Ladybugs are very helpful in our garden, where they can assist us by eating aphids that can be harmful to plants. Ladybugs live on six of the seven continents. Do you know ladybugs are also pollinators? Let’s see what other cool things ladybugs can do.
Books:
The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle. This story book not only introduces different kinds of animals, but also a perfect book to teach children analog. Children will learn how to read time from the top of pages through this engaging story. In addition, children will have the opportunity to order the animals by their body sizes when learning different animals from the book. In addition, this is a good book for social emotional learning. Ask your child what does grouchy mean? Tell children grouchy is a type of feeling, then ask when you feel grouchy, what will you do? What types of things make you grouch? What can we do to make ourselves feel better when grouchy? Was the ladybug being nice to others in the book? How do you want to be treated? How should you treat others? These questions help children to understand their feelings, think about strategies to manage their feelings, and learn to be empathetic.
Ladybugs by Gail Gibbons. Gail Gibbons again proved that she could use simple words to depict scientific facts in detail. Children will learn about ladybugs' life cycle, activities, and benefits to human beings from this book.
A Ladybug’s Life by John Himmelman. Just as the title says, this is a book about a ladybug’s life cycle. In winter, ladybugs hibernate. We are familiar with forest animals who hibernate. It turns out some insects also hibernate. Parents can talk about hibernation after reading this book.
Activity:
Dramatic play
Life Cycle Play. Children act out the ladybug life cycle from egg to larva to pupa to adult.
Ladybug in the Winter Play. Children and parents huddle together under a blanket to keep warm and hibernate.
2. Game
Ladybug and bird game. From the books, we know that birds like blue jays are ladybugs’ predators. Let children be the Ladybugs and parents be the birds. Children outwit the birds, and survive.
3. Art
Prepare a picture of a ladybug to children, and let them free-draw a ladybug.
4. Math
Show pictures of different kinds of ladybugs to children, and ask children to count the dots on the elytra and identify the symmetry line.
Observe a ladybug, and ask children to identify the ladybug’s body parts, and count each body part accordingly. For example, a ladybug has 1 head, 2 eyes, 4 wings, 1 elytra and so on.
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