Air holes are important, as any child who has ever caught fireflies in a jar knows. My preschool students have been pretending to be explorers, photographers, and biologists in the Amazonian rain forest. They've been drawing air holes on the lids of jars to keep the bugs they've created alive for further study with tiny toy magnifying glasses. The bugs are made out of fun foam, googly eyes, pipe cleaners, irridescent beads, and buttons. We put snips of emerald green raffia into plastic boxes and jars from the Raytheon WASTE recyclables program. Kids still believe that the "grass" in the jar will make the bugs happy, just as we did forty-five years ago. I find this reassuring.
The kids use their Altoids/Rx 35mm cameras to take photos of their bugs, then they scribble about the animals and plants they have seen on their expedition in their teeny-tiny scientific journals with short country club golf pencils. We make sure to carry extra film cannisters filled with rolled up metallic ribbon. We wouldn't want to run out of film on this trip!
My favorite part is writing labels for the bug jars. "Have you identified this insect?," I ask. Amazingly, the child may tell me this specimen is the Dangerous Tellantura that eats green beetles. Other times, the child will say, "huh?"
I refine my interview question. "What kind of bug d'ja think you've got there?" The child explains it's a friendly Rainbow Sparkle Beetle. "Hmmmm," I say in a scholarly review musing voice.
When the second question fails to get an answer I can write on the label, it is time to ask, "What is your bug's name?"
Bambi
Sarah Catherine Margaret Jane
Rockstar Firelight
Thanks to all the folks who save their Altoids tins and other fun recyclables for our survival kits!
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