Cooking Ideas for a Preschool Bug Theme

To get kids excited about bugs, teachers can create some tasty bug treats for them to enjoy in the classroom. Children can pretend to eat fast crawling ants when they dine on "Ants in the Kids' Pants" or "Ants On A Log." They can also enjoy mud cups and butterfly treats. Finally, to wash down their buggy meals, kids can drink bug juice. Add this to my Recipe Box.

Ants In The Kids' Pants

Cut a slices of white bread or wheat bread so that they resemble the shape of pants. Put peanut butter on top of the bread. The brown peanut butter will create the appearance of pants. With supervision, the students can use plastic butter knives to spread the peanut butter. Give each child five raisins. The raisins will be used as ants. The children can sprinkle the "ants" on top of their pants.

Ants On A Log

Before class, wash and slice stalks of celery. The celery stalk will be use as a "log" in this bug recipe. Give each child a slice of celery and allow the children to put peanut butter in the celery's grove. The peanut butter will serve as a sticky filling. For the ants, provide children with raisins or with chocolate chips. The kids can place their ants along the log, and then enjoy a tasty snack.

Dirt or Mud Cups

Since many insects can be found in the dirt, preschool students can enjoy creating their own (edible) cups of dirt. Give each student a small, clear plastic cup (the better to see the the dirt and insects). Fill the cups with chocolate pudding. The chocolate pudding will be the dirt. Either crush Oreo cookies or allow the kids to crush the Oreos to form a loose, top layer of soil. The choice of insects will be up to you. You can put in gummy worms or use raisins to represent your bugs. Your class can pretend the raisins are flies or ants. As an alternate choice, you can also put in Rice Krispies for your bugs.

Butterfly Treats

Pretzels should be arranged to resemble butterfly wings (the loop on the pretzels will give the appearance of wings). To get the wings to stick to one another, spread peanut butter over the pretzels and push down lightly. You can add chocolate chips for the butterfly's eyes, and if you wish to add an antennae, slice small pieces of licorice and press them into the peanut butter.

Time For Bug Juice

If the kids are eating tasty bug snacks, then they will also need some bug juice to drink. To create a bright green juice, mix lemonade with a blue Kool-aid drink. Serve this buggy drink with the treats prepared in the class. Not only will the students get to quench their thirst, but they'll also learn about mixing and creating new colors.