Bring the Fascinating World of Minibeasts from your School Grounds into the Classroom
With so many weird and wonderful bugs likely to be dwelling in your school’s grounds, taking a closer look can be a great way to bring food chains to life
Creepy crawlies aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, but invertebrates, all animals without a backbone, are a vitally important part of our ecosystems and make up over 95% of the animals on our planet.
Their key role means that it’s easy to work invertebrates into your lessons. With these top tips, soon you’ll have everyone enthused about minibeasts.
There are many ways you can practically engage your class with the invertebrate world and the crucial roles these animals play in food chains. With so many weird and wonderful bugs likely to be dwelling in your school’s grounds, taking a closer look can be a great way to bring food chains to life.
Unsung heroes
Sheer abundance means that invertebrates are a vital food source for many other animals, including birds, frogs, fish and mammals like bats, hedgehogs, foxes and badgers. Not only can pupils explore their importance as a food source, they can also consider what invertebrates eat; invertebrate diets can be herbivorous, omnivorous or carnivorous. Invertebrates are, therefore, an ideal starting point when covering food chains.
To delve further into the topic, build food chains around case study invertebrates. Give the children a selection of producers and consumers to place in the correct order within invertebrate food chains. These constructions can be done by linking paper strips, stacking paper cups or sorting cards – use whichever resources you have available.
Invertebrate investigators
Give your pupils the chance to become ‘invertebrate investigators’ and set them an exciting challenge to find invertebrates within the school grounds.
Using a magnifying glass or microscope, pupils can analyse key food chain features on or around invertebrates and investigate them further. Does it have mouth parts? Is there any evidence of what it eats? Are there any nibbled leaves nearby? Is there evidence of what eats the invertebrate? Are there tracks or prints? Dens or nests? Droppings?
You may also want to consider what’s there when you’re not, and if you have any nocturnal visitors. Why not create a simple pyramidal tracking tunnel using cardboard, bait and animal-friendly ink?
This is a fun way to get the children excited as you investigate the presence of small mammal life in your school grounds and identify the footprints the following morning.
The beauty of investigating invertebrates is that you don’t need any particular kit. If you are going to examine and identify your findings then collection pots, magnifiers and an identification guide might be useful, but not essential. OPAL has a free invertebrate identification guide that is ideal for KS2.
World of bugs
A composting area in your school grounds is an excellent place to explore the world of bugs. Not only will you find invertebrates, you may also find amphibians such as frogs, newts or toads taking advantage of the heat produced by the decomposition, as well as the invertebrate food feast.
If you don’t have a composting area, fear not as you can make your own with grass cuttings, fallen leaves, fruit scraps, tea bags and more. Slugs, millipedes and woodlice thrive in these environments and help to turn organic waste into compost quickly.
You can also search in trees, hedges or even potted plants to find invertebrates in your school grounds. Get the children to lightly tap trees with a branch and catch invertebrates on a white sheet laid out below. Shield bugs, aphids, ants, ladybirds, moths, spiders and caterpillars are likely to be discovered.
Don’t worry if all you have is potted plants. If the plant is flowering, you may find that pollinating invertebrates such as bees, butterflies and flies visit for a drink of nectar.
Even if your school is a concrete jungle, there will still be invertebrates present to help you with your lessons. Look closely on the sides of buildings and walls and in nooks and crannies for signs of invertebrate life. Putting a window box out with a little soil in it might attract creatures.
Invertebrates are a fantastic reason to get children into the great outdoors and learning more about the natural world. Letting them discover animals in their natural environment will help them to process information, and constructing food chains around these invertebrates will provide children with knowledge about how these vital creatures fit into the ecosystem.
Kirsty Garland is a learning officer at The Royal Parks initiative Mission: Invertebrate. London schools are invited to take part in free sessions at locations including Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens and Regent’s Park to discover the hidden wonders of invertebrates. Find out more on Twitter at @theroyalparks.
