I home school my kids until grade 4 – that’s when they start public school. So this year I have Kat at home and she’s in grade 1. We have this wonderful facilitator who comes to our home once a month and does a science lesson with her.
Well, last weeks lesson was about bugs and so Miss S brought in some real live bugs for Kat to play with (although I think I was more fascinated with them than she was! I like bugs – it’s snakes and worms that creep me out because I accidentally killed a snake once by riding my bike over it, and now they’re all after me for revenge!).
We got to observe the three stages of meal worms.
The beetle stage – that light brown one emerged that morning and all he wanted to do was hang out on the cucumber – that’s how you give them liquid (a slice of cucumber about every two weeks). I think he drank too much cucumber juice though because he has since “crossed the bar”.
This is the boring stage – the little cocoons or chrysalis’s just lay around and do nothing. I wonder how long it takes them to emerge. This morning, there was a light brown beetle among them. He’s since been transferred to the beetle dish and I’ll see if he survives better without a cucumber nearby.
This is the grossest stage – maybe because they resemble snakes and worms! But they have legs so they’re not so bad – it looks like they have three little legs on each side, up by their head. And they hardly move at all. I’ve been wanting to see how they make their cocoon, but when I come back to look, suddenly there will be a new one already there and I missed it being formed. Today I did get to see one that wasn’t completely hardened yet because the tail was still moving. Fascinating stuff!
They have these nice secure lids so nothing is going to escape. Even when a basketball knocked them over, the lids stayed on! Phew!!! My family doesn’t seem to appreciate them on the table though so I’ve had to move them to the laundry room.After observing the bugs with Miss S and her magnifying glass, Kat got to create her own bugs in the three different stages out of all this material that Miss S brought. (Sorry, forgot to take pictures and the worm balloon has since left us. You’ll have to use your imagination – think egg cartons, etc.)
Miss S is wonderful and does all these fun science projects with Kat and asks her probing questions and then listens and talks and laughs along with Kat – and Kat can talk the ear off an elephant!!!
So, why a meal worm post on a “Creating” blog?
I was thinking of the most amazing creation of all time – our world. I often see things (like the life cycle of a meal worm) that just remind me of what wonderful and glorious things our Heavenly Father has created for us. And I am just in awe – especially at this time of year, when it’s so exciting to watch the world start to wake up and spring to life after it’s winters rest. What a loving Heavenly Father we have to provide such an awesome place for us to dwell.
We are truly blessed!
