Make Your Own Bug Book
by Marion Turnbull
Find Some Bugs
1. First find some bugs. Here are places you can look:
· under stones in the garden or park
· on leaves, especially the underside
· in dark corners of garages and outbuildings.
Make Notes
2. Use a notepad or sheets of paper in a folder. Take a photo, or if you are good at drawing, draw your creepy crawly at the top of the page. Then write down under the picture all the things you find out about the bug you have found.
Ask Questions
3. Here are some questions to answer about each bug:
· Where does it live?
· How does it move about (on wings, long or short legs, how many legs, etc.)
· Is it friendly to humans or dangerous?
· What do its babies look like?
· What does it eat?
· Does it work in a team or alone?
· How does it keep other creatures from eating it—deep disguise, nasty sting?
· How does it find its way around?
Friend or Enemy?
4. Next list whether the bug is a friend or enemy. Many insects are useful to humans—friends. Others are harmful to us—enemies. If you are not sure, count them fairly friendly, because God made them for a reason, even if people haven’t found it.
More Information
Here is more information about some bugs that are our friends and some that are not:
Friends
Some creepy crawlies are good for the garden, keeping soil healthy. Bees pollinate plants and give us honey. Ants are tiny garbage collectors. They collect dead insects—anything eatable—and take it away. Spiders are good, too. They hang their webs over the windows and catch dirty flies and mosquitoes. Ladybirds (ladybugs) are the gardener’s best friend, eating harmful aphids. In many parts of the world, grasshoppers, locusts, caterpillars, and grubs are considered delicious to eat.
Enemies
Mosquitoes, bed bugs, lice, and fleas like to suck our blood and can carry disease, so we chase them away. Locusts can strip a farmer’s crop in minutes. House flies walk on disgusting things then put their dirty feet on our food.
Have fun making your bug book!
© Marion Turnbull
Marion Turnbull lives in Manchester, United Kingdom
Photos © by D. Steve Dennis, PhD