What you need:

• rocks & markers
• paints & brushes (optional)
• googly eyes (optional)

What you do:

1. Wash and dry the rocks to remove any dirt and dust.
2. Let one layer of color dry before adding more layers.
3. Add details such as a head, eyes, and wing lines.

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Do You Like to Buzz?

To the tune of “Do Your Ears Hang Low”

Do you like to buzz?
Are you covered all in fuzz?
Do you call a hive a home,
In the garden where you roam?
Do you know how to make honey?
Are your stripes a little funny?
Do you like to buzz?

From https://preschooleducation.com/songs/bug-songs-for-kids/

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• small marshmallows – for the eggs
• gummy worms – for the caterpillars
• Tootsie Rolls – for the chrysalises
• Sociable crackers – for the butterflies

Put each snack on a napkin, paper towel, or paper plate; label them and add arrows to represent the cycle. Enjoy your snack while you talk about metamorphosis or observe live butterflies.

Adapted from https://www.myjoyfilledlife.com/edible-butterfly-life-cycle/

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The Insect Song

To the tune of “The Wheels on the Bus”

The firefly in the night goes blink blink blink
Blink blink blink … blink blink blink
The firefly at night goes blink blink blink
All through the town

Additional Verses:
The bees in the flowers go buzz …
The ants in the grass go march …
The crickets in the leaves go chirp …
The caterpillar in the field goes creep …

The post Sing-A-Long: The Insect Song appeared first on Cook Museum of Natural Science.

What You Do:

1. Decorate the outside of your book with pictures cut from magazines, stickers, or your own drawings (draw them on paper, then cut out and glue them to the binder).

2. Each page of the book will be for one insect and should include space to draw or glue a picture, several lines to write things you know about the creature, and some lines to add things you find out later, too.

3. Ask an adult to help you punch holes on the left side of each page and put the pages into the binder to make a book. You can always add more pages later if you want to.

4. Start the first page with your favorite bug or a bug you found in your back yard. Draw a picture on the page or take a picture of the bug you found and paste it on the page. Write its name below, and then write anything you know about it, like where it lives (in a tree? in the grass?) and what it eats. You can also look in an identification guide if you want to find out more about a particular bug.

5. Whenever you learn something new about a bug in your book, add it to the page about that bug. If you need more space, you can add another sheet of plain paper behind the first one. If you have more than one page for the same creature, it helps to write the name of the bug in the top right-hand corner of the page so that you can tell which pages go together. When you learn about or find a new bug that isn’t in your book yet, make a new page for it.

The post Make Your Own Bug Book appeared first on Cook Museum of Natural Science.

Caterpillar Hunter

Genus Calosoma        

Smelly Odor

They are one of the largest ground beetles in North America and possess strong mandible mouthparts. When in need of defense, caterpillar hunters can excrete a foul-smelling oil, similar in smell to rotten milk.

The post Insect Puzzle appeared first on Cook Museum of Natural Science.

Angle-wing Katydid

Genus Microcentrum        

Master of Camouflage

The color, shape, and texture of these katydids make them seem to disappear among plants and leaves. Camouflage, blending in with their surroundings, is a useful method of defense.

The post Insect Puzzle appeared first on Cook Museum of Natural Science.

Giant Water Bug

Genus Lethocerus         

Impressive Ambush Predator

Giant water bugs, also called toe-biters, rest while waiting for prey to swim nearby. Their front legs and sharp beak mouthparts can take down animals 50 times their size. They inject enzymes into their meal to liquify and drink it.

The post Insect Puzzle appeared first on Cook Museum of Natural Science.

Green Diving Beetle

Thermonectus nigrofasciatus         

Scuba Diver Beetle

Aquatic insects breathe air just like terrestrial insects do, through holes in the sides of their body (spiracles). These beetles poke the tip of their abdomen above the surface and trap air under their wing covers to breathe under water, like a scuba diver’s tank of oxygen.

The post Insect Puzzle appeared first on Cook Museum of Natural Science.

Let your inner artist shine and take part in the Cook Museum stencil design contest! We want your help to create the designs that will be carved onto pumpkins that will be displayed in the live animal enclosures in the Discover Exhibit on October 28. For your submission, you will draw the outlines for the parts of the pumpkin that will be cut out.

Stop by the Museum Store to pick up your stencil or download the stencil online and submit your design concept by October 16 at 4:30 pm. Designs are encouraged to be natural science related. The two designs selected from each age category will win a $10 Museum gift card.

Rules and Information:

1. Paper and digital submissions only.
2. One submission per person.
3. Entries must be submitted by October 16 at 4:30 pm either in person to the Museum Store or to museumprogramming@cookmuseum.org
4. Must be your own unique design. Topic should be natural science related.
5. The winning designs will be notified via email by October 20. The designs and categories will be shared on the Museum’s social media.  
6. Winners must collect their gift card from the Museum within 90 days of being awarded. The gift card may be redeemed for any goods or services (except for other gift cards) sold onsite by the Cook Museum of Natural Science. Use of the gift card constitutes acceptance of the card terms and conditions. Gift card does not expire, nor are there fees associated with it. Gift card will not be replaced if lost, stolen, or destroyed and is not refundable or redeemable for cash, except as required by law.
7. Cook Museum employees and immediate family members are not eligible to win.

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Update on Kale’s recovery: Kale made history on July 11, 2023, as the first animal to receive a CT scan at Decatur Morgan Hospital. The CT scan is the best tool to assess the improvement of Kale’s deep infections of his shell.

A big Thank You to the Decatur Morgan Hospital staff and associates as well as our Museum and veterinary staff who made this possible.

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