Description:
Spoty Hat needed a friend to help him protect the forests and all the woodland creatures...
Links to EYFS:
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
Communication and Language
Physical Development
Literacy
Mathematics
Understanding of the World
Expressive Arts and Design
Activity:
Spoty Hat needed the children's help this week to make their own dragonfly to help protect the trees, plants, flowers, birds, bugs and other woodland creatures.
We started by asking the children to find a thick twig roughly 10 centimeters long for the dragonfly's head and body. We then asked them to find some field maple seeds, otherwise known as "helicopter seeds", to make the wings. Once the children had found both of these items, they glued 2 sets of seeds to the twig to create the dragonfly's four wings. They painted their dragonfly's head, body and wings in glorious colours (as you can see from the pictures) and were very proud and excited to help out Spoty Hat.
We talked about dragonflies and found out the following fascinating facts:
Q. What do they eat?
A. Insects and amphibians such as flies, midges, mosquitoes, tadpoles, fish and even other (smaller) dragonflies.
Q. How long do they live?
A. Several years as nymphs or larvae although adult dragonflies usually live around 2 months on average.
Q. How big are their eyes?
A. HUGE! A dragonfly's eyes take up most of its head.
Q. How fast can they fly?
A. Up to 30 miles per hour, making them one of the fastest insects in the UK.
Q. How long have dragonflies been on our planet?
A. For around 300 million years! i.e. A long time before dinosaurs.
Home Activity:
See how many different types of dragonflies you can find identify either in your garden, parks, farms or local wildlife areas (there are more than 5000 known species of dragonflies). Try looking near ponds, streams or wetland areas.