Lesson Plan- Dragonflies

Nature School
Sept. 31, 2012
Dragonflies

Welcome song
Today we are going to learn about dragonflies!! Who likes dragonflies?

Letter of the Day
D for Dragonfly, Damselfly, darting, dipping, dashing, diving,

Dragonfly Body
Let’s first look at a picture of a dragonfly and learn about it’s body.
Head, thorax, abdomen, wings, eyes, legs

 (to the tune of  Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes)
Head, thorax, abdomen, abdomen
Head, thorax, abdomen, abdomen
Four wings, six legs, and a compact eye
Head,  thorax, abdomen, abdomen

Let’s go for a little walk around the wetland and use our eyes, our ears, our hands, and our nose to explore! If you see something interesting, maybe a dragonfly? please share it with everyone! Do you all remember what we found last time we were here? Snakes, frogs, grasshoppers, etc. Wetlands are full of life!

Dragonfly Matching Game
Memory game with dragonfly pictures

Dragonfly Misquito Tag
-Place three lily pads on the ground. Choose one child to be a dragonfly. The other children are misquitoes. Ask them to choose a lily pad to begin on. When you call “switch” the misquitoes must run to a different lily pad. If the dragonfly tags them, they become a dragonfly and so on.

Dragonfly Facts (this info is more geared towards the moms and dads, although throwing in a fact here or there is good for the kids too)
-Dragonflies beat their wings about 30 times per second.
-Dragonflies are one of the oldest insects on the earth. There were dragonflies that lived 300 million years ago. They had a wingspan of 2 ½ feet.
-Dragonflies have a compact eye which means it is made of many lenses (humans only have one lense). Dragonflies eyes are made of 30,000 lenses.
-From egg to adult, a dragonfly can live up to six years.

What do dragonflies eat?
Dragonflies in their aquatic stage eat many kinds of small animals: aquatic insects, tadpoles, small fish, and other invertebrates. Adult dragonflies eat flying insects, especially mosquitoes, also aphids, smaller dragonflies, damselflies, and just about any other insects they can grab.

Craft:
Pipe cleaner and popsicle stick dragonfly. Use two pipe cleaners to make four wings, attach to popsicle stick using half a pipe cleaner. Decorate with markers, glitter, and sequins. 

Food Chain Game