Jack (who appears in play sightings 6, 36, 37, and 40) was a critter know it all. Over the years he was in our family child care program, his love and knowledge of critters were always on display. He knew about cats and dogs. He knew about dinosaurs. He knew about farm critters and zoo critters. Mostly he was fascinated with bugs and worms.

Mr. Critter Know It All had a creative way of ensuring he could always locate fresh creepy crawlies to observe, collect, examine, and irritate. When the weather began to warm each spring, he scattered large rocks and logs around the outdoor play space. Then he pleaded with the other kids to leave his Bug Homes alone, explaining that, if left undisturbed, critters would come to live under them.

After a week or two passed, he’d hesitantly peek under a bug home or two seeking critters. He squealed with delight when the first batch of bugs or worms sought shelter in one of his bug homes.

Throughout the spring, summer, and fall, he’d move daily from one bug home to the next, investigating the residents. Sometimes he worked solo; other times, he had a small crew of lackeys doing his bidding. He gave directions like “Get some water and sprinkle it under that stone. It’s too dry under there for bugs” or “Don’t flip that one over, we flipped it last week. They need more time to move in.”

In exchange for their service, he shared his critter knowledge.

Creative Critter Know It All Wrap Up

It’s easy to imagine kids with such intense interests will grow up to pursue them as adults, but that’s rarely the case. The critter know it all rarely grows up to be an entomologist. The Dinosaur Kid rarely becomes a paleontologist. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t encourage and support them in their interests and pursuits. The fact that they’re showing an interest in something at the moment is enough reason to do what we can to support it. That interest may be fleeting, or it may last for years.

I’ll wrap up with this: The biggest thing I did to support critter know it all Jack was to leave those logs and rocks where he left them, even when they were placed in the middle of the lawn. And I rarely turned one over to look for critters without him telling me it was ok.

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