Build-a-Bug Lab — Grown-Ups' Corner (Teacher Guide)

1 · Overview

Build-a-Bug Lab is an open-ended creativity game. Children design an imaginary insect piece by piece, name it, explain what each body part helps it do, and then release it into one of four habitats to watch how it moves. There is no losing, no timer, and no reading required — a friendly narrator speaks every prompt aloud (with matching on-screen captions). Creations are saved to a Bug Journal the class can revisit.

The tools your students will use

🫘 Body tab. Choose one of four body shapes — round, oval, wiggly (segmented), or triangle. This anchors shape-naming vocabulary: the game labels each shape and compares it to a real insect ("a pointy shield body, like a stink bug").

🦵 Legs tab (the counting machine). Legs are added with +/− buttons, always two at a time, up to 10. The display shows the numeral ("6"), the number word ("six legs"), a ten-frame-style row of dots, and the pair count ("3 pairs"). The narrator counts each leg aloud — "One! Two! Three!…" — every time legs are added.

🪽 Wings, 📡 Feelers, 👀 Eyes tabs. Each offers a small set of options (including "none" for wings and feelers). Choices change how the bug behaves later: wings make it fly, springy "Hopper Legs" make it bounce, no legs make it wiggle like a grub.

🎨 Paint tab. Two colors plus a pattern (spots, stripes, hearts). Patterns feed the camouflage/warning-color conversation in the science lesson.

🦋 Symmetry button. One tap draws a dashed mirror line down the bug's middle and flashes the left side, then the right, while the narrator explains: "Both sides match — that's called symmetry!" Every bug in the game is bilaterally symmetric because parts are always added in mirrored pairs.

🏷️ Name & Explain screen. The child names the bug (an "Idea, please!" button offers suggestions) and answers, for each part they chose, "What does this part help it do?" by picking from real adaptation functions — e.g. wings: "fly up high to escape" / "glide from flower to flower" / "buzz to say hello."

🗺️ Habitats. Sunny Garden, Lily Pond, Sandy Desert, or Night Forest. The bug roams on its own, moving according to its build. If a child's chosen adaptation matches the habitat (e.g. "see at night" in the Night Forest), the game celebrates the match; otherwise it offers a friendly habitat fact. A snack button lets kids feed their bug and watch it travel.

📓 Bug Journal. Saved bugs appear as cards showing the bug, its name, its habitat, its leg count, and the child's own adaptation explanations — a ready-made artifact for sharing circles and assessment.

2 · Standards Alignment

CSTA K–12 Computer Science Standards — Level 1A (Grades K–2)

Code	Standard	How Build-a-Bug Lab addresses it
1A-AP-08	Model daily processes by creating and following algorithms (sets of step-by-step instructions) to complete tasks.	Building a bug is an explicit sequence — body → legs → wings → feelers → eyes → paint → name → habitat. Lesson 2 has students write their build steps as an "instruction recipe" a partner then follows to recreate the bug.
1A-AP-09	Model the way programs store and manipulate data by using numbers or other symbols to represent information.	The Legs tab shows one quantity four ways at once — numeral, number word, dot row, and pair count — and each saved bug is a bundle of choices (shape, colors, leg count) the journal stores and redraws exactly.
1A-DA-05	Store, copy, search, retrieve, modify, and delete information using a computing device and define the information stored as data.	Students save bugs to the Bug Journal, reopen them later, and delete ones they no longer want — a concrete first experience of stored data that persists between sessions.

NGSS — Science

Code	Performance Expectation	How Build-a-Bug Lab addresses it
1-LS1-1	Use materials to design a solution to a human problem by mimicking how plants and/or animals use their external parts to help them survive, grow, and meet their needs.	The Name & Explain screen has children assign a survival function to every external part they chose (structure ↔ function), and the habitat scene shows those parts producing real behavior (wings → flight, hopper legs → jumping).
K-ESS3-1	Use a model to represent the relationship between the needs of different plants or animals (including humans) and the places they live.	Children choose a home for their bug from four contrasting habitats; the game gives feedback when a bug's stated adaptation fits its habitat ("Great match! … perfect for the night forest!") and shares a habitat fact when it doesn't.

Common Core — Math & Language (bonus alignment)

Code	Standard	How Build-a-Bug Lab addresses it
K.CC.B.5	Count to answer "how many?" questions about as many as 20 things arranged in a line, a rectangular array, or a circle…	Children count legs (0–10) with the narrator, then check the on-screen dot row and numeral.
2.OA.C.3	Determine whether a group of objects (up to 20) has an odd or even number of members…	Legs only come in pairs, so every leg count is even — a springboard for asking "Could your bug ever have 7 legs? Why not?"
K.G.A.2	Correctly name shapes regardless of their orientations or overall size.	Body-shape selection uses shape names (round/circle, oval, triangle) at different sizes and orientations across builder, journal, and habitat views.
SL.K.4	Describe familiar people, places, things, and events and, with prompting and support, provide additional detail.	Naming the bug and presenting its journal card ("This is Ziggy, her curly feelers help her smell yummy food far away") is a supported oral-description task.

Symmetry is presented informally, as age-appropriate for K–2; formal line-symmetry work (CCSS 4.G.A.3) makes a natural extension for older students.

3 · Ready-to-Run Lesson Plans

Lesson 1 · "Count on Your Legs" — math focus

Grades K–1 · 20–25 min · whole class intro + pairs on devices

Objective: Students count to 10 accurately and discover that counting by pairs always lands on even numbers.

Vocabulary: count, pair, even, more, fewer, ten

(5 min) Project the game. On the Legs tab, tap + slowly while the class counts along with the narrator. Stop at 6: "How many pairs is that? Check the yellow bubble."
(3 min) Ask for predictions: "If I tap plus once more, how many legs will there be?" Test it.
(10 min) Pairs build their own bug. Challenge: "Make a bug with exactly 8 legs. Now exactly 4. Now the most legs the Lab allows."
(5 min) Gather. Try to make a 7-legged bug together — discover you can't. Introduce the word even.

Discussion: Why do legs come in twos? How many legs do real insects have (6)? If each pair is 2, how do we count 2-4-6-8-10?

Lesson 2 · "Built to Survive" — science focus

Grades 1–2 · 25–30 min · individual or pairs

Objective: Students design an animal whose external parts match the needs of a chosen habitat, and explain each structure's function.

Vocabulary: habitat, adaptation, camouflage, survive, structure, function

(5 min) Show the four habitat cards (Sunny Garden, Lily Pond, Sandy Desert, Night Forest). Ask: "What would a bug need to live HERE?"
(5 min) Each student secretly picks a target habitat, then builds a bug for it — choosing legs, wings, eyes, and pattern on purpose.
(8 min) On the Name & Explain screen, students select what each part helps the bug do. Circulate and ask "why?"
(7 min) Release bugs into the chosen habitat. Watch for the game's ⭐ "Great match!" message. Students feed their bug with the 🍓 button and observe how it moves.
(5 min) Save to the Bug Journal and share one adaptation with a neighbor.

Discussion: Which part was most important for your habitat? What would happen to a desert bug in the pond? Which real animal has a part like your bug's?

Lesson 3 · "Bug Reporter" — language focus

Grades 2–3 · 25–30 min · individual build + speaking circle

Objective: Students describe a creation in detail using shape, number, color, and function words, speaking in complete sentences.

Vocabulary: describe, detail, pattern, symmetry, because

(3 min) Model a "bug report": "This is Captain Fuzz. He has a round green body with pink spots, six stubby legs, and curly feelers because they help him smell food far away."
(10 min) Students build and name a bug (the ✨ "Idea, please!" button can help), completing every Explain question.
(2 min) Everyone taps the 🦋 Symmetry button and watches the mirror-line check. Add "both sides match" to word bank.
(10 min) Speaking circle: each reporter presents their journal card in 3+ sentences — one shape/number detail, one color/pattern detail, one "because" sentence about an adaptation.
(3 min) Audience asks one question per reporter from the conversation starters below.

Discussion: Which describing word painted the best picture? What's the difference between what a bug has and what a bug does? Was any part of your bug NOT symmetric?

4 · Conversation Starters

"Tell me about your bug's name. How did you choose it?"
"Count your bug's legs for me. If it lost one pair, how many would be left?"
"What does that pattern do — help it hide, or warn other animals? How do you know?"
"Why is your bug's home the best place for it? Where would be the worst place?"
"If both sides of your bug match, what word do we use for that?"
"What can your bug do that YOU can't? What can you do that IT can't?"
"If you built a friend for your bug, what one part would you change, and why?"

5 · Capstone Rubric — "Design a Bug for a Brand-New Habitat"

Invent a habitat the game doesn't have (a snowy mountain, a rainy jungle, under a sink!). Students build a bug for it, save it to the Journal, and present it.

Level	What it looks like
🌱 Sprouting	Builds and names a bug; counts its legs with help; names at least one body part.
🐛 Crawling	Counts legs and pairs independently; names the body shape; explains what one part helps the bug do in its own words.
🦋 Flying	Explains two or more part-function matches AND connects them to the invented habitat ("big eyes because it's dark under the sink"); uses words like pattern, pair, symmetry, or habitat correctly while presenting.