{"id":19996,"date":"2012-05-10T09:00:32","date_gmt":"2012-05-10T13:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thehappyhousewife.com\/homeschool\/?p=19996"},"modified":"2019-09-26T13:39:34","modified_gmt":"2019-09-26T17:39:34","slug":"bug-unit-study-worksheets-and-printables","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thehappyhousewife.com\/homeschool\/bug-unit-study-worksheets-and-printables\/","title":{"rendered":"Bug Unit Study Worksheets and Printables"},"content":{"rendered":"

This month’s homeschooling theme is: Bugs!\u00a0 <\/strong>Kids love bugs, even if parents don’t! A bug unit study is so much fun, your kids won’t even know they’re doing school!\u00a0Plus they are EVERYWHERE. Especially in the spring and summer months.<\/p>\n

Did you know that insects are super important to the health and well-being of our environment? It’s true! Take gardening for instance. While there are many insects that can damage vegetables and flowers, some can be really good for your garden.<\/p>\n

Ladybug Habitat<\/h3>\n

One of our favorite activities to do each summer is to raise ladybugs and release them into our garden to help protect our tomato plants from aphids. Ladybugs are amazing. These little beetles prey on tiny plant-eating pests like aphids. In fact, ladybugs can eat as many as 5,000 aphids in a year!\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Can you imagine eating that many cheeseburgers in one year? Whew!<\/p>\n

Do you have a garden at home? If you\u2019re interested in raising ladybugs, I highly recommend the Ladybug Land kit from Insectlore<\/a>. It comes with a habitat, food, and a certificate to order larvae so you and your kids can watch them go through the process of metamorphosis.<\/p>\n

Ladybug Land is reasonably priced and you can get it on Amazon<\/a> or elsewhere. You send off a card for the ladybug larvae or they can be ordered online. Insect Lore<\/a> was easy to deal with, and even when our ladybug larvae arrived in less than the best shape, we were able to get replacements in a hurry. (This was through no fault of the company. Our weather was unseasonably warm the week they arrived.)<\/p>\n

The ladybug larvae were easy to take care of and fascinating to all my children. While my oldest sons were the ones taking care of the ladybugs, everyone got to share in the experience as we watched the ladybugs change from larvae to adult beetles.\u00a0 It was something they’d read about but hadn’t seen before.\u00a0 The process does take a few weeks but was fast enough to keep even my preschoolers interested.\u00a0 The larvae tube has all the food the little insects need, and you just add a little water.<\/p>\n

\"Ladybugs

Fully grown ladybugs, ready to be freed into the backyard.<\/p><\/div>\n

Ladybug Land<\/a> was budget friendly compared to other options.\u00a0 I loved that the habitat was reusable, and we’ve even repeated the experience since and enjoyed it just as much as the first time.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019d rather attract ladybugs to your garden naturally, try making a\u00a0simple ladybug lair using this activity from my book<\/a>, Hands-On Ecology: Real-Life Activities for Kids.<\/p>\n

\"Attracting<\/p>\n

How to Make a Ladybug Lair<\/h3>\n

Supplies Needed<\/h4>\n