Outdoor Hour Challenge #26: Ladybugs and Aphids

This week for our nature study we focus on ladybugs and aphids.  My ds3 and I headed out to hunt for ladybugs to bring back in to the lazy bunch who chose to stay in the air conditioned house.  ;)  Ds found one right off the bat on some leaves sprouting out from the bottom of our crepe myrtle tree.  We snipped the branch, placed it in a jar and brought in inside.

Ds4 with a magnifying glass, observing the bugs.

Ds2 making his observations.

See the ladybug?  And just like Barb described, there were plenty of aphids on the underside of the leaves that the ladybug was climbing on.

Blurry, but those black dots are aphids. :)

We discussed what the bugs looked like, how they moved, what the boys already knew about them, etc.  Then we read about them in the handbook and I printed up some worksheets from Enchanted Learning.  Next we all took time to journal our observations.

This is ds3's nature journal, the top drawing is his rendition of a ladybug, and the bottom is my drawing of the tree/branches we found the bug on.

Ds2's sketches.  He prefers to work in inks.

Ds4's drawings on the right, and his coloring of one of the worksheets on the left.  An unexpected and furious whirlpool appeared amongst the insects in his picture, but you'll be glad to know they survived.  I don't know why, but he wanted to do all his bugs in purple. :)

I really enjoyed this challenge, maybe even more so than the boys!  I had read Barb's post and saw her pics but didn't think we'd be so lucky as to see any of the bugs ourselves.  Sure enough, ds found not only the ladybug but the aphids, too!  It was all very interesting to me. 

I hope to take the boys to a butterfly house in a nearby city this week, and will be sure and do a post about that.