Little Green Thumbs’ Skill School #5: 🐞MINISCULE GARDENERS🐝 of bees, butterflies, worms, and ladybugs!

Welcome! Thanks for taking a peek in our garden! If you’re just joining us, here’s what you’ve missed of our Gardening Skill School so far:

Gardening Week, Day 5: MINISCULE GARDENERS!

Today, we’re celebrating good bugs and all that they do for our gardens and planet with four different unit study options! Simply choose a favorite bug below to learn about and observe in the garden. Or, if you can’t choose . . . make a week long study of our miniature God-given garden warriors with your kid(s)!

SKILL SUPPLY LIST:

magnifying glass
bug box or glass jar
*optional* butterfly kit, ant farm, and/or tub of ladybugs

VOCABULARY TO INTRODUCE:

pollination (bees, butterflies)
aphids (pest eaten by ladybugs)
pesticide (the chemical alternative to bug warriors)
aeration (worms)

~LADYBUGS~

Something to DO:

Happiness is going to the garden center to buy a tub of ladybugs. I’ve never seen anyone as thrilled as my son was a few weeks ago when we found aphids on the green beans. Dumping a tub of ladybugs out in the garden is a simple, exquisite pleasure. Watching the ladybugs devour the aphids is just the icing on the cake.

Something to READ:

Something to DRAW:

Something to WATCH:

Minuscule — one of our family’s FAVORITES!

*available to stream on Amazon Prime

~BUTTERFLIES~

Something to DO:

If you haven’t grown butterflies with your kids yet, I can’t recommend it highly enough! It’s just so much fun and truly incredible to watch the transformation from caterpillar to butterfly in your very own home! You can read our full tutorial and see the complete slide show of our experience with our butterfly kit here: #HappyHomeschooling is . . . a cup of 🐛CATERPILLARS🦋 (poop and all)!

Something to READ:

Something to DRAW:

Something to WATCH:

IMAX: Flight of the Butterflies [Blu-ray]

~BEES~

animal bee bloom blooming — Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Something to DO:

Observing bees as they buzz around the yard or garden is a summertime staple. If your kids are afraid of bees, this is a good opportunity to cultivate a calm and grateful spirit toward our pollinators. That is, unless your child is allergic, of course! Visiting a farm with bee boxes is also a really great experience for kids.