(Intro)

Hi everyone! Squeaks and I were just outside, and while we were enjoying the sun, we spotted a few different insects. They were so colorful and wonderful to look at that we thought we would make some insect inspired art to brighten up our lab.

We've talked about insects before on SciShow Kids. So, you may remember what makes an insect an insect. One thing that all insects have in common is that they have three main body parts. There's the head, the part in the middle called the thorax, and the abdomen at the end. The second thing that makes an insect and insect is that they have an exoskeleton. Insects don't have bones the way we do. Instead, they have hard skeletons on the outside of their body that they use to stand up, move around, and protect their insides. The final thing that makes an insect different from other animals is the number of legs they have. Do you remember how many? That's right, six!

So, keeping these things in mind, let's make some insect art. I'm going to make my insect out of construction paper, but you can paint your insect, make it out of clay, or use stuff you find around your house. If you want to follow along with me and use construction paper, you'll need scissors, glue, a pencil, pen, or crayon, and a few different markers. Remember, if you're going to use scissors, tell a grownup.

First, I'm going to choose a few different colored pieces of paper to make my head, thorax, and abdomen. Now that I have my colors, I'll start marking where I want to cut with my pencil. Now that I have my insect parts outlined, I'll cut the different shapes out. Once I've cut out the shapes, I'll glue them together. Remember which goes where? The head goes where ever you want the front to be, the thorax goes right in the middle, and the abdomen brings up the rear. Since our insects are flat, we won't need to worry about making an exoskeleton, but we should add some legs. I'll cut another piece of construction paper into six strips for our six insect legs. Now let's glue them to our insects body. An insect has three legs on each side, and they attach to the thorax, the middle part of the body.

That looks great! What do you think Squeaks? *squeaking* You're right, we should add a little personality. How about a face? On the head of an insect, you'll find their antennae, mouth, and eyes. So, let's add those to our insects head. Insects are special because they have compound eyes. This means that each of their eyes are made up of smaller eyes that all work together to make one picture, and their mouths are different from ours because they have a mouth as well as biting parts that help them eat.

Alright, what do you think? Is she ready to hang up in the lab? Well, there you go. We made some insect inspired art, and the lab has some bright new decorations. Would you like to share your insect art with Squeaks and me? Just grab a grownup, and send up an email at kids@thescishow.com, and if you have any questions about anything at all, leave a comment down below. Thanks for joining us on SciShow Kids, and we'll see you next time here at the fort.