Mini Beasts Activities for Kids Aged 3–8 | Hands-On Learning & Play 🐞

Little explorers are endlessly fascinated by the tiny creatures all around us. From ladybirds and butterflies to worms and ants. Mini Beasts offer the perfect combination of curiosity, observation, and hands-on learning. As we prepare to build a bug hotel to help shelter mini beasts in the colder months ahead, we've been looking at what exactly they are and having lots of fun along the way!

These activities are designed for children aged 3–8 (but older children will enjoy the crafts too!) and help build skills like counting, fine motor control, and creativity - all while keeping the focus on fun! Whether indoors or outside in the garden, there are plenty of opportunities to spark wonder about the world of Mini Beasts.

In this post, I will share our favourite crafts as well as free printables to use at home!

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Our Favourite Mini Beasts Crafts

1. Bug Models with Natural Materials

Instructions:

1. Download & Print the Silhouettes: Start by downloading and printing our free Mini Beasts Silhouettes Sheet using the button below.

Download Mini Beasts Silhouettes

2. Go on a Nature Hunt: Head outdoors and collect twigs, leaves, stones, petals, and any other natural treasures you can find.

   
   

3. Create Your Bugs: Back at the table, arrange your nature finds onto the silhouettes to copy the bug shapes. Encourage children to notice details like wings, antennae, and legs.

   
   

4. Add an Anatomy Challenge (Optional): For older kids, use a bug anatomy study like this one [link] and ask them to consider the main body parts - head, thorax, abdomen, wings, legs—when building their bugs.

   
   

5. Invent New Creatures: Let children use their imagination to design their very own mini beasts using natural elements.

This activity is a fun mix of art, nature play, and science. It helps children practise observation skills, learn about insect anatomy, and get creative outdoors. As bonus, this is equally satisfying to grown-ups - Declan really enjoyed making some of his own!

2. Mini Beasts Painted Sliced Wood/Rocks

   
   

When I brought out the pebbles, Diego asked if he could paint on the wooden logs instead. Why not? They turned out amazing! We used the pebbles to paint ants for another day’s activity.

You’ll need:

• Sliced wood logs, smooth pebbles or rocks

• Acrylic paint or paint pens (my go-to)

• Paintbrushes (if using paint - fine tips for details)

• Black permanent marker (optional, for outlines)

• Clear varnish or Mod Podge (to seal)

Steps:

1. Prep the rocks:

   • Wash the rocks in warm soapy water, scrub off any dirt, and let them dry completely.

   • If the surface is very dark, use light colours to make your bug colours pop/ if the surface is light, then choose dark colours.

   
   

2. Choose your bugs:

   • Ladybirds, bees, butterflies, caterpillars, spiders, dragonflies, or even beetles.

   • Keep the designs bold and simple so they’re easy for kids to recognise and match.

   
   

   Tip: Take a look around your home for anything bug-themed you can use as inspiration. I had a piece of fabric from an old cushion, and Diego loved studying it while painting his little bug friends.

   
   

3. Paint the base colours:

   • Cover the rock in a bright solid colour (red for ladybird, yellow for bee, green for caterpillar, etc.).

   • Use can use a hairdryer to help dry it faster before adding details. If you’re using acrylic pens, this won’t take long at all.

   
   

4. Add details:

   • Use black or white for stripes, wings, spots, and eyes.

   • A fine brush or Sharpie markers are great for outlines.

   
   

5. Dry and seal:

   • Once the paint is dry, seal each rock with a clear varnish. I first tried Mod Podge (a non-toxic PVA glue mixed with a bit of water), but it just ran down the rocks instead of coating them - though it worked nicely on the wood logs. For the rocks, I recommend using a spray clear varnish instead.

   • This makes them longer-lasting, and safe for little hands to handle.

   
   

TIP: This is the perfect time to make some ants to play with the Ant Colony Craft, explained below.

Ants Painted on Rocks Ready

Extend this activity by creating a sensory adventure: hide the painted rocks in a tray of black beans! Little explorers can use our free Bug Spotting sheet to search for the hidden rocks and match them to the pictures. Add a magnifying glass (or the printable version included) for an extra dose of fun!

3. Ant Colony

Diego's Ant Colony, Including a Secret Minecraft Chamber

This craft is a fun way for children to explore how ants live underground while designing their own network of tunnels and chambers! The possibilities are endless. I studied the Ant Colony Diagram (below) with Diego, then let him take full control of his colony. His imagination took off—he added a dining room complete with a big table and chairs, plus a secret Minecraft-inspired chamber filled with precious gems and TNT! In the soil, he even tucked in extras like worms, dinosaur skulls, a magic wand, and bones.

We created a free ant colony guide to use alongside this activity - fun and learning combined! Use the button below to grab it now:

Download Ant Colony Diagram

What you’ll need:

• A sheet of paper or card (the bigger and thicker, the better! The back of a cereal box works great too). We used an A2 sheet, but you can also tape the back of 4 standard printer sheets, as in 2 by 2, to make the same size.

• Masking tape or painter’s tape

• Brown paint + sponge (or crayons/pencils if you prefer)

• Green crayon or pencil for grass

• Black pen for ants OR small rocks painted as ants (my favourite!—kids can move them around for extra fun/play time!)

• Optional: coloured pencils or markers for eggs, leaves, and the queen ant

  
  

Instructions:

1. Draw the Ground Surface: Plan where your entrance(s) will be at the top of your paper, and draw a simple line to show the ground, leaving gaps for the entrances. Add grass blades sticking up above the line. This will be the surface where ants come in and out.

   
   

2. Plan Your Tunnels: Tear strips of masking tape and stick them down on the paper to create tunnels and chambers under the ground. Whatever the tape doesn't cover will be painted on the next step.
   

   *Extension idea for older children: Look at the ant colony diagram and label the chambers (queen’s room, resting chambers, food storage, egg nursery, etc.).

   
   

3. Add the Soil: Use a sponge to blot brown paint all over the paper, but under the surface line (right across the tape and the underground).

   
   

   *If you prefer a cleaner option, shade the whole underground area with crayons or pencils.

   
   

   

   Blot Painting Using Sponges

   
   

4. Peel Off the Tape: Once the paint is dry, carefully peel off the masking tape. This will reveal clean white “tunnels” and “rooms” beneath the soil. You can use a hairdryer to dry it quicker if you have one.

   
   

5. Bring the Colony to Life: Draw tiny black ants walking along the tunnels and some climbing up into the grass. Or use the painted rocks from the activity above to make it more interactive.

   
   

   In the special chambers, add details like:

   • A big queen ant in her own room

   • Clusters of tiny white eggs and larvae

   • Piles of green leaves or crumbs for food

     
     

   Add extra touches—maybe some ants carrying leaves into the tunnels, or roots growing down from the grass above.

   
   

✨ Now you have your very own underground ant colony scene!

Mini Beasts Free Printables

Learning through play helps children absorb new concepts effortlessly. Try these:

• Bugs Playdough Mats

• Homemade playdough recipe

• Mini Beasts Parade Poem

• Ant Colony Diagram

• Mini Beasts Find & Count

• Action Cards

• Handwriting Practice

• Pencil Control Practice

• 16 Scavenger Hunt Bugs

• 2 “I Spy” Sheets for Sensory Bins or Scavenger Hunt

• Folding Life Cycle of a Butterfly

• Blot Painting Butterfly

  
  

Download Mini Beasts Free Activity Pack

These encourage problem solving, number recognition, and observation skills, all while staying playful and hands-on.

Tips for Parents & Educators

• Ask open-ended questions while playing: “Can you spot the stripes on the caterpillar?”

• Encourage older children to add numbers, label parts of insects, or create an observation journal.

• Handle insects gently and safely, and remind little ones to wash hands after exploring outdoors.

Conclusion

Mini Beasts activities are a fun, engaging way to combine creativity, play, and learning. Children get to explore the natural world, practise maths and observation skills, and make beautiful bug-themed crafts - all while having a wonderful time.

Share your Mini Beasts adventures with us in the comments below.

Explore our other related free resources, like the 35 pages Flowers Activity Pack, and our Mini Beasts Scavenger Hunt!

Until next time,

Itala