Help students create simple ladybugs. Give each student a paper plate and red paint, and ask students to paint the back of the paper plate. Once the paint is dry, provide paint brushes and black paint, and show students how to make black dots on the plate. Alternatively, dip a cotton ball into the paint instead of using a paint brush. Once the paint is dry, attach two black pipe cleaners to the top of the plate to make antennae. Cut three pipe cleaners in half and glue on the lady bug to make legs. Attach a black pom pom or circle cut from black paper between the antennae to make a head.
Get your students up and moving with a bug activity. Show students videos of bugs walking or flying. Talk about the different bugs that walk but cannot crawl, like ants. Next, encourage students to walk on their hands and knees like bugs. Next, discuss bugs that can fly, such as dragon flies, butterflies and ladybugs. Ask students to stand up, stretch their arms out like wings and fly around the classroom.
Teach students how to identify insects. Show students pictures of different insects. Ask them to count how many legs the insects have. Tell students that all insects have six legs. Bring in some toy insects and ask students to count how many legs they have. Point out that some insects like roaches or butterflies have wings, while other insects like ants do not. Give students pictures of a few common insects and crayons to color the pictures. As they work, point out the different body parts of the insect the student is coloring.
Teach students about insect metamorphosis. During circle time, read the book "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle, about a caterpillar that eats different kinds of food before turning into a butterfly. Show students how the caterpillar forms a chrysalis and then comes out of it as a butterfly using pictures and videos. Give students pom poms in a variety of colors and show them how to glue a few pom poms together to make a caterpillar. Let students play with the caterpillars for a few days, then help them turn their caterpillars into butterflies. To do this, cut wing shapes out of construction paper and punch a hole on the left side of each wing. Give students paint and encourage them to paint the wings bright colors. When the wings are dry, help students loop a pipe cleaner through each hole and wrap around the caterpillar to attach. Show students how to cut off a few of the pom poms from their caterpillar to shorten its length. Add pipe cleaner antennae and legs to finish turning the caterpillars into butterflies.