Mom Camp Week 1: “Goin’ Buggy” 🐞 | Bug Activities, Crafts & Snacks for Toddlers

Welcome to Week 1 of Mom Camp—an 8-week at-home summer camp for my curious and creative 3-year-old! Every week has a different theme designed to engage her imagination, keep her learning, and, let’s be honest, help us both survive summer without hearing "I'm bored" every five minutes.

This week’s theme? Goin’ Buggy—a fun, hands-on week all about insects, perfect for toddlers and preschoolers. From bug-themed crafts to backyard hunts and edible “dirt,” we fully embraced the creepy crawly chaos.

📚 Bug Books at the Library: Where the Week Began

We kicked off the week with a trip to our local library to grab a stack of bug books for toddlers—a mix of fiction and nonfiction that covered everything from honey bees to worms.

The books we picked up included:

• Flight of the Honey Bee by Raymond Huber

• How to say Hello to a Worm by Kari Percival

• Ladybugs by Gail Gibbons

• Bug Hunter by David Burnie

• Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin

We read these throughout the week and tied in crafts and activities to bring the pages to life. For example, she was fascinated to learn that ants protect aphids from ladybugs and we got to see this in action during our bug hunt! Who knew bugs had such drama?

Our favorites among the assortment above were Flight of the Honey Bee, How to say Hello to a Worm (this one also taught about gardening, which was fun to tie into this week's theme!), and Bug Hunter (we really loved that this one had tons of bug-themed activity ideas). But if you host your own bug week, feel free to pick up your own assortment of buggy books from your own library!

🏡 Backyard Bug Hotel & Garden Safari

One of our favorite bug activities this week was building a DIY bug hotel. We used an old milk carton, toilet paper rolls, and natural materials we collected from the yard—twigs, leaves, bark, pinecones, and grass. It was a fun way to recycle and learn about habitats at the same time. A five-star stay for beetles and bugs, but no room service included.

We also went on a backyard bug hunt using a toddler-friendly bug catcher kit. She searched our vegetable garden high and low and ended up catching:

• Ladybugs

• Ants

• A tiny centipede

• Some curious little crustaceans

• And a moth that she really had to work for (lots of running involved to catch this one!)

It was the kind of educational fun that didn’t feel educational—and that’s the magic of Mom Camp!✨

🎨 Bug Crafts for Preschoolers (That Don’t Require a Craft Degree)

We kept our bug-themed toddler crafts simple, colorful, and fun—aka low prep for me, high joy for her.

🦋 Coffee Filter Butterflies – We painted coffee filters using dot markers (washable markers or watercolor paints would work too!). We misted them with some water to let the colors run, let them dry, did an accordion fold, and then used one pipe cleaners per two filters to twist them into beautiful wings. Adeline loved fluttery them around the house and has them now proudly displayed in her window! I

🥄 Spoon Bugs – For our second craft, we used plastic spoons, acrylic paint, and hot glue to make two of our favorite creepy crawlies: a bumblebee and a ladybug! The hardest part about this craft was my toddler finding the patience to let everything dry before she played with them!

🗺️ Bugging Out: Our Lavender Farm Field Trip

This week, we took a sweet-smelling field trip to a Midfield Lavender Farm in Bulls Gap, TN—and it was buzzing with life in the best way! We saw an assortment of bugs that we couldn't find in our own garden: bees hard at work pollinating, dragonflies fluttering from bloom to bloom, and even some beetles making their way through the rows of flowers. It was the perfect hands-on learning experience to tie together everything we’d read and talked about during the week. Plus, as a photographer, I got to capture some beautiful photos—making it a win-win for everyone! Adeline was fascinated watching the bees do their job and seeing the bee hives where local honey is made (from a safe distance of course!), and it sparked some great conversations about how important bugs are to our world—even the ones we usually swat away.

If you're planning a bug-themed week for your own little ones, other great field trip ideas include:

• A visit to a local botanical garden or pollinator trail

• A hike through a nature preserve or state park with a magnifying glass in hand

• A trip to the zoo or science museum with an insect exhibit

• Visiting a butterfly garden or conservatory

• Exploring a community garden or even your own backyard with a bug catcher kit

  
  

Anywhere there’s nature, there are bugs—and tiny explorers eager to find them!

🎥 Bug-Themed Movie Night & Snacks

To wrap up our buggy week, we had a family movie night featuring A Bug’s Life, which somehow feels more relatable as a parent than it did when I was a kid (isn't it so interesting when you rewatch children's movies as an adult and pick up on new underlying themes that used to go right over your head?)

And we made some easy bug-themed snacks to enjoy during our showing:

• Ants on a Log (celery + peanut butter + raisins = toddler approval)

• Dirt Cups (Adeline's favorite snack this week!)

• Blueberry & chocolate ants (complete with some candy eyes)

The snacks were a hit, the movie was nostalgic, and nobody spilled pudding on the couch. That’s a parenting win 🏆

🐜 Why Bug Week Was a Hit

This first week of Mom Camp reminded me just how much kids learn through play, storytelling, and getting a little messy. It was hands-on, full of discovery, and a sweet reminder that the smallest creatures can spark the biggest curiosity.

If you're looking for bug activities for toddlers, insect crafts for preschoolers, or just a fun way to keep your little ones engaged this summer—consider goin' buggy for a week. It’s low-cost, high-fun, and zero screens (except for the Pixar part).

If you decide to host your own Goin' Buggy week, here is a full breakdown of our schedule and all the supplies we used. I like to schedule an Order Pickup at Walmart for Monday morning to grab all the supplies, so if you want to do the same, here's everything I got for this week!

Bug Week Schedule

Monday

• Trip to the library

• Coffee filter butterfly craft

Tuesday

• Bug safari

• Bug hotel craft

Wednesday

• Bug spoon craft

• More bug hunting

Thursday

• Field trip to the lavender farm

Friday

• Snack prep

• Family movie night

Bug Week Supplies

Craft Supplies

Coffee Filter Butterflies

• Coffee filters

• Dot markers

• Spray bottle

• Pipe cleaners

Spoon bugs

• Plastic spoons

• Acrylic paint

• Hot glue gun

• Pipe cleaners

  
  

Activity Supplies

• Bug catching gear

• Plastic bugs (in case you can't find any real ones!)

  
  

Food Supplies

Blueberry Ants

• Blueberries

• Semi-sweet chocolate chips

• Candy eyes

• Piping bag (for the chocolate)

  
  

Ants on a Log

• Celery

• Creamy peanut butter

• Raisins

  
  

Dirt Cake Cups

• Chocolate pudding mix

• Milk

• Cool whip

• Oreos

• Gummy worms

• Plastic cups

One week down, 7 to go! What will we explore next?🗺️🧭