Ladybugs - Pre-K/Kindergarten Activities and Books

The Bibliophile has developed a bit of an attachment to a small ladybug stuffed animal lately.  It is as close as he has ever come to having a "comfort object" of any kind, other than Mama.  We decided to have a little fun with it last week and learn about ladybugs.

Ladybug craft

A simple ladybug is easy to make.  We just used:
Out of red construction paper:
Red circle for the body
Two red hearts (we used our heart hole punch to make them)

Out of black construction paper:
smaller black circle for the head
6 skinny black rectangles (crimped a bit by mom) for the legs
two skinny black antennae

two googley eyes
a do-a-dot marker for the spots
A gluestick to hold it all together (and a couple of dabs of stronger glue for the eyes)

Eats

Check out this adorable ladybug snack from the National Wildlife Federation website.  It is made from a strawberry, blueberry, chocolate chips, and licorice - how cute (and yummy) is that?

Music
He has often enjoyed this ladybug song on youtube; we like to sing it and act it out with his stuffed animal now.

Ladybug Books - Fiction

Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy.  Two friends pair up on the playground to form the Bug Squad -- led by superheroes Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy.  This is the first book that we have read in the Ladybug Girl series; we'll have to track down some others.  The characters are cute, and the pretend play theme is starting to be popular around here.


The Grouchy Ladybug - An Eric Carle classic that we had never read.  A grouchy ladybug, after squabbling with a much kinder ladybug over some aphids, goes looking for a fight with different animals throughout the book.  Eventually, he kind of finds one, and ends up full circle back to the first ladybug.  Tiny clocks at the top of each page pair with large font time descriptions, making this is a fun book to include in beginner work on reading clocks.  Unfortunately, the clocks are really small.  I wasn't a huge fan of the book - the grouchy theme didn't grab me as a teachable moment - but I know many other people love this one.  I'm glad we read it once, anyway.


The Everything Book.  We have owned this one since the Bibliophile was still an Infant Bibliophile.  It is not obviously about ladybugs (it really does contain a little of everything - poems, alphabet, counting, colors, foods, etc.).  But, as the last page explains, "there are 119 ladybugs crawling or flying across the pages of The Everything Book." A list alerts the reader as to how many ladybugs can be found on each of the 64 pages.  We need to go back and use this for a ladybug hunt; it's the kind of activity that the Bibliophile would love.

Ladybug Books - Nonfiction

Are you a ladybug? - This was my pick from the nonfiction section.  It is very simple; perfect for his age level.  Excerpt:

Are you a ladybug?  If you are, your parents look like this, and they eat aphids. 

Readers learn what ladybugs eat, and how they are born and grow and change color over time. 

Helpful Ladybugs

Bibliophile picked this one off the nonfiction shelves.  I thought it might be too much information for him, but it turned out to be a nice level too.  It contains more detail than the book above, but still not an overwhelming amount.  It was a great choice.

Excerpt:

Starting Out

Female ladybugs lay bunches of yellow eggs in spring and early summer.
They lay the eggs on leaves, near groups of aphids.
After a few days, the eggs hatch.
Little creatures with bumpy black bodies come out and start eating the aphids right away.
These baby ladybugs eat as much as they can, and they grow very fast.

Additional Resources / Link Love
Here are some other fun ladybug crafts from blogs that I follow:
Flower Pot Ladybug from Sippy Cup Central
Ladybug Fingerprint Painting from Fun with Mama
Ladybug Hair Clippies from Katie's Nesting Spot
Paper Plate Ladybugs (with number matching) from Storytime and More
Make and Count Ladybugs from No Time for Flashcards

I will be linking this post up with ST+art, Tot Tuesday, Crafty Soiree, ABC and 123, and Kids Get Crafty.

Comment!  Do you have any favorite ladybug books or crafts?  Does your child have a comfort object?

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