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Title : Read with a Ladybug Day!
link : Read with a Ladybug Day!
Read with a Ladybug Day!
i found this idea on a facebook page and i just fell head over heels in LOVE! |
i decided to use ladybugs for my morning Toddler programs AND an afternoon session for all ages. both would feature stories and a craft.
the afternoon session would feature something else very special: live ladybugs for participants to take home and release!!!
we have done butterfly releases in previous years which i LOVE. i thought that alternating butterflies and ladybugs each year would be the perfect way to add a little variety!
Things I Bought:
ladybug balloons
Ladybug Land habitat by Insect Lore for observation
LIVE ladybugs
small plastic ladybug take home condiment containers
i found everything on Amazon!
i needed a container to hold the live ladybugs that would allow me to easily scoop them out for the kids to take home. i bought an insect terrarium on amazon that looked perfect.
of course, i needed a costume...
CHECK!
the giant cardboard ladybug was purchased a few years back as part of a set from OTC and is great for displays and also as a photo prop.
Toddler Programs (AM sessions)
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I moved them out of sight, behind my back, so we could sing:
Where is Happy? Where is Happy?
Here I am, here i am!
How are you today, friend?
Very happy, thank you!
Fly away, fly away!
then we sang the grouchy version!
Books We Read:
Hugs and Kisses for the Very Grouchy Ladybug- Carle
this is a newish title and i LOVE it for this age group! The real Grouchy Ladybug book by Carle is a little long so this is the perfect introduction! i simply let the kids tell me the animal on each page to make it fun & interactive.
Flannel Board: Baby Ladybug Hide & Seek
Mama Ladybug can't find her babies! i think they are hiding in the garden, let's find them!
Baby Ladybugs, where can you be?
Hidden away where nobody sees!
Are you in the garden under this leaf? (or flower)
Let's take a peek!
after we turned over all the leaves and flowers, we found three baby ladybugs yay!
Prop Song: If You're Happy & You Know It
we did happy (and grouchy!) with my stick puppets!
Craft: Ladybug Puppets
i printed a simple ladybug for the kids to color & tape to a popsicle stick.
we had two nice smallish groups of about 12-15 kids each so a nice morning for me, not too crazy! everyone LOVED my costume!
All Ages Afternoon Session
Lucy Ladybug by Sharon King-Chai is one of my favorite books EVER! i've been reading it in all my preschool classes and finding that both kids and teachers have such positive reactions to the ending. in one class, a little boy said softly, "That was beautiful!" after i finished reading it. his teacher looked so proud she could cry. it is a special book with an important message that being different is really a good thing.
Flannel Board: 3 Grouchy Ladybugs Sitting on a Leaf
3 grouchy ladybugs sitting on a leaf
soaking in the sunshine and the soft warn breeze! (BLOWWWW)
Along comes Mr Bird as quiet as can be...
and snatches one ladybug off of the leaf!
count down 2, 1, 0
Prop Song: If You're Happy/Grouchy & You Know It
Craft: a choice between our Toddler craft from this morning OR a paper loop ladybug that you could place on a leaf OR a paper tube to create a cool wind sock!
My Ladybug Book Display:
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| Quite a few of these books went out at the end of the program! |
Ladybug Release:
Everything was coming together so perfectly, TOO perfectly! i started to suspect that something bad was going to happen and i was right. despite my best intentions and quite a lot of research, i was not really prepared to deal with the live ladybugs. The Insect Lore Observation kit was cute but only 2 ladybugs survived their transformation.
Luckily, i had the live bugs in the fridge & i had read that they would be fine there for a couple of weeks. i even bought a backup container just in case i needed it. they go dormant in the cold temps and are pre-fed. that part was stressful because i was worrying about them in there, but it worked out fine.
the night before my programs, i moved all the ladybugs into the plastic terrarium. that was my BIG mistake. it turned out that the air slots in my container were too large, so all my ladybugs started escaping. i plugged the holes the best i could, but when i returned to the library the following day, i was horrified to see that most of my ladybugs had escaped.
fortunately there were still enough bugs left to send each child in the afternoon class home with 4-5 bugs to release, so it was not a complete disaster. it was very stressful tho. our custodian was pretty nice about finding ladybugs everywhere.
next time, i would leave the containers in the fridge until the morning of the program. then i would just pop them in a large tupperware container with NO HOLES for escapees.
also, i advise scooping the ladybugs into the take home containers right before the program because ladybug wrangling is a little more difficult than i expected and i would not want to have to do it under pressure with a large group watching and waiting.
we used a pin to prick our plastic condiment containers with a couple of tiny air holes because who knows how much oxygen ladybugs need? i figured better safe than sorry, right?
i would also move this program to early June to make sure the weather is warm enough. ladybugs need 55 degree temperature or higher.
in the end, this was a wonderful program and with a few minor adjustments, i would do it again. although we had a few no shows in the PM session and morning program attendance was a bit lower than i expected, the people who did attend REALLY loved it! the kids loved taking the ladybugs home. they also liked my costume!
one mom on her way into the program told me, "This is already even better than i expected!" which made me really really happy.
thus Article Read with a Ladybug Day!
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