Praying Mantids are quite an unusual phenomena that our family has grown to love. A handful of years ago we discovered that we had Praying Mantis that grew in our garden beds surrounding our house. We would typically find pinkie-sized Praying Mantis in the middle of the Summer.
I have been fascinated with Praying Mantids ever since I realized we had them growing on our property about 5-7 years ago. I think seeing the babies and having them crawl on your hand or arm is much less intimidating then a full grown adult which looks a little fierce!
Praying Mantis Egg Case
First you will need to collect the egg case or oothecas in the Fall or late Winter when you clear away old garden growth. (We learned the name of the egg case which I had been calling an eggsac from reading the book Praying Mantis.) Once you know what to look for your children will easily spot them among the dried up plants and brush.
If I hadn’t known that we were going to hatch Praying Mantis near the end of May or beginning of June then I would not have known these tiny squirmy, worm-like things were Praying Mantis nymphs hatching out of their egg case! By the time the bunch gets to the ground their legs seem to just spread out or unroll from behind them. If you want to watch a video please check out the one we shared on Instagram.
Praying Mantis Nymph
This tiny nymph crawling across Lil’ Red’s hand above has only been hatched a short while. You can see how yellowish cream or transparent it is. It looks more like a skeleton then an actual living creature.
These tiny nymphs are less then a day old but are very active and jumpy. They have had a chance to pick up some color and look less transparent then when they were first hatched. I love Praying Mantis’ when they are this size because they are still in their “cute baby phase”. You can see how tiny one is while crawling across my hand.
Lil’ Red and Big Red love sharing their “newest pets” and allow them to run along their arms and hop from arm to arm.
Praying Mantis Adult
A Praying Mantis eats and grows all Summer long until it gets to be 4″-6″ long as an adult. One time I came out onto our front porch to hear a Praying Mantis crunching on a grasshopper for lunch! If you do not have real-life Praying Mantis to study they you can order a Live Praying Mantis Gift Set which comes with a habitat, egg case, life cycle figurines, etc.
Drawing Praying Mantis Egg Case
Since we have been finding, saving and collecting the praying mantis egg sacs for so many years we have a ton of them to examine and study. I had asked the younger boys to draw a praying mantis egg case as nature study.
You can learn more by downloading this Praying Mantis Printable pack from Fun with Mama!
Welcome to Nature Book Club Monthly Link Up No.15
March’s theme for #NatureBookClub is Life Cycles
Be sure to check out the other Co-hosts as they share life cycle activities, crafts and projects! I know it might be hard to choose just one type of life cycle to share so do not worry you can share up to 3 posts in the link up below!
Butterfly Life Cycle Art Project by Emily at Table Life Blog
From Seed to Plant Life Cycle Unit Study by Jenny at Faith & Good Works
Bee Life Cycle Activities by Karyn at Teach Beside Me
Link Up Guidelines
- Choose an engaging nature book, do a craft or activity, and add your post to our monthly link up.
- The link up party goes live at 9:00 a.m. EST on the 20th of each month and stays open until the last day of the month. Hurry to add your links!
- You can link up to 3 posts. Please do not link up advertising posts, advertise other link up parties, your store, or non-related blog posts. They will be removed.
- By linking up with us, you agree for us to share your images and give you credit of course if we feature posts.
Also, join our Nature Book Club Facebook Group!
Nature Book Club theme for April: Migration
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