Seeing Spots! Ladybug Investigation

The best way to learn about something is to watch it.  Scientists do a lot of watching, or observing, to learn about things, especially insects like ladybugs.

Ladybugs are part of a group of insects called beetles.  Even though they are called ladybugs, not all of them are females! In order to make baby ladybugs, there has to be a female and a male ladybug.

In this investigation, you will get to look for ladybugs and then watch them to learn about them, just like a real scientist!

Investigation

• Go outside in your school yard or nearby park that has a lot of trees and plants.
• Start walking slowly and looking very carefully around trees, bushes, flowers, and in the grass for ladybugs.
• If you spot one, write down where you found it (examples: on a flower stem or in the grass), what color it is (bright red? orange? dark red?), and how many spots it has.
• Use the ladybug identification pictures to determine what species the ladybug is and then make a check on your Ladybug chart.
• Look very closely at the plants the ladybug was near.
• Keep searching for more ladybugs by looking under leaves, rocks, in tall grass, and on the bark of trees.
• Write notes or draw pictures for each ladybug that you find. This is called gathering data. This is like collecting clues to learn more about ladybugs and will help you answer the questions at the end

Capturing Ladybugs

• Put a wet cotton ball in the bottom of the jar so the ladybugs will have water to drink.
• When you find a ladybug, watch it for as long as you can. Stay a few feet away so you won’t scare it. When you’re done watching it, use your paper cup to scoop the ladybug up and put it in your jar.
• See if you can get the ladybug to crawl onto your hand and then into the jar. Put a few leaves or parts of the plants the ladybug was on into the jar with it.
• When you have a couple ladybugs in your jar, take a closer look at them with your magnifying glass. Draw pictures of what they look like from different angles (underneath, from above, or from the side) and write down things that you think might be helpful “clues” for learning more about the life of a ladybug.
• If you want to keep your ladybugs for a couple days to watch them some more, you will need to give them something to eat. Soak two raisins in water for 15 minutes. Cut the raisins in half, then put them in the bottom of the ladybug jar. Even though your ladybugs have food and water now, they will still be happier in their natural home. After observing them for 2 or 3 days, make sure you let them go in the place where you found them so they can get back to their normal life of hunting aphids and laying eggs to make more ladybugs. Do you see any small bugs that the ladybug might have been eating? 

Questions

• They will probably blend in with the leaves very well, so look closely!
• Where did you find the most ladybugs?  Were they on leaves, on tree bark, in the grass, on flowers, or somewhere else?
• Were they in groups or by themselves?
• Based on where you found your ladybugs, what kind of home do you think a ladybug would like?  Describe it or draw a picture of it.
• Did you see any ladybugs eating?  What were they eating?
• What can ladybugs do to protect themselves?  do they have places to hide?