Weekend Fun: Centipedes and Thousand-legged Worms!
You can go buggy for books at the Library! We have books for kids and adults on the nonfiction shelves – look for 595 in both areas.
Does a centipede really have 100 legs? Does a millipede really have 1,000? When you get tired of counting, gather the family outside in the back yard for a little dance: Form a line and hold onto the shoulders of the person in front of you, then walk like a centipede around the yard, moving your legs at the same time. No matter how big your family is, you won’t have as many legs as a millipede!
Here is a song to accompany your dance:
The Thousand-legged Worm
Said a thousand legged worm,
As he gave a little squirm,
“Has anybody seen a leg of mine?
If it hasn’t been found
I shall have to hop around
On the other nine hundred ninety-nine.”
“Hop around, hop around,
On the other nine hundred ninety-nine;
If it can’t be found,
I’ll have to hop around
On the other nine hundred ninety-nine.”
Walk slowly for the first part, then hop as fast as you can without falling down, and then walk slowly again for the last line of the song! If you don’t know the tune, search on You Tube.
When you’ve had enough hopping, make your own centipede or millipede with paper shapes.
What you need:
- Assorted paper – scrap paper is perfect, but full sheets work also
- Scissors
- Glue
- Small objects to trace (circles, squares, triangles – whatever you find)
- Pencil
- Pipe cleaners (also known as chenille stems)
- Markers or crayons
What you do:
- Trace some shapes on paper and cut them out. You will need lots of them! TIP: Try to keep the shapes close in size, but it’s okay if they aren’t exactly the same. EASY TRIANGLE TIP: Cut a 2-inch wide strip of paper, then cut the strip into triangle shapes by cutting across the strip at an angle.
- Use the pencil to poke a hole in the center of each shape and then string it onto a pipe cleaner. How many can you fit on one pipe cleaner? You can spread them out or squish them together!
- When you are finished, bend the tip of the pipe cleaner in front of the first shape so it lies flat and glue another shape on top of it to hide the pipe cleaner.
- Repeat step 3 at the other end of the pipe cleaner so the shapes don’t fall off.
- Draw eyes on the front and tiny legs or feet on each shape behind it.
- Bend the pipe cleaner if you wish, or leave it straight – your centipede is ready to take a walk!
- Make more centipedes with different shapes – make larger or smaller shapes and cut the pipe cleaner in half or twist a second one onto the first one and you can create centipedes – and maybe millipedes! – in different sizes and shapes.
