How to Make a Lightning Bug Lamp

Lightning bug hunts are an entertaining nighttime activity for children on warm summer nights. Whether at the park or the backyard, children of all ages can have fun hunting and catching lightning bugs. Lightning bugs can be contained in order to make a temporary light source. Although you may remember catching and keeping lightning bugs when you were a kid, it is now not considered humane in many families to condone capturing animals. Tell your children before catching the lightning bugs that you are keeping them temporarily and you will be letting them go shortly after capturing them.

Things You'll Need

• Mason jar with lid Lightning bugs Grass

Instructions

1. Lift the top off a mason jar.

2. Pick a few handfuls of grass inside the mason jar.

3. Place the open mason jar on its side and instruct your child to cup lightning bugs with his or her hands and place them inside the open jar.

4. Close the jar tightly when you have captured approximately ten lightning bugs.

5. Place the closed jar in a dark room to get full advantage of the light source. Open the mason jar and let the lightning bugs back into the yard the following morning.

Tips & Warnings

• If you do not have a lid for your mason jar, you can cover the top with tinfoil.

• Do not let your child keep the lightning bugs for more than 24 hours or the lightning bugs will die.

Resources

• MightyGoods.com: Electric Firefly Lamp
• Instructables.com: Simplified Firefly Jar
• YouTube.com: Make a Firefly Lamp