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Outdoor Learning and STEM
Bug Hunt
As lots of outdoor learning takes place in wooded areas, being able to identify the trees is something which most children enjoy. Trees can be identified from their leaves, bark or flowers, and many trees have properties that make them useful in ways that you might never have though of.
In addition to the trees themselves, many insects live in an among the trees, and so identifying trees can also become a bit of a bug hunt !
How to find and catch beasties and bugs !
Catching bugs and Beasties, and some explanation as to why they live where they live !
Identifying your bugs !
This beginners guide to bug hunting will help you to identify the bugs and beasties you might find during a bug hunt !
Points to ponder ...
Most children usually enjoy a bug hunt once any intial fears have been conquered ! Once that happens, though, they tend to forget how fragile the insects are, and so can get quite 'heavy handed' when handling them.
What specific dangers or risks might you need to take into consideration when developing the session plan for this activity and will therefore need to include in a risk assessment ? Lifting a log may reveal a centipide or some beetles, but might there be something else under there that might be less friendly ?
And what about that log ... or brick ... or slab ... might there be a risk asking youngsters to be moving these heavy things ?
Once you have identifiedif there ARE risks, what steps can be taken to minimise the risks as much as is reasonably practicable ?
Remember ... we don't want to introduce so many safety measures that we prevent the activity from providing the learning opportunities that it does, but we need to make sure we reduce risks so that the activity can take place as safely as possible.
