Ladybug, Ladybug, Fly Away Home

Bear has had ladybugs on the mind lately. I had decided to focus on insects this Spring, as we did birds and flowers last year.  However, we've also done butterflies frequently (how can you not; they are so pretty), so I wanted another insect as our feature insect.  Bear chose ladybugs.

First, I set up an insect sensory basket.  The idea came from Prekinders.  Green Easter grass, plastic insects, tweezers (our thick plastic ones went AWOL so I included the chopsticks instead) to catch the bugs, a bug box, and a magnifying glass to observe them.  I also included a few flowers (after I had taken the photo) in the Easter grass (think weeds in the lawn!).

Then I set out a tray with the life cycle (from One Hook Wonder) and nomenclature cards (from Montessori Print Shop).

The nomenclature PDF comes with an unlabeled page so the child can do a booklet that she colors nad labels on her own, but the life cycle cards didn't include that, so I made my own by cutting apart this worksheet (although I think I like the drawings on this one better) and gluing each drawing on a separate little page.

In keeping with my other Poor Man's Puzzles, I made a Parts of the Ladybug out of felt for Bear.

 I probably would have made her a paper version like I did for the bird and frog, but I was inspired by

Discovery Days and Montessori Moments who just posted her daughter's ladybug learning activities a few days ago. 

One of Bear's favorite rhymes since she was 18 months is

Little Red Bug

Little red bug, oh so cute,
Here's a black spot for your suit.
Now you go and have some fun
With your spot, your very first one.

Little red bug, oh so cute,
Here's a black spot for your suit.
It's so nice to own a few,
So enjoy these lovely two.

Little red bug, oh so cute,
Here's a black spot for your suit.
We are very pleased to see
How nice you look with all three.

Little red bug, oh so cute,
Here's a black spot for your suit.
You might feel that you need more,
So we proudly give you four.

Little red bug, oh so cute,
Here's a black spot for your suit.
Heaven, heaven, sakes alive,
Look at you, you're wearing five!

 by Susan M. Paprocki

We have a paper ladybug we act this out with.

I've also set up a poetry basket.  We haven't done one in a while.  After browsing through a bunch of ladybug songs and poems, I ended up using the same one as did Discovery Days due to its simplicity.

And here's a cute song that ties in that will review body parts for J-jo.  Danielle's place has a very thorough ladybug theme if you need anymore ideas.

Linked to Science Sundays.