Fireflies II

To end our camping theme, we sat around our pretend fire and told some ghost stories. (Remember the Teeny Tiny Woman?) Then I looked up and pretended to see a light flashing, and then more, and soon hundreds of flashing lights. The kids figured out that I was seeing fireflies! I already have a firefly craft that I love.

I attached them to flashlights and the kids could make them glow.

You can read about that craft here. But I decided I wanted to make it a little different this year. So I got glow-in-the-dark paint from Michaels and some plastic spoons. I used the same wings as my old craft, but changed the body into more of a peanut shape. And I got rid of the antennae. It was always a pain to cut those out anyway!

The kids glued the wings to the bottom of the firefly body.

Then they painted the spoon either yellow or green. I forgot to get a picture of this step, but I'm sure you can figure it out! During nap time, I gave all the spoons a second coat of paint so they would glow better. When dry, I used a glue dot to attach the body to the spoon.

And I also used a small, thin pipe cleaner to make antennae. I poked it through one end and back through on the other side of the head. Sometimes the spoon handle stuck out,

so I just took a scissors and snipped it off.

Here are some of the kids "charging" their fireflies in our bathroom (the only place that would get dark enough to see them glow).

I took a picture when the lights were off, but you couldn't see anything glowing. In person you could, though, and that's all that matters. They thought it was "so cool!"

Fun Fact: Some female fireflies can lay hundreds of eggs, and the eggs can give off a steady glow!

Fireflies

Ahhhh, summer. Who doesn't love seeing fireflies? Or do you call them lightning bugs? They are summer's night lights and I'm sure most of us have childhood memories of catching these creatures and putting them in a jar. There was no way I could do a unit on summer bugs and not include these fellas. First I made a firefly head out of black construction paper. Then I made a teardrop-shaped body out of wax paper. (You could also use contact paper or laminating sheets.) The kids glued the wax paper onto the head.

Then they put glue on the wax paper (using a glue stick) and stuck on yellow and green tissue paper squares. Once it was filled, they flipped it over and glued on wings.

You can trim the tissue paper if it hangs over the wax paper. And you can also add another sheet of wax paper on top so it's smooth on both sides. I hung them on the windows beside our door. When the light is off in our room, it looks really cool.

Much cooler than that picture shows.

UPDATE: I took down the fireflies today to send home. But before putting them in the mailboxes, I attached a mini flashlight from Oriental Trading. I used a glue dot and stuck it on the back.

When you push the button to turn on the flashlight, the light shines through the tissue paper.

The kids love that their fireflies actually light up!

Fun Fact: Male fireflies fly in the air when flashing (their way of communicating to find a mate) and females stay in bushes and grass. Each species has its own specific flashing pattern. The male seems to say, "Hey, don't you think I'm cute?" And the female will say, "Sure, come down for a date!" However, some species of female fireflies will play a nasty trick on the males. They will flash a signal so a male comes down and then eat him up!