Bugs are everywhere, all the time, whether you're noticing them or not. There are different types of bugs all over the world.

Insects as Ingredients

Warning: this is not for the faint of heart. People eat bugs. People in different areas of the world have been eating bugs since the beginning of time. Entomophagy — the consumption of insects — has been around for thousands of years in some cultures. Today, about half the people of the world eat bugs as a regular part of their diet. In markets in Thailand you can buy silkworms, grasshoppers, and water bugs by the pound. South American movie theaters sell roasted ants as snacks just like popcorn, and Japanese supermarkets stock their shelves with aquatic insect larvae. People in the United States may gag at the idea, but the average person eats about a pound of insects a year without even knowing it. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, insects are unintentionally caught up in some of our favorite foods. Three and a half ounces of chocolate can have up to sixty insect fragments, tomato sauce can contain thirty fly eggs, and peanut butter can have thirty insect fragments.

Eating bugs is healthier than eating meat. Bugs are loaded with iron, calcium, protein, and other nutrients, and they're extremely low fat and low in simple carbohydrates. Eating bugs is more environmentally friendly, too. Raising cows, pigs, and chickens takes a lot of food, water, and energy. Bugs, not so much.

Have your students do some research and find a recipe that uses bugs. Where is the recipe from? Does it sound good? For the more adventurous, try an actual bug recipe. Don't require students to eat the bugs, but make it available for anyone to try. Check out David Gordon's Eat-a-Bug Cookbook and The Compleat Cockroach.

Bug Travelogue

Butterflies are perhaps one of the only bugs that almost everyone enjoys. They are beautiful creatures that inspire artists and poets alike. Butterflies are also some of the busiest global travelers. The monarch butterfly travels more than 2,500 miles every year on its annual migrations. You can visit www.monarchwatch.org to find a variety of educational information about monarchs, as well as guides for watching monarchs and monitoring their migration.

Whether or not you can find monarchs in your region, you can build a butterfly house to watch and examine your own native species. Here's what you'll need to build your butterfly house:

• Fold the netting in half the long way, then halve it again. Bunch each end and tie it closed with a piece of ribbon or yarn. Hang the butterfly house outside.

• Carefully open the overlapped edges of netting and insert the cardboard disk flat into the bottom. It should naturally draw the sides out to open up the inside of the house.

• Slip in the branch so that it stands up and carefully draw the edges of the netting back around to close the house. Catch a butterfly and gently place it in the house.

Butterflies are very fragile so it's best for an adult to capture and place the butterfly into the house. Be very careful with the wings. Butterfly wings are covered in delicate scales that catch the wind and help the butterfly fly. If you touch them too heavily, you can damage the scales and impair the butterfly's ability to fly. Feed it with homemade nectar made from nine parts water mixed with one part sugar. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Fill a small dish with cotton balls, moisten them with nectar, and place it in the bottom of the house. Release the butterfly after a day or two (or sooner if it doesn't seem to be eating) so it can lay eggs to have more beautiful butterflies.