For ages 4-6, I gave a brief lesson about bugs and how their shape, colors, and behavior is highly adapted to their environment, predators, and food choice. I showed them examples of environments/predators/food and had them discuss which kind of bug they expected, and why, then revealed one potential bug choice. Then, I had each participant draw their own bugs based on certain environmental conditions. The parameters started off simpler like "Draw a bug that would live on a dark brown tree, eat leaves, doesn’t fly, and moves by walking around," but grew more complex to "draw a bug that only comes out at night." Each time, I would ask for volunteers to share their images and why their bugs were fit for their environment. Eventually, the students started to volunteer their own parameters, even questioning what attributes bugs would need to survive in outer space. I was surprised by the variation in their responses and the creative but mostly realistic responses they created.
For ages 2-4, I created a template with four different generic environment backgrounds with bug-shaped blank space in the center. After giving a brief lesson on how bugs adapt to their environments (mimicry, camouflage, functions of their bodies), I passed out these sheets to the students one by one. We talked through the environment and what features would benefit the bugs, then they drew what they thought the bug should look like. They each came up with reasons for why their bugs were certain colors/patterns. These ranged from "the bug wants to be a rainbow" to "this one wants to camouflage with the background to hide." We talked about how all of these are possibilities and finished the activity having volunteers talk about their bugs.
