*** All plays and skits on this site are written for children to act an produce. They are also FREE to youth groups and school groups. However if you do use one, please contact me to let me know when you are using it and how it went.***

BUG ARE US
An ecology skit
by Kim Firmston
(copyright Kim Firmston 2005)  

 
This skit was originally written for the Guide ecology badge. The girls had a ton of fun doing it.

Guide 1:  I HATE bugs!!  Hate! Hate! Hate!

Guide 2: I know Bugs are soooo gross!

Guide 3:  Why do they even exist.  I mean what can they do anyway?

Dragon fly:  I’m glad you asked!

Lady bug:  We love to talk to people!

Bug 3:  Yeah.  People mmmm.  Tasty!

Guide 1:  Who are you?

Dragon fly:  I’m Dragon fly.

Lady bug:  I’m lady bug.

Mosquito:  I’m mosquito.  How are you and how do you taste?

Guide 2: Don’t you bite me!

Guide 3: All you insects are bad.  I wish you would all go away.

Lady bug: Not all of us are bad!

Dragon fly:  Some of us are very good for the environment!  The Ladybug, pirate bug, rove beetle, hover fly and ground beetles are very helpful at eating harmful insects.  Not to mention myself the great and beautiful dragon fly.

Mosquito:  And some of us are bad!  Like Aphids, thrips, spidermites, whiteflies, weevils, leatherjackets, pillbugs, slugs, tent caterpillars, and the European cabbage worm.  And me of course, the mosquito.  Though only us female mosquitoes suck blood and feed it to our babies.  And only some of us carry disease. 

Lady bug:  I eat aphids.  They suck the juice out of plants and kill them.  I really am the gardener’s best friend.

Guide 1: So some of you are bad.

Guide 2:  And some of you are good.

Guide 3: But do we really need insects at all?

Scientist 1:  I’m glad you asked!

Scientist 2: We love to answer questions.

Scientist 1:  Science is our game!

Scientist 2:  And answering buggy questions is our aim!

Scientist 1:  Did you know that a flea can jump 130 times its own height?

Scientist 2: Did you know that less than 1 percent of people bitten by a black widow spider run a risk of dying?

Scientist 1: Did you know that a cockroach can live nine days without it’s head?

Scientist 2:  And that the only reason it dies is because it can’t drink?

Scientist 1: Did you know flies can taste with their feet?

Guide 1: But don’t they like to stand on poo?

Guide 2 and 3:  EEEWWW!

Dragon fly:  The fastest known insect is the dragon fly.  We can go up to 58 Kilometers per hour.

Mosquito:  Well mosquitoes can beat their wings 600 times a second.

Lady bug:  A midge fly can beat its wings 1046 times a second and that’s a world record.

Mosquito: (sticks her tongue out at Lady bug).

Guide 1: But that still doesn’t tell us how insects are useful.

Guide 2:  Or why we shouldn’t just wipe them off the face of the earth.

Guide 3:  Who cares about insects anyway?

Bat:  I do.

Robin: I do too and a lot of other animals besides.

Guide 1: Okay.  But who are you.

Guide 2:  Make one comment about insects and the whole forest shows up.

Guide 3:  You’re telling me!

Bat: I’m a little brown bat.  I live in Alberta.  I eat up to a pound of mosquitoes a night.  Other insects too.  If it weren’t for insects I would die.

Robin: I’m a North American robin.  I eat insects too.  So do frogs, spiders, lizards, cats, and some plants.

Bat:  Insects help too.  They eat harmful bugs, spread pollen to help plants reproduce, and give food to animals in a variety of ecosystems.

Robin:  If it weren’t for insects you wouldn’t be eating berries, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, honey or a lot of other things.

Bat: So don’t you DARE get rid of the insects.

Robin:  And don’t you DARE get rid of the environments insects live in.

Scientist 1: I don’t think you can anyway there are between 5 million and 10 million of species of insects on earth.

Scientist 2: And the only insects that can purposely inject you with a poison are wasps, bees and ants.

Bat: And as for spiders, of the 35 000 species only 27 are known to be able to kill humans.

Robin:  None in Alberta.  So don’t sweat the little stuff girls.

Bat:  Yeah you have way more serious things to freak out about.

Robin:  Like humans.

Lady bug and dragon fly:  EEEEWWWW!

Mosquito:  Yum!

Guide 1:  Thanks for helping us see that insects are important.

Guide 2:  Yeah, I’m not so worried about them any more.

Guide 3:  But I still don’t have to like them.  At least not the bad ones.

Bat: Don’t worry I will help take care of those.

Mosquito:  Uh oh I’m out of here! (Mosquito leaves)

All:  (laugh)

Take a bow,