Getting Buggy with It

Smoosh has been very into the bugs lately.  He collected several mosquito larva and we watched as they molted, formed into pupae, and then hatched into mosquitoes.  I was a bit at a loss as to what to do with the adult mosquitoes as they were, after all, mosquitoes.  Anyways, his interested was peaked and we decided to get lots of books on insects and then found this great website:  Home Science Tools.  Like a kiddo on Christmas morning, I eagerly browsed through pages of petri dishes, forceps, beakers, and other cool stuff before I settled on some basic science goodies for the kids.  Smoosh counted down the days until we got an exciting package in the mail:

Smoosh wasted no time at all in collecting specimens to study:

He even set up a bug museum next to Beanie's lemonade stand to display his collection to any neighbor interested in the local bug fauna.

The sign says "Free Bug Museum;" we suggested he might want to offer it free as a community service.

I mean, really, who doesn't want to stare at a fat grub in a petri dish?  Since our science tools have come, he has been spending so much time outside collecting insects.  It has been pretty neat to see the diversity he has found in the pool, garden, and all about the house.  I'm not quite as excited about the jars of Japanese beetles, mosquito larva, and the terrarium with the slug in it hanging around my kitchen, but at least he has not found any snakes to bring home.