Family Fun Friday: Lil Divas Bug Explorers Extraordinaire!

We have been watching our Ladybug larvae grow into Pink Ladybugs. This was my first time observing this as well so it was all the more fun for me to share it with my Lil Divas.

We used the Insect Lore Ladybug Land and received our 10 Ladybug Larvae in the mail in no time at all.

We put them into their Ladybug Land and began to watch! The Lil Divas were intrigued byt how they did not look like ladybugs at all. I reminded them how Butterflies started off as caterpillars and they could not wait to see what would happen to our larvae.

After less than a week the larvae began attaching to the walls of the habitat and forming the hard outer shell around themselves. The process of changing into ladybugs was underway!

Once they all hatched we observed them for a few days, crawling around and decided to have a Ladybug Release Day so they could be free.

Since we have been focusing on an Insect Theme it seemed like the perfect time to take our magnifying glasses outside and go exploring - in the hopes of uncovering some bugs in their natural habitats!

My Lil divas are not usually fond of being up close & personal with bugs but in this case the tools made all the difference. How can you turn down the chance to use such a cute magnifying glass? The best part - they only cost me $1.00 (via Target's Dollar Spot)!

So what did my Lil nature Explorers uncover?

Naturally, it was only fitting to begin our exploration with our newly released ladybugs. The Littlest Diva was afraid to touch them so big sis did the honors of bringing them up close and personal :)

Then we were off to see what else we could find.

We found lots of ants,

Lots and lots of worms (yuck!),

a few spider webs,

some bees which I refused to get near enough to photograph, a butterfly that flew away before I could take a picture and some flies that were too quick to capture as well!

The Lil Divas proclaimed themselves Bug Explorers Extraordinaire and we happily made our way home (and out of the blazing sun & heat!)


Activity: Insect Lore Ladybug Giant Life Cycle Puzzle (I was lucky to find this at our local Ross Store for $4.99 a few weeks ago! I was so excited!)

Books:

Are You a Ladybug? (Backyard Books)


and of course for my Lil Explorers Extraordinaire

Fancy Nancy: Explorer Extraordinaire!


What adventures have you been on lately?

Bern
Linking to STart, Childhood 101 - We Play!, Sharing Time,  Get Crafty,  Read, Explore, Learn , For the Kids Friday,  Preschool Corner, Feed Me Books Friday  , Fun for Kids Friday , It's Playtime , Made by Little Hands Mondayand Creative Juice Thursday

Trash to Art - Making Art from Nature & Recycled Materials

I really like the idea of using "out of the box" materials for art work. The Lil Divas love to paint and draw with markers and crayons but every now and then it's wonderful to take a break from the routine materials, to simply try something different and let the creativity just flow!

Children have a wonderful ability to see something wonderful in just about anything. Plus, these kinds of crafts are environmentally friendly and frugal.

What We Did:

The Lil Divas were supplied with various materials like newspaper, pebbles, twine, leaves and cardboard. The rest was up to them and they both got really into it. They each ended up making numerous works of art.

Awesome butterfles (I helped with the cutting)  and flowers were made from the materials using the cardboard as their canvas.

 

The next time you are taking a stroll - have your lil one be on the look out for things you can bring home to create with. Then set aside some time to let them sit with their materials and see what they come up with.

Have you strayed from the markers, paint and crayons lately? What "out of the norm" things have you used lately with your children to craft? I would love to know!

Bern

Linking to STart, Childhood 101 - We Play!, Sharing Time,  Get Crafty,  Read, Explore, Learn , For the Kids Friday,  Preschool Corner, Feed Me Books Friday  , Fun for Kids Friday , It's Playtime , Made by Little Hands Monday and Creative Juice Thursday