or a classroom with all of the furniture
moved to the edges of the room. Note that the floor of the room must be clean enough for all of the
students and teacher to sit on without reservation.
Artist’s Tips – Live Insects
Being able to observe live insects is a valuable part of this lesson plan. Students become very excited
about science and about movement when they can observe, reflect and respond to the movement of
real insects. If it is not possible to use live insects in your classroom find source material with good
pictures of the insects so that the students can still have the experience of observing what they see,
rather than being told the answers.
Wax Worms
I chose wax worm insects because they are a simple example of the “caterpillar to butterfly” life cycle.
Any insect that you can keep easily in your classroom that follows this life cycle will work for this lesson
plan. Monarch butterflies follow this life cycle very quickly and can be ordered on line. Wax worms are
readily available at pet stores or fishing stores because they are used to feed pet lizards and as fish bait.
Information on the care of wax worms can be found on the Internet.
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Crickets
I was able to buy crickets at my local pet store because they are also used as food for pet lizards. I kept
them overnight in a well ventilated, clear plastic container, fed them a few slices of apples, and let them
go free in a field the next day.
Praying Mantis
I was lucky enough to rent a praying mantis overnight from my local pet store. If you do not have
access to a praying mantis, see if your pet store, (backyard or garden centre), has a different kind of
insect like beetles or lady bugs.
Artist’s Tip – Music
Choose music to accompany the exercises that either has a strong beat or a smooth flow. Music with a
strong beat is good for getting students to feel comfortable dancing and it is useful for locomotion and
fast paced movement. Music with a smooth flow is good for setting a mood. It is good for improvisations
and working with static shapes. It is better to use music with no lyrics so that words don't
unintentionally influence the movement. Try not to use popular music because the students often have a
preconceived idea of how to move to it, which inhibits them from being creative.
Complete Description of Lesson
Getting Ready
" Observe the insects that have been set up in the containers and discuss. What body parts can be
identified? Look for legs, wings, antennae. What else?
Warm-up – Insect Body Parts
" Imagine your arms are antenna and explore the air with your antenna. Touch the antenna of the
person beside you with your antenna. Practise moving your antenna high and low, fast and slow.
" Imagine that you have delicate wings on your back. Move your back and arms like you are flying.
Preparation for having six legs:
" Imagine, with the students, that you have only one leg. Ask the students to freeze in a shape
balancing on one leg when you strike a drum. Strike the drum and try a balance, strike it again and try
a different way to balance on one leg.
" Imagine that you have three legs. Ask the students to freeze in a shape where they have three legs on
the ground when you strike the drum. For example you could freeze in a shape with two legs and one
hand on the ground or two hands and one leg on the ground.)
" Imagine that you have six legs. Travel across the room, low to the ground, like a six legged creature.
Develop
Wax Worms
Part 1 Observe
" Set up ventilated clear container with wood chips, wax worm larvae and honey comb. (Ask your at
local pet store for more detailed care instructions) Place the container in a safe place in the classroom
where it can be seen by the students.
" Ask the students to describe what the larvae look like, (colour, size, shape, texture, features etc.) and
what they are doing, (wiggling, crawling, arching, chewing, sleeping etc.). Record your observations
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with a list of descriptive words written on chart paper (written by the teacher) and pictures (drawn by
the students).
Part 2 Respond
" Refer back to the written observations of the wax worms. First try to imitate what they look like by
putting your body in the posture of a wax worm. (E.g.. You could lie on your stomach with your head
and shoulders arched back.) Secondly, experiment with wax worm movement by using the list of
action words you recorded on chart paper to inspire movement.
Please take a moment to review
the “Insect Movement Wax Worm”
video
" Create a sequence of movement that the class can memorize and repeat. For example you could
wiggle across the room, chew through a piece of honey comb, arch your back like you’re looking
around or curl up under a wood chip for a nap. Call this movement sequence “The Wax Worm Dance.”
Crickets
Part 1 Observe
" Set up ventilated clear container with crickets, part of a paper egg carton, (or something for the
crickets to crawl on), and apple slices. (Ask your local pet store for more detailed care instructions.)
Place the container in a safe place in the classroom where it can be seen by the students.
" Ask the students to describe what the crickets look like, ( colour, size, shape, texture, features etc.)
and what they are doing, (twitching their antennae, hopping, rubbing their wings together to make a
chirping sound, chewing on the apple, fighting etc.). Record your observations with a list of descriptive
words written on chart paper (written by the teacher) and pictures (drawn by the students).
Part 2 Respond
" Refer back to the written observations of the crickets. First try to imitate what they look like by putting
your body in the posture of a cricket. (E.g. You could squat down, imagining that your legs are the
crickets large back legs, and use your arms for antenna, mandibles, wings or front legs as you
choose.) Secondly, experiment with cricket movement by using the list of action words you recorded
on chart paper to inspire movement. For example you could rub your wings together to make a
chirping sound, hop onto a blade of grass or bite on a leaf. Crickets have prominent mandibles – the
mouth-parts that they use to put food in their mouth. Imagine that you hands are mandibles, hold
them close to you mouth and practise picking up imaginary food.
" Create actions with the students to go with each line of the Cricket Poem.
" Say the Insect Poem aloud to the students as they perform the cricket actions.
Please take a moment to review
the “Insect Movement - Crickets”
video
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Cricket Poem
By Nicole Fougère
Please contact Nicole if you wish to reprint this poem
www.fougeredance.com
fougeredance@hotmail.com
Soft “crick crick crick” in the night
The crickets play in tall grass
Wide mouths munching
Tiny ears in their knees listening
Playing their wings like violins,
they hop with strong back legs
calling “crick crick crick” in the night
Praying Mantis
Part 1 Observe
" Set up ventilated clear container with a praying mantis and something for it to crawl on. (Ask your
local pet store for more detailed care instructions) Place the container in a safe place in the classroom
where it can be seen by the students.
" Ask the students to describe what the praying mantis looks like, (E.g. colour, size, shape, texture,
features etc.) and what it is doing, (standing still, walking, praying, eating etc.). Record your
observations with a list of descriptive words written on chart paper (written by the teacher) and
pictures (drawn by the students).
Part 2 Respond
" Refer back to the written observations of the praying mantis. First try to imitate what it looks like by
putting your body in the posture of a praying mantis. (E.g. you could stand with your legs wide apart
and your knees bent and fold your hands like your are praying.) Secondly, experiment with praying
mantis movement by using the list of action words you recorded on chart paper to inspire movement.
For example try standing very still like a praying mantis. Imagine that you see a beetle, slowly creep
up on it, pounce on it, and grab it with strong front legs.
" With the students, create movement to go with each line of the Praying Mantis poem.
" Say the Praying Mantis poem aloud to the students as they perform the Praying Mantis movement.
Please take a moment to review
the “Insect Movement Praying
Mantis” video
Praying Mantis
by Nicholas Spanoudis of Coral Springs, Florida, age 8
For more poems by Nicholas Spanoudis visit
http://www.geocities.com/spanoudi/ create movement
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If I was a praying mantis
I'd hide under a green leaf
or inside a bright flower
and wait for insects
to come to the plant.
I'd have quick arms
to grab my prey
before it knows
what to expect next.
Next I would devour my delicacy
in the blink of an eye.
I'd mimic a harmless bug
but when others come tooooooo close......
I'd pounce!!!
I'd snap my powerful jaws
as I crunched on a big, black beetle.
Then I'd fly off
to another hiding place
If I was a praying mantis.
Please take a moment to review
the “Insect Adventure” Video
Application
Insect adventure
" Place a design of tape on the floor like a path, across the diagonal of the room, before the students
arrive. Create the design with three distinct parts. For example your tape design might start with a
wavy line, continue to a series of circles like stepping stones, and end with a jagged line.
" Imagine with the students that you are going on an adventure where you will meet insects that move
in different ways.
" Look at the design of tape on the floor and decide to move like a certain insect on each part. For
example, if the first part of the pattern is a wavy line then the students might wiggle like wax worms
along the line. If the second part of the design is a series of circles, the students might hop like
crickets from one circle to the next. If the third part of the design is a jagged line, the students could
follow the line, walking with long straight legs and praying hands like a praying mantis.
" Ask the students to travel across the room in groups of two or three, following the tape, as the chosen
insects.
Teacher Tip: Have the students try the adventure in groups first so that if they forget part of the
pattern, they have their peers with them to help them remember. Make sure that the students know
that this is NOT a race. Tell them that they are a group of explorers going on an adventure and that they
need to stay together and not rush ahead. Once the students know the pattern well they can try going
down the adventure path by themselves.
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Closure
Reflect
" Ask the students how they feel about insects. Are there insects that frightening them? How do they
react when they see insects indoors and outside? Do they squish them, shoo them, or just leave them
be? Why do they sometimes squish or shoo insects? How do their family members react to insects?
" Encourage the students to tell personal experiences they’ve had with insects. For example you could
ask them to describe the strangest insect that they’ve ever seen, or a time when they were very afraid
of an insect.
Extensions
Wax Worms
" Keep the wax worms in the classroom and observe as the wax worms spin cocoons and emerge as
brown moths.
" Add more movement to the “Wax Worm Dance” which reflects the changes that the students observe
in the wax worms. Spin a cocoon and practise being very still. Break out from the cocoon and fly like a
moth.
" Discuss the next step in the life cycle. Learn how the moth will now lay eggs and from those eggs will
hatch baby wax worms. Add movement to the dance to dramatize the last part of the life cycle.
" Loop the dance so that the laying and hatching of the eggs leads straight into the wax worm
movement created in Lesson 1. Repeat the dance several times to give the feeling of a continuous life
cycle.
Insect Adventure
" Place a different design of tape on the floor. Choose three different insects to correspond with the new
pattern and travel down the adventure path doing the new insect movement.
" Try traveling down the insect adventure pathway backwards! Walk backyards, hop backwards and
even wiggle backwards.
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