Ladybug Life Cycle

I was kind of concerned about doing the ladybug life cycle at this time of year, but this was our last summertime activity.  It turned out well though because last week we had several days of HOT weather, like 100 degrees HOT!

While we waited for our ladybug larvae to arrive from insect lore, we began learning about them using our ladybug life cycle figures.  I also made these very colorful cards (which I laminated and attached magnetic strips to the back).  The kids were able to order the life cycle cards on their magnetic white boards.

Click here to download the Ladybug Life Cycle Cards

We read the book The Grouchy Ladybug and used our foam clocks (from the dollar section at Target) to practice telling time (to the hour).

We used this template to create our very own Grouchy Ladybug Clocks.

This was really neat to watch.  The kids raced down every morning to see the progression of our ladybugs.  The entire process took a little over a week, but every day there was a change so it made the waiting more bearable.

Our ladybug larvae have arrived!

The larvae are growing!  They shed their skin as they grow and
you can see the remains inside the container.

We have pupae!

And now...We have ladybugs!

We released the ladybugs into our rose bushes to take care of our aphid problem.

Here are some links to other sites, as well as some resources we found helpful in our unit study of ladybugs:

Enchanted Learning: Life Cycle of a Ladybug Printable Book for Early Readers
Home Training Tools: Learn About Ladybugs
Home Training Tools: Ladybug Life Cycle
Lapbook Lessons: Tons of Ladybug Activities

~Nicole~