Bugs er Insects er Bugs?

Oh I am so blessed to have friends who like to teach and don't mind if my kids join in! A local friend and her mom are teaching a small group of kids all about insects using Exploring Creation with Zoology 1: Flying Creatures of the 5th Day as the basis of the class. The cool thing is that the class is held outdoors on a farm, where there are lots of opportunities to find living examples of the concepts being taught. Oh I like that!

So normally my DD#2 wouldn't be posing for a picture holding a bug, er, insect, er bug--I'll have to ask them what the difference is---there is a difference! She had found a praying mantis nymph. It was actually pretty fascinating. It kept jumping all over her hand, and when she would try to put it down, it would jump back onto her hand.

Now when we are out and about, the kids are noticing the things that are flying around them, instead of automatically swatting them. We marveled at the iridescent color that we saw on the dragonfly by the creek.

We thought it was so cool to find a moth camouflaged on a tree during a recent hike.

We are having so much fun looking for insects. I can't believe I'm actually photographing them and enjoying it. Do you think this might be a good enough excuse to add a macro lens to my photography toolbox? Ok, I'll just keep on wishing .... ;)

Here are some good insect resources that I've come across:

Connections ~ Insects: listing of units, lapbooks, Five in a Row books dealing with insects
Insect Print-outs @ Enchanted Learning
butterfly hand-prints: geared toward toddler/preschool
butterfly cards - you can use these for identification or print it off to create a memory game

Oh, I asked about the "bug" question. Here's what my dd read from the book, "Bugs are a special group of insects that have interesting wings and belong to the order Hemiptera."
Exploring Creation with Zoology1 by Jeannie Fulbright.