Homeschool Science: Ladybugs.

[go_romanovs]

Well.. we were coming home from the playground, all tired and hungry, we came out of the car and my kids went nuts over MILLIONS of ladybugs occupying the bushes in front of our house. Here's a homeschooling mama for you - instead of starting the dinner, we spent another hour collecting ladybugs (no ladybugs were harmed :) and we let them all go the next day), and running back and forth between the computer and the bushes outside.

My kids were so excited, they were running up to every passer by telling them all about their jar, "And this one has no spots cause he is brand new, and this one's spots are fading, cause he is old, and this one is small cause he is a male, and here's a black one, and these ones were mating just a minute ago".. That last part was hilarious, I got some raised eyebrows :) but oh well..

While taking pictures I've noticed some ugly looking caterpillar bug thingies sitting on the leaves.. Eww, said, I, KIDS, don't touch them.. Well, then inside we went and looked at the ladybug life cycle. Turns out those ugly things are the ladybug larva... EWWW.. and their pupa is ugly too. Eggs are kind of cute, but still. I used to like ladybugs standing them aside from all the other bugs, that I am not particularly fond of. Well now, I don't like ladybugs either... they are just another ewwy bug!

That will not prevent us from going out tomorrow to find some pupa or eggs or larva and sticking it in a clear jar.. :) I think it would be fun watching it transform with the kids. We did it with a caterpilar  last year and it was just AWESOME. Got ourselves a HUGE beautiful swallowtale butterfly at the end.

So in case you were wondering...

Here are the beetles themselves -

a black one! Rare :)

Here's

Here's a ladybug larva. Feeds on aphids too, just like an adult ladybug.

Here's a good picture of a ladybug laying eggs, but I didn't take this one.

Tags: home-schooling, ladybugs, pupa, larva, fun activity

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[MsEmsMom110]

May. 3, 2009 at 4:27 PM

Ya know, thats kinda cool... But gross at the same time, LOL. But I'm sure the kids loved it!!!

[go_romanovs]

May. 5, 2009 at 1:52 PM

that's kind of how I feel. Cool but gross :)

Was a cool little science lesson though :)

(Original Poster)