Ladybug Activities–Virtual Book Club for Kids: Gail Gibbons

I have a quick confession…I have never heard of Gail Gibbons!  I actually couldn’t find any books at the library because I didn’t realize she does non-fiction books.

But now I am smitten.  We were able to check out Ladybugs and Dinosaurs and the information she packs into these books is amazing.  But the best part is, the illustrations and language draw my kids into the books.  We all learned so much reading through these books!

We decided to go with the Ladybugs book because that one drew the boys in the most.  They were very interested in different spot patterns, what a ladybug eats, her wings, and much more.

I knew I wanted to make a cute little lady bug craft, but I wanted it to be educational too.  The red wings of a ladybug are the hard outer shell which protect the flying wings on the inside.  I didn’t want to use just construction paper for the red wings, so I cut out some cardboard and glued the red construction paper to the cardboard.  The body is made out of black foam material and the white wings are paper towels.

I wanted the wings to overlap a bit, so we needed 2 brads.  On the bottom is the black foam, the paper towel wings are in the middle, and the red construction paper glued to the cardboard is on top.  We fastened them with brads so the wings could move.
Then we added the 7 dot pattern since that is the most common in this area!

With the wings spread out!  The boys loved making our ladybug fly around!

 

After a bit of flying it was time for our ladybug to eat.  I’ve been wanting to get some fine motor practice in for Royal and Logi-Bear and since aphids (ladybugs’ food of choice) is so small, I thought it would make a great fine motor activity!
I searched for some small green lego pieces and placed them on the only green surface I could find – a larger green lego.  Then I got out some of our tongs and waited for the first bite.

Royal was totally into it!  He transferred all the aphids to the ladybugs mouth, moved them down to her stomach, and when he was done he had her poop them all out…seriously.

 

When Royal decided he had enough I set it up again for Logi-Bear, this time with slightly larger Legos.  I wanted it to challenge Logi-Bear, but not frustrate him.  He’s just 2 years and 2 months.

And it was a hit with Logi-Bear too!  It seemed to be just the right amount of challenge for him!!

He continued transferring until all the legos were on the ladybug!

 

We had a great time learning about Ladybugs.  I know from now on, whenever we are researching a new topic we will first try to find a Gail Gibbons book.  We found topics ranging from animals, weather, food, sports, and more.  She seems to have it ALL covered!

Make sure to check out all the other great activities to go with Gail Gibbons books from these incredible bloggers!
Toddler Approved – Rainy Day Mum – Adventures in Reading with Kids – 3 Dinosaurs – Royal Baloo – The Educators’ Spin On It – Inspiration Laboratories – Pleasantest Thing – Edventures with Kids – Two Big Two Little – Playing With Words 365 – Kitchen Counter Chronicles – Outlaw Mom – Mommy and Me Book Club – Crafty Moms Share – No Twiddle Twaddle – The Good Long Road – Ready. Set. Read 2 Me – Reading Confetti – Mama Smiles – Juggling with Kids– Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas – Creekside Learning – Creative Family Fun – The Usual Mayhem – Teach Preschool – PlayDrMom – CraftoArt – Here Come the Girls – Being a Conscious Parent – Smiling like Sunshine – Crayon Freckles – Train Up a Child – Smile Play Learn – Enchanted Homeschooling Mom – Coffee Cups and Crayons – Having Fun at Chelle’s House– Love, Play, Learn – Juggling With Kids – Motherhood on a Dime – Growing Book By Book – This Reading Mama – Fantastic Fun and Learning

If you want to participate in the Virtual Book Club link up, just follow these simple steps:
1. Pick your favorite Gail Gibbons book and share it with your children and/or class!  (Feel free to comment here with which book you’ve chosen!)
2.  Create an activity, craft, recipe, project etc!  Do it and take pictures!
3. Come back  and share it with us!  The blog hop will be live for 3 weeks so share anytime in those 3 weeks!