TO mini beast hunt This is a great science activity for young children. It's a great excuse for the whole family to get outside on an adventure and provides lots of fun learning opportunities.
You don't need a huge area to explore, a small garden or outdoor space can be filled with mini-animals. No special equipment is needed to hunt mini-animals, although magnifying glasses and insect containers can be useful.
Spring or summer are the perfect time to go hunting for mini critters, as many insects are most active at this time of year, but you'll find creepy crawlies year-round if you know where to look.
What is a Minibeast?
Minianimals are tiny creatures without a backbone (invertebrates). They do not have a skeleton. Some have soft bodies like worms, others have shells, and some have a hard exoskeleton like a beetle.
Tiny animals eat all sorts of different things. Butterflies eat nectar from flowers, caterpillars eat plants, and spiders eat other tiny animals.
Minibeast hunting: top tips
In spring and summer, you probably only need to look around to see bees, butterflies and ants, but some creatures can be a little harder to spot.
Look carefully under rocks to find millipedes, centipedes and woodlice.
Look for flowers to find bees and butterflies.
After rain is a good time to look for slugs, worms and snails.
Look for aphids, caterpillars and ladybugs on the leaves of trees and shrubs.
FREE Minibeast Hunting Checklist
Use one of my free mini animal checklists or create your own!
Try not to disturb any creatures you find, and if you pick them up for a closer look, always return them to where you found them.
Extension tasks
Go on a mini-animal hunt at different times of the year and compare what you find.
Try our Build a beetle game.
Make a model of a minibeast life cycle.
Create a 3D model of an insect. The Craft Train has a brilliant design. Dragonfly 3D.
Build a bug house to attract bugs to an outdoor space.
Taming Little Monsters has a fantastic insect movement dice.
Finally, don't forget to check out my other posts. outdoor science activities!
Create your own minibeast book, so other people can see your observations and findings.
Last updated on July 5, 2023 by Emma Vanstone
