“Mom! Look Out,” Baby K cried as we made our way past the garage to set off on our walk to pick up sissy from school. On the ground beside me is a wooden palette which has sat so long beside our garage that the grass and weeds have found its small crevices a comforting home. Amongst the swaying blades and stems busily crawl at least 50 small black and red bugs.
“Oh baby K, those are just beetles they won’t hurt you.” She gives a hesitant half-trusting sideways glance. “They are more afraid of you than you are of them.”
“Why?”
“Well they are tiny, and to them you look like a giant!”
She takes this concept in for a minute, the thought that she, the tiniest person she has ever known could come off as threatening to something smaller. “But I don’t want to hurt them.”
I shrug, “but they don’t know that.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BvX1gkQAFEJ/
From that moment her fascination with the critters grew. She holds a personal responsibility for their safety and protection from the real giants of the world, like daddies.
This passion blended with the coming sunshine of spring inspired this entire buggy unit.
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So we couldn’t focus on every one of the 380,000 known beetle’s species in one day, but we could review the basic curricula to be considered ‘beetle’ along with these two interesting players:
- Dung beetle
- Ladybug
Although the girls started out must excited to focus on Ladybugs I think they came out more fascinated by the Dung Beetles by the end of the day!
I was fortunate that National Geographic Kids not only had a quick introductory video, but also a fun free logic puzzle game. This game uses our favorite bug that rolls those giant balls of poo and transplants them into an almost Angry birds like Physics scenario.
Before diving headfirst into literature we read the lady bug fact page on national geographics kids. We talked about what ladybugs and dung beetles do for the Earth.
- Dung beetles contain the poop, aerate the dirt, and fertilize the ground.
- Ladybugs eat pests that attack our crops.
- Ladybugs are not indigenous the the U.S. They were actually imported to the United States by English farmer immigrants to help control the aphid situation.
- There are more than 300 types of ladybugs, and they most commonly come with 2, 7, 9, or 13 spots. With the seven spots there are three spots on each wing and one in the center.
- Lady bugs come in many different colors than just red and black.
Then it was time to pay one more visit to our friend Eric Carle with the Grouchy Ladybug. What was similar between the cover of this book, and the cover of the Very Hungry Caterpillar? How were the images created?
Again we actively read.
On the first page we reviewed what aphids were, and the problems they can cause for farmers.
- Why did the Ladybug keep repeating, ‘you’re not big enough’? Did he really believe that?
- Critical Thinking: Why do we sometimes say things that aren’t true when we are mad?
Supplies:
- Using the above image the girls were to follow the step by step instructions to color the lady bug.
- Next they were told to use the oil pastels to color the dots and lady bugs whatever color they wanted.
This was a simple activity that will increase the retention of the ladybug anatomy.
Free Resources:
Grouchy Ladybug Activities– Living Montessori Now
Lady Bug Craft Template– One Colorful Day
Lady Bug Life Cycle Cut and Paste– Trillium Montessori (Requires Subscription)
Reusable Ladybug Add & Subtract– Fantastic Fun and Learning (Requires Subscription)
Ladybug Editable Sight Words– A Dab of Glue Will Do (Requires Subscription)
Buggy Inspirations and Ideas:
Homeschool To UnSchool 