Learning About Bugs: Insect Small World

Hi friends!

If you’ve been following us on Facebook or Instagram, you’ve probably already realized that the Twodaloo clan has gone a little, well, BUGGY! The twins are completely enthralled with anything that creeps, crawls, squirms, or slithers, so when I was offered the chance to review the Insect TOOB from Safari Ltd., I was literally “buzzing” with excitement! Safari Ltd. did provide this product to me free of charge, but all opinions expressed in this post are my own.

Safari Ltd. makes beautiful, authentic replicas of insects, animals, dinosaurs, historical figures, and fantasy characters. Their mission is to teach children the value of nature through pretend play- what’s not to love? Plus, their miniatures are Lead- and Phthalate-free, so I know my little ones aren’t coming in contact with harmful substances during playtime.

Learning About Bugs: Insect Small World

Small world setups are one of my favorite ways to encourage imaginative play, learning about nature, and language development with my little ones. You can read more about building language with small world play here. To celebrate the arrival of our new insect buddies, I decided to set up a “bug world” during nap time. I LOVE surprising the twins with invitations to play when they wake up!

The setup for this invitation was pretty simple- I filled a thrifted metal tray with coffee beans and then added some interesting natural artifacts from our collection, including gnarled pieces of wood, a bull horn, and a magnolia seed pod. Oh, and isn’t that plant awesome? It’s called a corkscrew rush and has been so much fun to incorporate into our small world setups and nature tables.

Once the habitat was set up, it was time to introduce the stars of the show…our Safari Ltd. insect friends! Most of the insects got prime spots on the tray- sitting on the horn, burrowing in the coffee beans, or even hiding in the plant.

However, a few of our “less desirable” friends got their own spot on a piece of driftwood.

Although it was simple, I really enjoyed creating this small world for the twins. It was a fun combination of different textures and the coffee beans created an added sensory element with their heavenly aroma.

I love how the hand-painted insects really popped against the rich brown coffee beans.

So much detail!

They almost seem alive.

At this point, I was so excited for the twins to wake up and discover their new play setup. To my delight, they dove right in!

Walking Mr. Cockroach around his new “home.”

“Hello in there!”

Sydney particularly enjoys sensory materials that have aromas, so she spend lots of time simply sniffing the coffee beans 😉

Will was very concerned that the ” buggies” wouldn’t have enough to eat. He went straight out to the garden to grab a giant handful of bee balm leaves, crushed them up to release the smell, and then made a great big dinner for all the little creatures. They got really, REALLY full that day!

We have had SO much fun playing with our Safari Ltd. Insect TOOB. The twins have acquired several new (and impressive) vocabulary words as a result of their bug play- if you haven’t heard a two-year-old say “centipede,” you are really missing out! Plus, they are strengthening their symbolic play skills, learning to respect nature’s creatures, and developing their problem solving and reasoning skills- all in a day’s play 😉

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