Dragonfly week - awareness campaign information for your early years setting
 

Dragonfly week is run by the british Dragonfly Society and this year begins on 23rd May running through to 31st 2009

We have a craft activity that can help introduce Dragonfly focussed activities into your group ..
Dragonfly craft activity - Dragonfly's Wings


Learning area suggestions:
PSED - Turn taking though activity - understanding our role in the life and environment of a Dragonfly.
Pond maintenance - team work
Planting - working together - making decisions, talking about colour of plant/flower preferences.
PD: FM - fine motor skills: cutting threads, weaving and positioning/placing - pincher grip.
GM Gross motor skills, take your dragonfly play out side - use pieces of curtain netting, and let the children fly around with their own dragonfly wings. Role play life around a pond or river .. who can see the reeds - take small steps and big steps - jump/fly from leaf to leaf. Who can glide low over the surface of the water .. taking care not to dip in and high in the air .. stretching up ..
CD - Gluing and free construction of wing designs. Looking at patterns, colour combinations and materials that resemble the appearance of wing /body.
CLL- descriptive language for discussing and exploring living by a pond, wing beats, body parts and other minibeast neighbours.
KnUW - Habitat, who has a pond - who has seen a dragonfly .. was it big? resting on a plant or flying in the air ..
MD /psrn - How many wings. Use numberline resources and wing shaped coloured card + dough to make counting & observational activites. Puzzles and lotto games.
Prepare an activity sheet or display poster that the children can use to count off and enter data about thier dragonflies number of wings / legs / body parts - head, thorax and abdomen.
Outdoor play - Do you have a barrel of tall plants/flowers - attach the children's craft or netting and twig tied dragonflies to sticks and push into the soil ..

Two book titles from Amazon - links are in association with our affiliate account. Are you a dragonfly written byJudy Allen and illustrated by Tudor Humphries



Dragonfly stickers for window and picture building ..

Dragonfly's Tale by Kristina Rodanas
This looks at a native american folklore tale and the traditional part the dragonfly can play in their lives ..

Quote:

After a poor harvest, two children regain the Corn Maidens' blessings for their people with the aid of a cornstalk toy, the dragonfly. Long ago, the people known as the Ashiwi offended the Corn Maidens, the spirits who had given them bountiful harvests. Hard times came, and it was left to a boy and his little sister to restore the good fortune of their people. American Bookseller Pick of the Lists. Full-color illustrations.

Zuni website - Ashiwi
Dragonfly symbolic meanings


For more information Dragonflies.org.uk and Dragonfly article on wikipedia has other factual and conservational information on site

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Best wishes to anyone taking part with these resources, please add on with any activities you enjoy ...