Collecting Insects

We had so much fun collecting insects wherever we went during this unit! We took our nets and jar with us whenever we drove anywhere, and we took several field trips specifically to search for insects in different habitats. The beautiful Fall weather made this the perfect time to enjoy being outside and insect-hunting! We ended up letting lots of insects free after catching them, since we only really wanted one of most things for our collection. Sometimes the children made little "homes" for the insects in boxes and jars so they could observe them for a few days before letting them go. So fun.

You can see our finished (at least for now) insect collection in this post. There are also details on what collecting supplies we used.

By the creek—there were so many dragonflies and damselflies here! And they are FAST!

Millcreek Canyon

Silver Lake

North shore of the Great Salt Lake, near the Spiral Jetty. This was a really strange and interesting place because there was a whole line of dead insects, preserved in the salt flats around the lake. We found HUNDREDS of dead ladybugs, and lots of beetles and praying mantises and grasshoppers and other things too. It was really fascinating. We weren't sure why there were so many: maybe they were insects from all over the lake that had died while drinking the salt water, and then they all washed ashore here?

Millcreek Canyon, again

American Fork Canyon—getting a little schoolwork done as well! :)