The creatures of the night pack was also filled with eight different themed baggies. Most of these activities seemed to be geared towards older children, but you can definitely implement the tools to engage the little ones. 

Here’s what’s in the eight different packets: 

1. Night Crawler Hunt: Easy guide for finding and identifying a variety of insects. 
2. Cricket Thermometer: Figure out the temperature by counting cricket calls and using this simple formula. 
3. Bat/Moth Echolocation: We had such a blast doing this activity as a family! It basically reminded me of Marco-Polo, but it’s such a fun way to explore how bats use echolocation to find moths and other insects to eat. Two blindfolds, an instruction sheet, and a bat fact sheet is included in the bag. There’s also some bat trivia and math problems for older children. 
4. Moth Mash: A simple concoction recipe to attract moths and other insects to your backyard at night. Use the headlamp to help spot and identify the insects. 
5. Firefly Flashers: This packet helps you discuss how fireflies create light from chemical reactions and that each species of firefly has a distinct pattern of light flashes, which mates use to find one another. Hand out an index card with a pattern code on it to your homeschoolers and have them flash their patterns and recognize their mates. Since this activity isn’t geared towards preschoolers, we just used the flashlights to make bats with our hands in the dark. The kiddos got a kick out of that. 
6. Night Hike and Vision: Includes a pamphlet on night hiking in Iowa, which covers what animals you might see at night, fun facts about them, and tips for hiking at night. There’s also a list of night hiking spots for Polk county on the back. There was an instruction sheet for how to make nocturnal animal “eyes,” as well as an information sheet about cones and rods for vision. The packet stated that there should be 2 black cups included for the activity, but those appeared to be missing. However, you really just need some empty yogurt containers and black construction paper for the project. 
7. Poetry in Your Ears: This packet encourages children to create their own poems that describe sounds of the night. There’s pencil and paper already in the packet for you as well. We really enjoyed reading what other kids had come up with. There’s also an info sheet with a nature spotlight on the Indiana bat, as well as instructions on how to make a bat mobile. 
8. Frog/Toad Calls & Calling All Owls: This was definitely one of our favorite packets, as my kiddos loved listening to the calls of the barred owl and great horned owl. Inside the baggie you’ll find a CD with common bird songs, another CD with Iowa frog and toad calls, an information sheet on frogs and toads of Polk county, and some wildlife notes on owls (specifically the Great Horned Owl, Barred Owl, and Screech Owl). There’s also an activity where you have the kids listen to cricket calls and then use a comb and some marbles to create your own cricket chorus.