30 Days. 30 Bugs. Teaching kids all the YIKES about the Lady Bug…
During June, I will be offering some pretty interesting bugs to you and your kids… bugs that will excite and entertain kids while teaching them. Each and every little word or fun piece of information is a building block to love of learning and literacy.
Come along for the YIKES! It’s gonna be a buggah!
The Lady Bug is often called The Gardener’s Best Friend because of its great appetite to eat garden pests such as mites, mealybugs, white flies and the pesky aphid. Gardeners often purchase containers of Lady Bugs to set free in their gardens, as opposed to using chemical pesticides. These little beauties came by way of mail order and belong to my son-in-law Matt, ready to be set free to protect his backyard “farm”…
The Lady Bug has a very characteristic *red color, convex-shaped body and distinct dark spots, although some have no spots at all. Its scientific name is Coccinellidae (meaning little red sphere) and is also known as the Lady Beetle, Lady Bird and Mary Beetle. The names Lady Bird and Beetles of Our Lady originated in Britain as an honor to The Virgin Mary, who was often depicted in paintings wearing a red robe, and to whom prayers were offered to stop crop destruction. (*It’s interesting to note that the Lady Bug body is also known to be yellow, pink, orange or even black.)
The Lady Bug’s bright color and pattern is nature’s way of discouraging other creatures to prey on it. But if some creature decides to ignore the warning, the Lady Bug emits a noxious yellow fluid that seeps out of its joints. The predator then has plenty good experience and reason to avoid that pretty little red bug in the future. A good YIKES! for the Lady Bug!
The female Lady Bug lays her oval, yellow/orange colored eggs in clusters of up to 50, usually on the undersides of leaves. When the larvae hatch, they look like little alligators… and set about immediately eating those same garden pests that the adult Lady Bugs like so much.
The Lady Bug isn’t the best flier in the insect kingdom, but its transparent sheath-like wings takes it where it wants to go.
During the cold winter months, the Lady Bug goes into hibernation with sometimes thousands of other Lady Bugs, snuggling together in the eaves of homes, in hollowed spaces and any place that keeps them warm until spring.
Bring your kids into the wonderful world of the Lady Bug. Why not study its life-cycle process… maybe even finding some of those little “alligators”!
Pass along some Lady Bug lore… things like the Lady Bug helps make your wishes come true; if you catch a Lady Bug in your home, the number of its spots tells you how many dollars you’ll soon find; or if you mash a Lady Bug and rub it on an aching tooth, your toothache will disappear. YIKES!
I think I’ll stick to the wishes come true and dollars lore!
Have fun with the wonderful Lady Bug!
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Join me here each day in June for 30 days. 30 Bugs. – a little fun, a little learning and a lotta YIKES!
ew to the mashing of the ladybug… but with our lack of dental, maybe I’ll try 😉
Sharon, we LOVE ladybugs. That is, my mom and I. I can’t seem to get my kids to be anything other than terrified of most bugs. I was told growing up that lady bugs were good luck, and that we had to keep them safe and protect them because they ate the other bugs. I was also told the number of spots was how old they were…which would have made some of them very, very old! I can’t wait to share this with the kids in the hopes that I can turn them into fans!
It really is the prettiest bug around!
We actually look forward to the ladybug infestation that end up all over our windows. They are ‘cute’ and tickle so they escape the ‘Eww!!’ category that so many other bugs fall under.