Tips for finding bugs
• Look on/around leaves, and owers
• Turn over rocks, fallen leaves or fallen branches
• Look around food or plants at home
Basic parts of an insect
An insect’s body is divided into three areas: head, thorax, and abdomen.
Head: This is where the eyes, a pair of antennae and mouthparts
are located.
• Insects have compound eyes. This means that each eye is made up of
many smaller eyes. One compound eye may be made of up to 30,000
smaller eyes.
• Insects use their antennae to touch, smell, and taste. Some insects
can even sense sound with them!
• An insect’s mouthparts allow them to chew, pierce, suck, and to
hold food. Different insects have different types of mouthparts.
For example, a mosquito has mouthparts to help it suck blood and a
grasshopper has mouthparts to help it chew.
Thorax: This is the middle section of an insect, which has the wings and legs.
• A ying insect has one or two pairs of wings.
• An insect has three pairs of legs (6 legs total). A spider, which is not
an insect, has four pairs of legs (8 legs total).
Abdomen: This part of the insect contains the insect’s digestive system
and stinging organs, if any.
Observing and documenting your insect
(Parents/caregivers, please help your children with this activity)
If you want to take notes on your catch, include information such as:
• Today’s date
• Where you found the insect (on
a tree trunk, in the dirt, on a
ower, etc.)
• Geographic location (state,
province, city, etc.)
• Main color of the bug
• Secondary color of the bug
• Number of legs
• Number of wings
• Draw a rough sketch of the in-
sect (pay close attention to the
three parts of the insect that
we’ve talked about above)
The GeoSafari Jr.
®
Bug Vac ‘N’ View
TM
is an easy-to-use bug vacuum
for kids. Collect, observe, and then release the critters back to the
wild...or the backyard! It comes with two bug chambers to keep bugs
apart. The vacuum is also designed so that there is no need to ever
touch the bugs.
How to use the Bug Vac ‘N’ View:
1. Push bug chamber into the frog’s belly. The chamber lid will open
and be ready for bug collecting.
2. Explore your environment and nd a bug to capture.
3. Put the opening of the frog’s tongue close to the bug and press the
suction button. The vacuum will gently suck up the bug into the bug
chamber. If the bug is large, the suction may not be strong enough
to transport it all the way to the chamber, so you may need to tilt
the frog up to help the bug slide into the chamber.
4. To observe the bug, remove the bug chamber and close the sliding
door. The built-in magnier helps you see the details of your catch.
5. If you want to catch another bug, slide the extra bug chamber into
the belly.
6. When not in use, the bug chambers can be stored in the frog’s belly
and in the area below the handle. (Note: If there is a bug in the
frog’s belly, it may escape through the opening in the tongue)
Do not use the Bug Vac ‘N’ View to pick up liquids or wet objects.
Doing so may damage the electronics.
suction button
(Press to start suction,
release to stop suction)
bug chambers
(for observing your catch)
active bug chamber
(the bug chamber in the frog’s belly is the
only one connected to the vacuum suction)
head
compound eye
wings
legs
mouthparts
antennae
thorax abdoman