our new bug tool

This weekend a colleague of mine introduced me to The Bug Sucker. He had a whole bunch of them and actually sold me two! I thought they were interesting and such a unique bug tool. 

The idea is that there are some kids that do not like to touch bugs but it is still great for them to be able to safely collect bugs and study them. The bug sucker uses your breathe to pull the bug into the tube to be able to look at them up close. 

Check it out in action!

You place the end of the green tube over the bug that you want to catch. 

Then you put your mouth on the part that looks like the top of a water bottle. Then you simply suck, like you are drinking through a straw. You have to suck pretty hard but because of the shape of the tube and the water bottle top you aren't in any danger of sucking up any bugs or major debris. 

See the pill bug that Sam caught?

Sam wanted to try again and again to see how many bugs she could catch. But then after a while she looked at me and said "Can't I just pick them up with my fingers?" HA! Love that kid. 

But not every kid is as bug friendly as Sam. You may also have a child that hasn't quite mastered the skill of being gentle. This is a great tool for those kids that have a tendency to squish the bugs that they are trying to catch. 

Here is The Bug Sucker up close. 

And I just love the label!

I really think these should be a standard bug catching tool in every preschool classroom or nature center program!

They are awesome!!!  

So, I did some research and figured out where my friend, David Stokes, got these from. You can find them HERE.

If you have one of these I would love to know what you (and your kids) think of it! 

Comments

[Aundrea]

We had one but I don't like them because of the shared germs I tried wiping them with wipes but sometimes the kids would share the cather before I could wipe them off. Also, me myself I could never bring myself to use it even though, you will not get any thing your mouth per the design it still was too creepy for me, just thinging it might. If you can afford to get one for each child and have the time to make sure they don't share then it works..

[Aundrea]

*catcher, thinking

[Aundrea]

Sorry it keeps autocorrecting lol catcher!

[Barbara Allisen]

Thank you for this super post. I've been posting about bug learning activities on my blog too and this one was so awesome!