Snips and Snails and Dung Beetle Tales

We just watched the movie Microcosmos. This is an amazing movie of live-action photography of many different sorts of insects and other small critters in their natural habitat. There is very little narration, but the photography and the behavior of the small creatures stand up pretty well on their own. I think most of us aren't aware of the pageantry and amazingly beautiful movements that go on in fields and meadows and lakes and even our own backyards!

One of our favorite parts of the movie so far was what I recognized as a "Dung-beetle" - a black bug that rolls around a large ball of ... you guessed it, dung ... and has all kinds of crazy adventures.

We read some of the works of 19th century entymologist J. Henri Fabre when I was a freshman at Thomas Aquinas College. After watching Microcosmos with the children, I pulled out my Fabre book and found this story (the chapter is called "Sacred Beetles"). The language is a little difficult for young children, but we read the 15 pages or so aloud and talked about it a little along the way. Since the movie grabbed their attention so thoroughly and Fabre does have a way with words and humor, they really enjoyed the lesson.