March honor · Ladybugs award

Ladybugs

Small, spotted and busier than they look. This month the kids find out why gardeners love ladybugs, watch the life cycle from egg to beetle, and release a batch into the club garden to guard it.

Small, spotted, and busier than they look.

Why kids love it

  • Live ladybugs. A tub of real ones to watch, count spots on, and release into the garden.
  • Egg, larva, pupa, beetle. The surprising ugly stage before the pretty one.
  • Garden helpers. Ladybugs eat the aphids that eat the lettuce: a real job in our real garden.
  • Crafts. Painted rock ladybugs for the garden path.

What we will do

  1. Meet a ladybug. Look closely: how many legs, where the wings hide, what the spots mean.
  2. Life cycle. Order the four stages and draw them.
  3. What they eat. Hunt for aphids on a plant and watch a ladybug at lunch.
  4. Make a ladybug home. A simple shelter for the garden bed.
  5. Release day. Let the ladybugs go in the club garden and tell the leader their four life stages to earn the award.

Ladybugs do not bite; a nervous child can watch from the edge and still earn it.

Stars, chips and awards are the Adventurer badges: Little Lambs earn stars, Eager Beavers earn chips, Busy Bees and up earn awards. Official requirements are in the leader's guide; younger levels join every activity and count it toward their own level.

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