Ladybug Week

Ladybug display.

We're starting off a unit on insects by learning about ladybugs, and I thought I'd share some of the resources we're using, and activities we're doing. (L is still doing his HOD curriculum, also, in case you were wondering.)

Ladybug sensory bin.

Our sensory bin this week is pretty simple. It consists of red rice, large and small lady bugs, tweezers, and magnifying glasses. V has been having a blast "catching" the ladybugs, and making up little stories about "mommy ladybug," and her "babies."

Our "science center" display.

On our little science center, we've got pictures of ladybugs, a magnifying glass, and a homemade bug box filled with models of the ladybug life cycle, (as seen below.) Get the how to for the bug box here.

Ladybug math.

We've been doing some ladybug math, using the buggy addition and subtraction boards found here, and some ladybug gummy candy from Dollar Tree.

I've set up a tweezing activity for the kids, using the little bug catching kits from Dollar Tree, and pom poms. The kids are to remove the red and black pom poms from the bug jar with the tweezers, and sort them into small baskets.

I also picked up a red rubber ball from the dollar store, and drew black dots all over it with a sharpie. We're using it to practice catching and throwing. (You may or may not remember that L has SPD, and has some motor delays.Things are actually coming along wonderfully in that department, by the way.)

We've been using components from this I is for Insects packet. The kids are especially enjoying the activity cards. Actually, so am I. Their interpretations of the activities are hysterical.

V is enjoying the preschool pack from here, and L has been working on some of the Grouchy Ladybug lapbooking components from homeschool share.

My bug themed Pinterest board is exploding with more fun ladybug ideas, some of which we'll be exploring as time and interest permits.

Bug Themed HexBug Party

Last Saturday, we had a HexBug Nano party at our house.

I really ran with the bug theme. We had bug and worm covered cupcakes, Oreo cookie spiders, (easy to make with Oreos, Twizzlers, M&Ms, and frosting,) gummi worms, and jello and gummi bugs in petri dishes. ( The jello concoction was a kit I found in the Hallween department at Target. I don't actually eat jello myself, but it turned out really cute.)

Bug themed snacks.

Bugs and jello, anyone?

Inevitably, the cupcakes started out like this,

Pre cupcake mess.

and ended up like this.

Post cupcake mess.

I set up a little table with bug themed Googly Bands and spider rings as favors. Can't go wrong with Googly bands, right?

The best part, of course, was the HexBugs. (Don't know what they are? They're tiny, robotic bugs. They can be made to run on tracks, and have "battles." They come in different color combinations, some more rare than others. There are habitat kits you can buy to build the tracks and battle arenas, and you can also buy individual components,to build your own habitats.)

We were sent two kits, the HexBug Nano Habitat Set, as shown here:

                                                        

and the HexBug Nano Bridge Battle Habitat Set, (for which Amazon didn't have a picture.) We were also sent a number of individual components to construct our own habitats.

Here's the set up we had before the party:

Our HexBug battle zone.

We actually all sat down as a family, and had a blast putting it all together.

After the kids arrived, they played,

and played,



and played.

These toys were a hit with all the kids, and even my husband and I have enjoyed building new habitats for them over the past couple of days. (If your kids like Legos, or Tinker Toys, or other building toys, they'll like the building aspect of the Hexbug habitats. The pieces are all interchangeable, which makes for an infinite number of building possibilities.)

My son is already requesting some of the other Hexbug toys for Christmas this year. Shhh, he'll be getting some...

I'd totally recommend HexBug Nanos for boys or girls. (We had an equally good response from both.)

The individual bugs sell for less than $10, and the habitat kits run from about $15 (for a small starter kit,) to around $40 (for the large Battle habitat.) Individual habitat components are available at several different price points. Hexbug Nano toys can be purchased at Toys R Us, Target, Hobby Lobby, Amazon, and virtually everywhere else.

Several of our guests weren't able to make it Saturday, so we're already planning to have another Hexbug play date. Our own kids have been playing with these pretty much morning 'til night for the past three days. :)

Disclaimer: I was provided with HexBug toys for my own children and my party guests, as part of this promotional campaign through BSM Media. No other compensation was provided, and all opinions expressed here represent my own experiences.

Sensory Box Variations: Gardening and Bugs

Here are some recent variations on our sensory box. First we had this one,in a gardening theme, filled with Play Mobil people, dogs, bunnies, and vegetables.

After that, I switched over to a bug theme, with these dollar store bugs, although I'm going to be on the lookout for some smaller bugs, which would be more fun to hide and find.



As simple as it seems, the kids don't seem to tire of this idea.

Getting Started with Bugs: Butterfly Week

At L's request, we're finishing up our ocean unit, and moving on to bugs. I really had about another week worth of material to cover, but he was adamant about moving on, so we are.

My plan is to cover bugs for a month, or maybe a little longer, if he'll stick with it. After that, we'll be officially done for the year, although I'm planning to do some Veggie Tales themed stuff over the summer, just for fun.

I scavenged through all the bookshelves in the house, and came up with a pile of books on the subject. I'll be requesting some from the library too, but this is a good start. In case you're looking for some bug themed ideas to request from the library, here are a few (lousy) pictures.









This week we're focusing on butterflies, and specifically the Very Hungry Caterpillar. (I was lucky enough to pick up this cool puzzle at Goodwill a while back. )
I printed out the Very Hungry Caterpillar Tot Pack from 1+1+1=1, and will be looking for some other reseources. I'll post more later about what we end up doing.

This week's theme: Bugs

This week's preschool theme is bugs. Yesterday we talked about bugs a while, and then made some fingerprint bugs, along the lines of the Ed Emberley books (Note the weird placement of the eyes. L insisted that they needed eyes, even though I tried convincing him that we were looking at the bugs from overhead, and wouldn't see the eyes.). After that, we caught a few bugs to look at, and subsequently released them.

We are also following along with the rest of the (Bright Beginnings) curriculum. So far I really like it. I'm thinking I'll extend the bugs theme into next week as well, since it's such a huge topic, and to be honest, I haven't had an adequate amount of time to plan all I wanted to cover this week.

We did yesterday's lessons in the front yard, on a blanket, and it was nice, so I think I'll continue that until the heat gets too unbearable here. I'll have to remember to wear sunscreen though, I got burned yesterday.

On a side note, baby V is picking up tons of new words. Last week everything was "cool". Today's word of the day: "poop". hahaha.