Summer Bugs - Butterflies

 

 



Welcome back to another installment in our Summer Bugs series.  This time around we studied butterflies. 

 

 

We were thrilled to have an indoor butterfly garden.  When our caterpillars arrived in the mail, we began our watching and waiting. About five days later, they formed their chrysalis.  We pinned the cloth holding the chrysalis in the protected netting area and just four days later our beautiful butterflies emerged.  Our neighbor was so kind to let us feed the butterflies from their butterfly bush.  After 3 days of observing our winged friends, we released them and they took flight toward our willow tree.  It was fascinating for everyone in the family to watch this transformation.  Such a wonder!

 

 

 

As in our previous bug studies, we found delightful books to read:

 

 

A delightful way to learn about the butterfly lifecycle with beautiful illustrations! It also includes tips in how to attract butterflies to your children's garden.

 

In this book an incredible variety of butterflies are celebrated in all of their beauty and wonder with lovely detailed illustrations.

For a fun recycle craft, visit my previous post on Paper Butterflies.

Summer Bugs Series: Ladybugs

Welcome back to another post in our Summer Bugs series.  After dragonflies, we went on to study ladybugs. It just so happens we found one in our house the day we began our lessons, a rare surprise where our insect visitors tend to be moths and spiders.

The Ladybug Lady website had all the coloring pages, pictures, and ladybug facts we could want.

 

 





 

The UK Woodland Trust NatureDetectives site has many, many fun ways to help children interact with nature including ladybug (ladybird in the UK) games, information, and id sheets.  Well worth a visit.

Join Project Noah.  A wonderful resource where people submit photos and information on everything from aphids to zebras.  The submissions are wonderful!

 

Find ladybug lesson plans from the Lost Ladybug Project.

 

Learn a bit from National Geographic. 

 

 

Fill in  a ladybug lifecycle worksheet or make a ladybug minibook.

 

We also found some fun books at our library about ladybugs:

 

Ladybug encounters many predators while hunting for food and searching for a winter home. Ladybug's bright red coloring helps to keep her safe, while she looks for food for the long winter ahead.

 

 

 

 

This is a great educational spiral-bound book that explores the life cycle of the ladybug and the world of insects, and includes transparent pages that reveal the ladybug life cycle.

 

 

 

 

 

Another great book to learn about the ladybug life cycle.

 

 

I had intended to have the boys paint black rocks to look like ladybugs and use them as paperweights, but it we never managed to do it. *sigh*

 

 

 

Next, we are moving on to butterflies...

 

 

Dragonfly nymphs and waterscopes

 During our Summer Bug studies, we learned that dragonflies begin life as tiny water nymphs, so we made our own waterscopes and went exploring.

Summer is a great time to search for dragonfly nymphs. (When they are big enough, they crawl out of the water, latch on to a twig or stem to dry out.  Then they crawl out of their skin to emerge as beautiful dragonflies.)

 

We are off to the woods... 

 

 

with nets and waterscopes in hand.

Looking for dragonfly nymphs here...



and there.



 

We found one!

 

Evening has come. Time for the hike back

talking of our adventure all the way home. 

 

Summer Bugs Series: Dragonflies (twig dragonfly tutorial)

 

During these warmer days, a sure way to get my sons outside is to grab a water bottle and magnifying glass and invite them on a bug hunt.  This summer I am extending the activity by incorporating it into some summer learning and providing links to learning websites, crafts, and stories about bugs.

 

This week we are studying dragonflies.  They seem so mysterious, with their bright colors and the way they hover over water.  When we see one, my boys throw out many questions and observations.

Below are some links for learning about dragonflies:

Download a dragonfly lapbook from Homeschool Share. 

 

Dragonfly coloring pages and here.

Beautiful photos of East Coast dragonflies - great to use in a matching game

Download a colorful sheet to learn the difference between a dragonfly and damselfly.

See lovely photos and learn more dragonfly facts from the San Diego Zoo.

The Dragonfly Story - this is a lovely story about a dragonfly who, born in the water, leaves the stream to fly away. As a side note, this story is a good way to help children deal with the loss of a loved one.

Feeling artsy? How to draw a dragonfly and a video of how to draw

Here is an interesting Video about dragonflies.

We read some wonderful books about dragonflies including:

The most colorful wings on the pond belong to the nimble dragonfly, but this delicate flying insect didn't begin life in the air. The secrets of metamorphosis are unfurled in this story of the life of a familiar backyard creature.

A dragonfly lays her clutch of eggs and the life cycle of dragonflies has begun. Watch as the little nymphs change over time into beautiful adults who can move through the air like an acrobat.

This was one of our favorites!  Eliza and her friends learn all about dragonflies when they join Aun Doris on trips to a nearby pond. The science about dragonflies is perfectly integrated into a story in which the remarkable metamorphosis of a dragonfly from a mucky nymph (Eeeewww, says Eliza) to a beautiful winged creature (Magnificent! says Aunt Doris) is a metaphor for the magic of how Eliza, too, grows up.



We also had fun making twig dragonflies:

When they were all dry, we added them to our summer nature table:

Next, we are studying ladybugs...