The Life Cycle of a Ladybug Blog Post

STEAM Activities: Wordplay & Conversation

By Lisa L. Owens

Books of all types, including scientific nonfiction like The Life Cycle of a Ladybug, help expand young readers’ knowledge in myriad ways. Use the following activities to foster information retention, creative vocabulary expansion, and curiosity about nonscientific cultural connections to the natural world.

Vocabulary Building: Compound Words in Practice and Art

Display this list of compound words found in The Life Cycle of a Ladybug. Invite volunteers to point out the two individual words in each compound.

• backbone
• lifetime
• pinhead
• adulthood
• dragonfly
• ladybug

Next, use or adapt the following sentences for a fill-in-the-blank exercise.

1. Antennae help a ladybug sense its surroundings.
2. Insects like ladybugs have six legs but no backbone.
3. Metamorphosis refers to changes a ladybug experiences between hatching and adulthood.
4. A single larva is about the size of a pinhead.
5. The dragonfly is a ladybug predator.
6. During her lifetime, a female ladybug lays up to 1,000 eggs.

Finally, instruct students to choose one compound word from the list and sketch two side-by-side pictures, one representing each part of their word. Share the artwork in class.

Writing Corner: Ladybug Acrostic

Guide students through writing an acrostic using ladybug as the base word. First, have them write “LADYBUG” down a blank page as shown. Explain that an acrostic is a type of poem. Each line in an acrostic poem starts with the corresponding letter from the base word. Any line can consist of a single word, phrase, or full sentence.

Before students tackle the writing, generate a few words and phrases that could fit this acrostic. For example, “L” might inspire “Lovely”; “Ladybug, ladybug”; “Legs of six”; or “Laying eggs is part of a ladybug’s life cycle.” Have students use the brainstormed list as creative inspiration while completing their acrostics. Remind them that the only must-do is to start each line with its assigned letter.

• L _
• A _
• D _
• Y _
• B _
• U _
• G _

Discussion: Lucky Ladybugs?

Lead an open-ended conversation about ladybugs as a symbol of good luck. Sample prompts:

• Have you ever heard that ladybugs bring good luck? What is “luck”?
• Some people make a wish when they see a ladybug. Others count the spots to see how many years of good luck they’ll have. Do you think seeing a ladybug is good luck? Why or why not?
• What other good-luck signs have you heard about? (four-leaf clover, butterfly, rainbow, dandelion, cardinal, acorn, shooting star)
• Share one of your own experiences with a lucky sign.

Encourage interested students to investigate the history of ladybugs as symbols of luck and report interesting findings in class.