Bug Lab for Kids: Family-Friendly Activities for Exploring the Amazing World of Beetles, Butterflies, Spiders, and Other Arthropods

Your bug adventure starts here! Bug Lab for Kids is a collection of more than 40 fun activities for exploring the exciting world of arthropods, which makes up more than 90 percent of all animals on earth, including insects, spiders, centipedes, butterflies, bees, ants, and many others!

Written by entomologist and educator Dr. John W. Guyton, this fascinating and informative book teaches young bug enthusiasts how to find, interact with, and collect arthropods safely.

• Begin Your Adventure. Learn how to dress to collect, start a field notebook, and use the scientific method, as well as the best places to look for bugs. Also, make and use an insect net, collecting jars, pitfall traps, and more, and investigate how to care for live arthropods.
• Preserving Insects. Find out the best ways to photograph insects, make a spreading board, and pin insects.
• The Most Common Insect Orders. Explore Coleoptera (beetles), Diptera (flies and mosquitos), Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies), and many more.
• Other Arthropods. Conduct experiments with centipedes and millipedes, sow bugs and pill bugs, granddaddy longlegs, and others.
• Creative Projects. Re-create a paper wasp's nest with papier-mache, make a pitcher plant and fly game, and set up a butterfly watering station.
• Butterflies, Bees & Other Pollinators. Learn how to rear butterflies and explore their migration patterns, conduct a local survey of pollinators, host a honey tasting, and make a pollinator habitat.

Turn a fascination for bugs into a love of science and nature with Bug Lab for Kids!

The popular Lab for Kids series features a growing list of books that share hands-on activities and projects on a wide host of topics, including art, astronomy, clay, geology, math, and even how to create your own circus—all authored by established experts in their fields. Each lab contains a complete materials list, clear step-by-step photographs of the process, as well as finished samples. The labs can be used as singular projects or as part of a yearlong curriculum of experiential learning. The activities are open-ended, designed to be explored over and over, often with different results. Geared toward being taught or guided by adults, they are enriching for a range of ages and skill levels. Gain firsthand knowledge on your favorite topic with Lab for Kids.

John W. Guyton, EdD, is an associate professor and an extension entomologist at Mississippi State University. He is also the director of Arthropod Adventures, the oldest bug and plant camp in the world, the Mississippi State University Arthropod Zoo, Mississippi’s BugFest, and Mississippi State University's 4-H Entomology program. Guyton is also the Immediate Past Chair for the Education & Outreach Committee of the Entomological Society of America. He lives in Starkville, Mississippi.