Science: Life Cycle of a Ladybug

Introduction to Ladybug Life Cycle:

One morning, Arya saw a ladybug on a leaf in our garden and he asked me about it. I directly grabbed a set of ladybug life cycle figurine from safari ltd and put them on the leaves. We were talking about the adult ladybug but he wanted to name the other figurines so I named them. He pointed at the right figurines when I called them out one by one. Then he jumped overjoyed when he could name the figurines. After that, he played and used his imagination to create a story of a ladybug.

Matching and Fine-Motor Skill Activities

Materials:

1. put each of the figurine in a plastic egg
2. put the plastic eggs randomly on the tray
3. place a control card in a tray. The control card can be downloaded here.

Activities:

He has to open the plastic eggs – as a fine motor practice, take out each of the figurine and match it on the right picture in the control card.

Sensory Play
Sensory play is one of his favorite. What is sensory play? Sensory play is an activity that stimulates young children’s senses: touch, smell, taste, sight and hearing. Sensory activities and sensory tables provide exploration and encourage children to use scientific processes while they play, create, investigate and explore. Stimulating their senses helps children develop cognitively, linguistically, physically and creatively, socially and emotionally.

  1.  Water beads/ Hydrogel

Water crystal gel or Water Beads is any gel which contains a large amount of water. Water gel is usually composed of a water-absorbing polymer such as a polyacrylamide (frequently Poly(methyl acrylate) or Sodium polyacrylate). Sometimes referred to as super absorbent polymer (SAP) or, in dry form, as slush powder.

I provided a cup for transferring activity and scissor scoopers for practicing and building the muscles needed for scissor cutting.

It was his first time trying the scissor scoopers. He couldn't coordinate his fingers yet so he opened the scoopers and poured the water beads in it. However, he used his hand-eye coordination to transfer the water beads so that they did not spill.

2.  Light Table: Counting Ladybug Dots

Materials:

printed ladybug picture

magnetic chips

magnet

control cards (a set of cards which have different pictures of the ladybug dots)

Purpose:

basic counting

science: magnet

Activities:

place the magnetic chips on the ladybug’s wings based on the control cards or

take the chips from the ladybug’s wings by counting them one by one.

3.  A Variation of Light Box Activity

Put the ladybug in the geometric solids and the children will love the colors of the translucent solids. They can learn about shadows of the stages of ladybugs. 

Painting a Ladybug

I prepared a colouring sheet of a ladybug and asked Arya to paint it. He chose the colours himself and he just loved to spill all of the paint in the tray and brushed it.

Pretend Play
I made him this cardboard ladybug costume because he liked running and buzzing around the house as if he was a bee. I know I should have made a bee costume instead of a ladybug but I'll make him one for our bee-themed activities. He loves this ladybug costume, though. While running, he was looking for green things to perch. Then, he pretended to eat them as if they were leaves. This activity is called pretend play.

All of these ladybug-themed activities might take two weeks or a month because he just did the activities whenever he showed his interest in ladybug. Moreover, we could repeat the same activities on the other days. 

It's fun learning about ladybug, isn't it? You can also read some books about ladybugs.

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Pengenalan tentang Siklus Hidup Kepik:
Suatu hari, Arya melihat kepik pada selembar daun di kebun kami dan ia bertanya pada saya tentang binatang itu. Saya langsung mengambil satu set miniatur siklus hidup kepik buatan Safari Ltd dan menempatkan miniatur itu pada daun-daunan. Ketika kami sedang membahas tentang kumbang dewasa, Arya ingin mengetahui nama miniatur yang lain jadi saya menyebutkannya satu per satu. Kegiatan Arya selanjutkan adalah menunjukkan miniatur yang tepat ketika saya menyebutkan tiap-tiap siklus kepik. Kemudian dia melompat gembira ketika bisa menamai semua mainan tersebut. Setelah itu, ia membuat cerita tentang kepik dengan imajinasinya.

Mencocokan dan Kegiatan Motorik Kalus

Bahan yang perlu dipersiapkan:

1. masukkan miniatur siklus kepik ke dalam telur plastik

2. letakkan telur plastik secara acak ke dalam nampan

3. tempatkan kartu pengendali di dalam nampan. Kartu pengendali dapat di unduh di sini.

Aktivitas:
Anak harus membuka telur plastik - sebagai kegiatan motorik halus, mengambil masing-masing miniatur dan mencocokkannya pada gambar yang tepat dalam kartu pengendali. 

Permainan Indera
Pemainan indera adalah salah satu kegemaran anak saya. Apa itu permainan indera?  Permainan indera merupakan kegiatan yang merangsang indera anak-anak: sentuhan, penciuman, perabaan, penglihatan dan pendengaran. Permainan indera mendorong anak-anak untuk menggunakan proses ilmiah saat mereka bermain, menyelidiki, mengeksplorasi dan menciptakan. Merangsang indera mereka membantu anak-anak mengembangkan kognitif, bahasa, fisik dan kreatif, sosial dan emosional.

1.  Manik-Manik Air/ Hidrogel

Manik-Manik Air/ Hidrogel adalah setiap gel yang mengandung sejumlah air. Hidrogel biasanya terdiri dari polimer yang menyerap air seperti poliakrilamida (sering Poly (methyl acrylate) atau Sodium polyacrylate). Kadang-kadang disebut sebagai polimer superabsorben (SAP) atau dalam bentuk kering, bubuk lumpur (source: wikipedia).

Saya sediakan gelas untuk kegiatan memindahkan hidrogel dan gunting penyendok untuk melatih dan membentuk otot-otot yang diperlukan untuk memotong dengan gunting.

Ini adalah pertama kalinya Arya mencoba gunting penyendok. Dia belum bisa mengkoordinasikan jari-jarinya tetapi ia mencoba membuka gunting itu dan menuangkan hidrogel  didalamnya. Arya juga menggunakan koordinasi tangan-mata untuk memindahkan hidrogel supaya tidak tumpah.

2. Meja Lampu: Menghitung Kepik Dots

Bahan:

gambar kepik

chip magnetik

magnet

kartu pengontrol (satu set kartu yang memiliki gambar titik-titik yang berbeda di sayap kepik)

dasar berhitung 1-10

IPA: magnet

Aktivitas:

menempatkan chip magnetik pada sayap kumbang berdasarkan kartu pengendali atau

mengambil chip dari sayap kumbang dengan menghitungnya satu per satu.

3.  Variasi  Kegiatan Meja Lampu

Masukan kepik dalam bangun ruang transparan dan anak-anak akan menyukai warna transparan bangun ruang dan bayangan siklus hidup kepik. 

Mengecat Kepik

Saya sediakan gambar kepik dan Arya mengecatnya. Dia memilih warna sendiri dan lebih senang menuangkan cat ke dalam nampan dan menguasnya.

Bermain Peran
Saya membuatnya kardus kostum kepik ini karena Arya menyukai berlari dan mendengung di sekitar rumah seolah-olah ia adalah seekor lebah. Saya tahu seharusnya saya membuat kostum lebah bukan kumbang, makanya saya juga akan membuatkan kostum lebah. Arya senang sekali memakai kostum kepik ini. Ketika berlari, dia mencari benda-benda hijau seolah-olah daun untuk hinggap. Kemudian, ia pura-pura makan daun-daun tersebut. Kegiatan ini disebut bermain pura-pura.

Semua kegiatan bertema kepik ini mungkin memakan waktu dua minggu atau sebulan karena Arya hanya melakukan kegiatan setiap kali dia menunjukkan minatnya dengan kepik. Selain itu, dia bisa mengulangi kegiatan yang sama pada hari-hari lainnya.

Bukankah belajar sambil bermain tentang kepik sangat menyenangkan? Anda juga dapat membacakan anak beberapa buku tentang kepik.

SELAMAT BERMAIN.

Space Themed Activities

The Order of the Planets from the Sun: Ordinal Numbers, Planets

Arya was 26 months old

Materials:
I inserted eight straws in two bars of sponge. You can have a bar if the sponge is long enough. I labeled the ordinal numbers on the sponge below the straws. Next, I prepared the planets along with the pins from the solar system planetarium. My child's task is to put the planets on the straws in the right order.
We have read a book about the order of the planets several times. Arya has got the idea where the planets belong to. He took the planets randomly and inserted the pin of the planets in the straws. I still had to remind him which planet went to which straw by asking, "What planet is that? Is it the first? Is it the fifth?" When he answered correctly, I gave confirmation, "Yes, Jupiter is the fifth! Which one is fifth?" Then he placed the planet on the right straw. When he had known the correct order, I didn't ask any questions since it would distract his concentration. I just gave confirmation. This activity needs hand-eye coordination.

Extension activities:
Imaginative play
Arya suddenly blew the planets on the straws as if they were candles. We sang "happy birthday" and "let's blow the candle" song. I changed the 'candle' into the names of the planets. He enjoyed blowing them one by one.

This activity took 30 minutes with several repetitions since Arya tend to drop the planets after singing. It means he wanted to do the activities more and more.

After being tired singing and blowing, he pretended licking the planets as if they were lollipops. He offered me, "Mama, Here is Saturn lollipop." I said thank you and pretended to eat it. We can teach about good manners in offering and receiving things.

This activity is still a hit two days after. Arya is getting better in choosing the right order and more skillful in placing the planets on the straws.

EGGMOTICONS

Materials:  emotion board, matching cards, emotion eggs.

Pre-work from teacher/parent:
1. Introduce some feelings
2. Mime the expressions (the children will be interested to see the real expressions)
3. Explain why, in what situation and how to overcome negative feelings

Activities for children:
1. Point out the feeling mentioned by the teacher/parent
2. Match the cards with the emotion board
3. Match the emotion eggs with the board
4. Or take an emotion called out by the teacher, run to put it at certain point
5. Mime the emotions

Follow up:
Read books about feelings

This activity is good to teach children how to manage their negative feelings