Backyard Critters Camp - Day 3 - Ladybugs

We had another wonderful day!  I love seeing the creative side of other moms and enjoy learning from them!  We don't often get a peek into how another mom teaches or chooses to present information to her children.  I love this opportunity to gain new skills from my friends.  Here is a group shot of our campers. 

This was our book for today - Are you a Ladybug?

We started with story and devotion.  Some of the devotion topic included sharing about the different types of ladybugs that God has created.  (With very cute visuals!)  There are over 5000 different kinds and colors of ladybugs - all created uniquely. 

Romans 10:12 says “Honor one another above yourselves.”  We discussed how it is important to respect and appreciate the differences in others, because God designed each of us for a different purpose. 

 The younger children learned more about the life cycle of the ladybug by acting out the various stages of metamorphosis.  Curled up into little balls for the eggs.  Below they are the pupa breaking free. 

Ladybugs also like to eat aphids (grapes for the kids).

Eliana just joins in and has fun wherever she goes!

Next was an observation area for the younger children and books to look at pictures.  The younger children also decorated a little booklet that included the life cycle of the ladybug.  Each were given a small ladybug.  Daniel loved this and carried his around all day!

The older kids learned more about the history of the ladybug, it's anatomy and information on beetles. 

Snack time - we had ladybugs, of course.  These were made using bagel bites, pepperoni for the shell and olives for the spots.  There were also aphids (grapes) to go along with the ladybugs.

Next, we had games and crafts.  Is this not the cutest game?!  One of the moms in our grout MADE it!  Isn't she clever?!  Ladybug Landing is a bean bag game.  You get 1 point for landing the ladybug on the leaf upside down.  If the ladybug is spot side up, you get the number of points equal to the spots. 

Eliana liked playing with the ladybugs.  She kept trying to put them under her chin.  First one, then added a second.  She always lost them all when adding the third.  There were two sets of the these cute games and my sweet friend gave one set to us!  Thank you Adele!  I know we'll have fun with this! 

There was also a ladybug croquet game which I didn't get a picture of - but it was very cute!

The older kids made ladybug houses.  The were beautiful and I meant to get a photo of all of them before they left of the day, but were doing therapy and I missed the shot.  Very creative and individual.  They did a really nice job!

Here is a close-up of Rebecca's - the only one I could get a picture of after the camp.  It's so bright and inviting.  She is really hoping some ladybugs will choose to live in it. 

My boys making their own ladybug area during free time.  This is the ladybug that Daniel just had a great time playing with during the day.

Last - but not least - another fun game - Aphid Relay!  There were aphids (green water balloons) and eggs (yellow water balloons) and a ladybug in the center.  The goal of the game was to get the aphids from one container to the next without them popping.  The ladybug was trying to deflect of pop the balloons.  There were two teams and the one with the most balloons won that round.  The played this one several times and had a blast doing it!

The on-lookers had a fun time watching and then participating on the next round (if they wanted to). 

Just a cute moment of siblings having fun together.

After camp as over, some of the boys hung around and had water balloon fights.  What a lot of fun they had getting soaked.  Eliana also loved the water and especially likes the bucket we were using at our handwashing station. 

That's most of the day.  It was a beautiful day and fun to learn and play with friends.  We have one more day and I'll hopefully post about that tomorrow!

Blessings

Leslie