Nursery- Minibeasts

Nursery- Minibeasts

Project Overview

Over the course of this half term, the children have been learning all about different types of minibeasts. When we first came back to school we had a delivery of tiny little caterpillars for the children to take care of. Over the weeks the children observed the changes that the caterpillars went through until they became beautiful butterflies. We took them outside ready to release them in the world. 

To help us learn about caterpillars and the life cycle of a butterfly we read the story “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”. We used the story to help us create a piece of art using pasta to represent the life cycle of a butterfly and talk about what happened at each stage. We even tasted all the different fruits from the story. Lots of children said that the strawberries were their favourite!

Of course, this then led us to learn all about minibeasts. We spent lots of time in our outdoor area going on minibeast hunts and exploring the different habitats the minibeasts lived in. We especially enjoyed pouring water into the soil and doing a rain dance so we could observe the wiggly worms. 

What The Student Says

“Look I made a spider. It has eight legs, one mouth, one nose.”

“Look we have found a snail he’s called Smaina. We have made him a house, we put leaves on top. He has a snail trail. His home is on his back. He goes inside we picked him up and brought him here.”

“They are in a cocoon and they will be beautiful butterflies.”

What skills were developed?

The children have:

• developed their communication and language skills
• developed their turn taking and sharing skills
• improved in confidence when performing in front of others
• followed instructions carefully 
• tasted new foods and used their senses to describe them
• developed their fine and gross motor skills through exciting challenges 

What The Teacher Says

The children have shows such a big interest in the topic around minibeasts. I am so proud of how caring the children have become to the different minibeasts they have found in the natural environment. They did such a good job of caring for the caterpillars whilst closing observing the changes that were happening. 

Miss Morton- Nursery Class Teacher