Esmé, entomologist extraordinaire, is very into ladybug larvae as of late. She’s been collecting them whenever she finds them, which is often, because she is constantly on the hunt. We first happened upon them this time last year, and were astounded to find out that the wee funny-looking bugs turn into ladybugs. So unlikely, really. Metamorphosis is crazy-cool!
This year, Esmé has an eye out for the little reptilian-looking larvae. Black with tiny yellow markings, six-legged, spiky ridges down their backs, and of varying sizes; Esmé has found eensy ones and hefty ones. She’s found them on parked cars, rocks, logs, trees, and in particular abundance on the little wooden playhouse at Grandview Park.
We knew they were plentiful in that park, and had just discovered an abandoned cache of the little white silky sacs they emerge from, tucked along the deeper ridges in the bark on the big tree in the middle of the playground. After further investigation, we found those sacs all around the tree, by the hundreds! It’s amazing what you start to see when you know to look for it.
Esme and Jack found lots of larvae the other day. Being that we don’t have a ready supply of aphids to feed them, we let them go in Sarah’s roses. Her rose bushes are tall and proud and the flowers are plump and pink and seem to be lifting their hands to the sky and saying ‘hallelujah!” A very fitting place to set our beloved larvae free, being that aphids love those gorgeous roses too.
Today, we went back to Grandview to find some more, and we did. While we were there, the sky cracked open and we were quickly soaked in a rainstorm. After our mad dash home, we discovered that our larvae were floating in an inch of rainwater inside of the bug box. We quickly administered some larvae First Aid (Quick! Set them onto some paper towel!) and the majority of them bounced back from their near drowning nicely.
All this to say, Esmé has been focused on snails for a very long time. But over the last couple of months, and for the last few weeks in particular, she has been all ladybugs all the time. It’s interesting to watch her as she delves deeper into her project, and to see where her passion takes her when it’s unfettered. Project-based Homelearning, thank you very much!
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