Insects - Nature Study Using the Outdoor Hour Challenges

#22 Butterflies
#23 Moths
#24 Crickets
#25 Housefly
#26 Ladybugs/Aphids
#27 Bees
#28 Dragonflies/Damselflies

Winter Wednesday - Winter Insect Study
Ants (Spring)
Mosquito
Moths and Fireflies
Crickets, Grasshoppers, and Katydids
Leaf-Miners and Leaf-Rollers
Yellow Jackets and Mud Daubers (Summer Sizzle)

Crazy for Ladybugs: Outdoor Hour Challenge #26

We love ladybugs in our garden. It is as simple as that. They always make me smile when I see them crawling around in the grass or on the rose bushes. Maybe it is the nostalgia of childhood memories that flood in when I see ladybugs....you know, singing *that* song. :)

Here is a link to an entry that I wrote a few months ago on finding a ladybug larva and a ladybug in my garden. This is an example of how taking the time to focus on something different in your own yard leads to a lot of really great information and then satisfaction.
Ladybug Entry

Anyway, we recently observed a different kind of ladybug. I did take photos but now they are missing...hmmmm, it might actually have something to do with the number of photos I take each week. I have a hard time keeping them organized. :)

Anyway, here are some thoughts from the Handbook of Nature Study that I enjoyed:
From the Handbook of Nature Study, page 366:

"The ladybird is a beetle. Its young are very different from the adult in appearance, and feed upon plant lice."

"These little beetles are very common in autumn and may be brought to the schoolroom and passed around in vials for the children to observe. Their larvae may be found on almost any plant infested with plant lice. Plant and all may be brought into the school room and the actions of the larvae noted by the pupils during recess."

From page 365:

"From our standpoint the ladybird is of great value, for during the larval as well as adult stages, all species except one feed upon those insects which we are glad to be rid of."

"The ladybird is a clever little creature, even if it does look like a pill, and if you disturb it, it will fold up its legs and drop as if dead, playing possum in a most deceptive manner."

Here is one of our nature journals.

I don't usually have to go far during the summer to find a ladybug or some aphids. The boys will point out that I have a ladybug in my hair or there will be one hiding among the weeds on the edges of the garden box. They just seem to go hand in hand with summer gardening.

Want an update on my garden? Here you go! All the photos in this entry are from this week in my garden.

Fading Coneflowers


Green beans growing up the poles in my garden box


My first nasturtium....we must plant more of these next year.


My morning glories are glorious.


Our butterfly bush in blooming...two different colors. Click to see them.

The days are getting shorter again and I can feel autumn nipping at my heels. It won't be long now...sigh.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Spring Walk: Thistle, Ladybug, Daisy

Yesterday afternoon was a perfect time to take a walk on our local walking/biking trail. The weather has been rainy the last few days and we were ready to get out and enjoy some fresh air. The clouds kept drifting in and covering the sun but it was still warm and spring-like.

Three of the children decided to come and we had an enjoyable time walking and talking and just spending time together....as they get older that doesn't happen as often as I would like. My middle son brought his scooter and he was zipping in and out as we just walked along.

The photos in this entry are an experiment in uploading for me so forgive me if the captions are not exactly with the photos. :)










This is some kind of flowering clover...I think. It sure looks like some kind of clover but this is really close-up.
















Look at this guy....after all my observations yesterday of the ladybug larva, I was happy to see this shiny insect as we walked along.

Then there was this daisy and I am pretty sure this is a Mariposa Lily.



































Okay, this was definitely some kind of thistle.

Don't you love the view from this part of the trail?









"The thistle is covered with sharp spines, and these serve to protect it from grazing animals. It has beautiful purple flowers, arranged in heads similar to those of the sunflower."
Handbook of Nature Study, page 526

There is a whole section in the Handbook on thistles starting on page 524.

"Every child loves this flower (daisy), and yet it is not well understood. It is always at hand for study from June until the frosts have laid waste the fields. However much enjoyment we get from the study of this beautiful flower-head, we should study the plant as a weed also, for it is indeed a pest to those farmers who do not practice a rotation of crops."
Handbook of Nature Study, page 522

There is a section on white daisies in the Handbook starting on page 522.

"The clovers enrich with nitrogen the soil in which they are planted. They are very valuable as food for stock. Their flowers are pollinated by bees."
Handbook of Nature Study, page 594

There is a section on clover in the Handbook starting on page 591.

Sorry for all the vague descriptions but I didn't have a lot of time this morning to get a firm identification on all of them. I will try to come back and update as I have the time to research.

This is a life project I decided.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Ladybug: Check out the Handbook of Nature Study

I took this photo the other day in the garden and I posted it here on my blog. Someone identified it as a ladybug larva. (Thanks Margie!) I checked it out and they were right. The amazing part about it to me is that it is so big compared to the adult ladybug.


Ladybug larva

I looked it up in the Handbook of Nature Study and sure enough there is an illustration on page 364 that really shows the differences between the larva, the pupa, and the adult.

"...for they do not in the least resemble her; they are neither rolypoly nor shiny, bur are long and segmented and velvety, with six queer, short legs that look and act as if they were whittled out of wood; they seem only efficient for clinging around a stem....the absorbing business of the larva is to crawl around on plants and chew up the foolish aphids or the scale insects."
Handbook of Nature Study page 365

Here is another photo I took the other day and I sort of thought it was a ladybug but it wasn't quite the same as I had seen before.


Here is my favorite all-time photo of a ladybug that I took a few years ago. This still makes me smile every time that I look at it.

I highly recommend reading the section on ladybugs on pages 364-366. If you read it now, the next time you see a ladybug you will be ready to make some observations with your children. This is the great value I find in using the Handbook of Nature Study. After just a few minutes spent reading this section on ladbybugs, I feel like now I can relate some interesting little tidbits quite naturally to my boys when we next happen upon this insect in our garden.

Go look for some ladybugs!
Barb-Harmony Art Mom