Learning Rooms
™
Findel and Gratnells, working together to advance education.
Outdoor
Education
PRIMARY EDUCATION KITS
Kit 3
Bugs on Bushes – Teacher Pack
This ‘Bugs on Bushes’ activity kit can be use in line with a tree, hedge, bush or grass living
invertebrate survey by a class of school children, led by a teacher. The equipment is suitable
for use across a range of habitat areas.
In this teacher pack you will find the following resources to ensure optimum use of the kit
equipment, and best possible learning outcomes for your pupils:
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Full experiment methodology
Suggested adaptations for age and ability
Example risk assessment
National Curriculum links
Suggested follow-up activities
This kit and associated methodology has been developed and refined over a number of years, and
has been tested by thousands of school children and hundreds of teachers, both in school settings
and fieldwork locations. The equipment included has been specially selected to be robust, good
value and fit for purpose.
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Item
Item name
Number
For class of 30
1
White Sheet
1 between 5
6
2
Pooter
1 each
30
3
Pooter Sanitising Wipes Pack of 100
(for cleaning/hygiene reasons after use)
1 per kit
1
4
Large Wooden Pole
1 between 5
6
5
Tree ID Guide and/or Leaf ID Guide
2 between 5
12
Download these guides here,
or use this free Tree ID App for iOS
software.
6
FSC Bugs on Bushes ID Guide
2 between 5
12
Hard copies included.
Or for younger/lower ability students,
download this free alternative here.
7
Collecting Pot
2 between 5
15
8
Hand Lens
2 between 5
15
9
Gratnells SmartCase
1 between 5
6
10
Leafy tree, bush or hedgerow section
1 between 5
6
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Notes
Bugs On Bushes
Primary National Curriculum Links
KS1
Working scientifically
Year 1Plants
Year 1 Animals, including humans
Year 1
Seasonal change
Year 2
Living things and their habitats
Year 2
Animals, including humans
Year 2Plants
Lower KS2 Working scientifically
Year 3
Animals, including humans
Year 4
Living things and their habitats
Year 4
Animals, including humans
Upper KS2 Working scientifically
Year 5
Living things and their habitats
Year 6
Living things and their habitats
Year 6
Evolution and inheritance
Habitat Creation and Maintenance
See Learning Rooms Module 3 for guidance.
Bugs on Bushes Lesson Plan – can be carried out
within a 1 hour lesson (excluding preparation)
This is a great activity to study the invertebrates (sometimes referred to as 'minibeasts') living in
your trees, but could also be carried out on hedges and bushes. Please note - if it is windy you will
find fewer invertebrates than on a still day. Your focus could be on the invertebrate life alone, or
also study the tree species providing the habitat. You could take the opportunity while outside to
observe and collect leaves and seeds and note how they are affected by the seasons.
Preparation
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Well in advance of your lesson, print, cut out and laminate the free downloadable Tree and/or
Leaf ID Guides, and select or design a recording sheet/card (examples shown at the end of
this guide) suitable for the age and ability of your pupils.
You could expand the activity to investigate the effect of time of year/seasonal change, canopy
size or tree species, or do a comparison of the species found in two different trees of the same
species.
Split the students into groups of five, each group has one SmartCase with all their equipment.
If you or your students have not used a pooter before, you may like to have a practice and
build confidence with them in the classroom prior to your session. Use individual dried peas
or uncooked rice grains to practice with. Students should never try to pooter anything
that is larger than the tube! This kit allows for each student to have their own pooter. Use
sterilising fluid, a dishwasher, or the Milton wipes provided in your kit to ensure the pooters
are clean before and after use. An instructional video for using a pooter can be found here. We
recommend only using the pooters to collect creatures from the white sheets as small particles
of dry soil can make it though the filters if you pooter minibeasts directly from the soil.
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Designate your working area using markers e.g. football cones (not included) if no natural or
man-made boundaries exist.
Check the trees you will be studying for any dead branches, you do not want the students
dislodging rotten or fallen branches during the activity.
See the example risk assessment for things to consider before undertaking outdoor
activities. Please note, the example risk assessment is provided as a guide only and should
not replace that which you will create yourself for your own site, students and activities and
taking account of the prevailing weather conditions.
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Introduction and Demonstration (10 minutes)
Start by explaining that during the activity session, you and your students are going to explore tree
living invertebrates (minibeasts) and their habitats. A couple of questions to ask as part of your
introduction could be;
What is a habitat?
The place where any animal lives is known as a habitat, and different sorts of animals live in
different habitats. Habitats can be very big, like the arctic habitats where polar bears live, or very
small such as between two blades of grass where a money spider might make its web. Remember, a
habitat is just the place where the animal lives. Your house is your habitat!
A tree will be a habitat for many invertebrates as well as larger animals.
Can you think what animals you might find?
Birds, squirrels, caterpillars, etc.
Can anyone see any other habitats around them?
Under foot in the leaf litter.
We are hoping to find lots of minibeasts in their habitats today, but what are minibeasts?
‘Mini’ means small, ‘beasts’ means animals. Minibeasts are small animals. Depending on the age/
ability of the students you may wish to use the word ‘invertebrates’.
For older/higher ability students How might bigger animals like squirrels be adapted to life in the trees?
Sharp claws for gripping the trunk, long tails for balance while jumping from branch to branch,
appropriately coloured body structures for camouflage, the ability to fly to move between trees
without touching the ground, are all examples of adaptations.
You could conduct this question and answer session either in the classroom before heading outside,
or gathered in a group near your chosen working area – in which case this is a good exercise to get
children to start looking out for bigger animals like birds or squirrels. They’ll need a reminder to be
very quiet so as not to scare them away.
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Teacher Demonstration
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When the students arrive, carrying their SmartCases and equipment, gather them around an
example tree to demonstrate what they’ll need to do.
Open one of the SmartCases and spread the white sheet out under your chosen leafy tree (the
children should do this as a team, each student holding a corner or edge of the sheet).
Use the stick provided to give the branch above your sheet several firm taps to knock off any
minibeasts living there. If it is within arm’s reach, shake it carefully but with enough force to
gather your minibeasts.
Promptly use the pooter to catch any creatures that have been displaced, or scoop them up
directly into collecting pots if they are too big to pooter safely.
The students should collect, identify and record all their finds using the ID Guide and your
recording method of choice, appropriate to the age and ability of the students.
They will repeat this procedure for several braches of the same tree.
They should also make observations and recordings about the tree, using the Tree or Leaf ID
Guide to record the species of tree they are studying. Students could even collect a leaf or
examples of the seeds present for use in follow-up work.
Depending on the age/ability of your pupils, they could go on to study a second tree, a bush,
or section of hedgerow and do a comparison of the invertebrates found on each.
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Activity (40 minutes)
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Each group takes their SmartCase with equipment to their assigned tree or area, and carries
out the activity as per the teacher demonstration. Move between the groups, checking on
progress and supporting them with identification and recording.
Any groups finishing quickly should be directed to repeat the procedure on further branches or
on a second tree.
Once time is up, or the children are ready to move on, gather everyone into a circle ensuring
they bring their collecting pots with them. Ask the students to pass the pots around the circle
so the students get to see wide range of invertebrates, sharing with each other the name of
the invertebrate(s) they have found.
The students should then return to the tree they studied, carefully release their invertebrates,
while still observing them.
Finish with students collecting all equipment and packing away, to bring back to the classroom.
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Suggested Follow-up Activities
Tree Display with food chains/web
Dedicate a wall space to create a display based in what you have found. Use a variety of natural
and/or craft materials to create a tree. Students can then draw the invertebrates they have found
and stick the pictures on, carrying out research to identify the other mammals and birds that also
live in trees and add images of those too. You could link each of the animals together into a food
chain and then food web. If you repeat the activity in different seasons (see activity below) then
create a second display to show the tree at a different time of year.
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Life cycles/seasonal change
Repeat the activity at different times of year. What happens in winter? What happens to the tree
and what happens to its inhabitants? The life cycles of several of the tree’s inhabitants could be
investigated, while migration and hibernation could be explored.
National projects
If you choose to carry out your survey on a hedge row instead of a tree, you could take part
in OPAL’s national Biodiversity Survey. The OPAL Guide also includes a handy ID sheet for
the hedgerow plants.
Recording Sheets
Great for younger students. You could create your own with the creatures common to your
minibeast areas and add pictures to aid identification/recording.
Bugs on Bushes Tick Card
Shield Bug
Spider
Cranefly
Weevil
Caterpillar
Others……
Ladybird
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Example ID Recording Sheet
Great for older students. You could create your own to obtain the data you need for post-activity
analysis and development of specific numeracy skills or for follow up work on adaptation or food
chains/webs.
Your name(s):___________________________________________
SPECIES
TALLY
TOTAL
Shield Bug
Cranefly
Caterpillar
Ladybird
Harvestman
Aphid
Weevil
Lacewing
Earwig
TREE DETAILS
Species
Deciduous or Evergreen
Seeds
Leaf Colour
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NOTES
Date:_________________________
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