Summer is here for this Nanna (insert loud applause), and that means more precious time with our little grandsons.  It is not a huge challenge to come up with fun activities for them with Pinterest so handy, BUT this idea didn’t come from Pinterest! I know, right? Go ahead, pick yourself up off the floor.  It’s okay.  🙂

I popped in at Dollar Tree in St. Louis before going to visit family last week, and LOOK at what they had: These nifty, inexpensive bug observation kits! I would think a cheap magnifying glass and a clear peanut butter jar would suffice just as well, but maybe lose a little in the “cool factor” department. 

As I walked the aisles, my mind began to race! As luck (or not so much luck?!!) would have it,  we own a concrete home with a sidewalk around the entire perimeter.  And guess what seems to be taking over our walkways and stucco walls this year? Tons and tons of roly-polies, pill bugs, armadillo bugs, potato beetles—whatever your favorite childhood name may have been for them.  I began to put two and two together and decided to purchase the ultra-cheap little kits to bring home to our activity box (a hinged lid ottoman from Wayfair.com–LOVE!)  

Side-trip #1(I apologize in advance):  Toys and the family room are always a big issue.  I have tried different things to store toys, but every type of storage has its own inconvenience.  Enter Wayfair.com.  That site is especially a friend of mine because they accept Paypal and deliver for free! Win-win! When we have finished making a fort, putting together a puzzle, reading a book, etc., we just toss everything back in the ottoman. The casual observer is none the wiser.  Sidetrip over for the time being.

Now, back to the roly-polies.  The grandsons are here today, so I got  busy and whipped up a little science activity (which you can download for your very own at the bottom of this post).  We began collecting bugs early this morning.  

Grandson #1 is quite the pro, and quickly caught more than 30 rolies! Grandson #4 (born fourth in the line-up of six little grands in six years!) is very good at using the “pinsers” (tweezers) to pick up the bugs, but for some reason (obvious to moms and Nannas of grand-“sons”) he thought it wiser to step on the bugs to stop them (yikes! not kiddin’) before depositing them in his observation kit.  Hubs found this quite comical and very entertaining, lol.  We took a few pointers from this cutie to practice lying upside down like a dead bug, tee-hee.   

With our kits full of both live and (choking up…) “departed” rolies, we came in to observe them and look up some very interesting information on them.  Here are some neat facts about roly-polies or pillbugs:

1.  Roly-poly “bugs” are NOT bugs!!! Is this a revelation to you as it was to me??? I mean, who researches stuff like this? Apparently, quite a few people do.  Rolies are actually “crustaceans”!!! No, seriously.  They are akin to the crayfish, crabs, lobsters, etc., family of creatures.

2.  Rolies have gills.  They need water to live, but cannot live in water.  So, we found that the best place to look for them was a wet doormat outside.  They hide there in droves.  As you can guess, the fellas wanted to see if this fact was true…I took mercy on the poor creatures and took them out with the little net before they drowned.  We have had enough fatalaties around here for one day!

3.  A little known, and completely disgusting fact:  They drink from both ends of the body! I really had to leave out a few things like the word “anus”, which, in the roly, acts like a straw to drink up water, or deposit waste.  So disgusting–blech!

4.  Roly-polies have blue blood, and when they are sick they turn blue.  This is just a guess, but I am thinking some of Grandson #4’s rolies may fall into this category.  🙁

5.  Another disgusting fact:  Pillbugs/rolies eat their own poop.  Apparently, each time they excrete the stuff, they lose copper, an essential mineral for them to survive.  And…as you may have guessed, Grandson #1 asked if they eat “other” poop.  I had to be honest.  Yes, it is wise not to gather rolies out in rotted leaves since that is probably where an animal left a little “natural gift”.  

All of this was so interesting that we decided it was time to count the rolies.  How to do this? Pour just a few out in a plastic container, count, then release.  As we counted, we made groups of ten bug tiles (not the real ones, lol, as in a ten frame).  As you can tell, this was more of a roly-roundup than a counting exercise!!!

When we finished counting and releasing, G #1` wrote the total count on his paper, then we began to think about what to “highlight” on the are, have, can chart.  When we finished that, he wrote what he has learned from this adventure.  

Side-trip #2:  Always have a plan to keep the guys entertained.  Also, always have Pandora.com at the ready for nap time.  As I have written this post, I have had Michael Buble, Harry C., Dean, and others playing my precious 3 year old grandson #4 to sleep.  LOVE Pandora! 

Last Sidetrip for today:  Did you notice the colored pencils we were using? 

These are God’s greatest gift to teachers as far as writing and coloring instruments go!  Especially if you have a little perfectionist who wants to make the best lines he/she can.  They are by Crayola, and get this:  they are ERASABLE!!! The cool thing about them is they really do work! My G #1 was so happy to discover he could turn those b or d oopsies back the way they are intended simply by employing the eraser tip to the letter.  Voila! Problem solved! They are about 4.00 per set, but well worth the money in my opinion.  I require that the pencil tip stick out only as much as a nickel’s thickness (great way to talk about coins, eh?).  This keeps the rather soft leads from breaking easily.  This rule made my colored pencils in my classroom last until March this past year.

All in all, it was a wonderful experience for both the grandparents, and the boys.  I urge you to let your boys (or girls) just be kids, do kid things, and get their hands dirty! It’s okay, because there is a solution for dirt:  SOAP! I was an adventurous little girl, and collected these crustaceans in my own way as a child.  They are so common all over the world that this would be a great activity for the classroom as well as home.  I hope you enjoyed our adventure into the world of Roly-polies!!!

Okay, that’s it! Be sure to grab your copy of the activity for your classroom or home, and leave a comment! I am prone to give things away to people who take the time to comment on a post every now and then, because I like knowing my work was worth the time it took to create/blog about.  

Happy Summer!