Cover Boards

Summer time is a great time to become an entomologist!! With a little imagination, you can make your own bug resort in your backyard. Find some large, flat rocks about the size of dinner plates or larger. If you have some pieces of wood about the same size from your family workshop, you can also use them, too. Use your creativity to decorate these plain boards with pictures of bugs, animals, or whatever you’d like-superheroes or sport motifs. Screw on an unusual handle for easy peeking! The lids of discarded pots or pans would also work. Place these cover boards in various locations in your backyard-along a fence line or under a tree. You could even line a pathway with your rocks and other decorative items. In a week or so, look under the boards to see who has come to visit. Earthworms, salamanders, and millipedes are other critters that may appear. Have a field guide handy to identify your insects. Keep a list of your discoveries throughout the summer. In the fall, when your teacher asks you how you spent the summer, you will be the bug expert for your class.

Moth Magic

Stir up a magic formula to attract moths to your backyard.

Materials:

• 1 C. of juice that has been left out for a day or two
• 1 or 2 very squishy bananas
• ¼ C. of honey or sugar
• paintbrush
• blender

Method

Whirl the banana in a blender until it is goopy. Add the sweetener and about half the juice and whirl until blended. Keep adding juice until your mixture looks like thick paint.

Pour the moth brew into a bucket. Find an area in your backyard that you can safely walk to after dark. Use the paintbrush to apply the moth brew to trees, unpainted wooden fences, rocks, or logs. After dark, go back outside with a flashlight to study your paintings. You might see moths on the trees as well as ants, earwigs, beetles, and other insects. Don’t forget your field guide! You could also paint this mix onto a large stick and hang it in front of a window. That way you see everything that happens at night.