Growing With Science Blog

Category: Bug of the Week (Page 199 of 219)

Bug of the Week: Lacewing Revisited

December 24, 2008 / / 0 Comments

When we looked for insects today, we found some insect eggs on our lemon leaves. What are they?

Lacewing Life Cycle

Can you see the egg? It is the white oval on the hair-like stalk.

lacewing egg

The insect that laid this egg was featured as “Bug of the Week” early on. It is the beautiful green lacewing adult.

green lacewing
The egg has actually hatched, because it is white and the end is open. The lacewing larva that crawled out probably looks something like this on I found on June 18.
green lacewing larva

When the larva has finished development, it spins a cocoon around itself, forming what looks almost like a spider egg case. In fact, I’m sure a lot of green lacewings are destroyed each year due to mistaken identity.

My son and I found this lacewing cocoon underneath a bird’s nest that fell out of a tree last week.

green lacewing pupa

The green lacewing is a beautiful, beneficial insect that goes through a lot of changes during its life cycle.

For more information for kids, try:

Nature Close-Up – Ant Lions and Lacewings  by Elaine Pascoe


Disclosures: The book was from our local library. Also, I am an affiliate for Amazon. If you click through the linked titles or ads and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no extra charge to you. Proceeds will be used to maintain this self-hosted blog.

Weekend (Science) Fun: Coffee Filter Butterfly

December 20, 2008 / / 0 Comments

Looking for something fun to keep the kids busy indoors? How about some butterfly crafts? They are pretty and fun to do. Although butterflies may not seem to be in keeping with the season, sometimes we just need a reminder that summer is on the way. 🙂

Our tried-and-true favorite craft is making a coffee filter butterfly.

Gather:

  • Basket-style coffee filters
  • Markers (not permanent)
  • Paintbrushes
  • Water
  • Newspaper or paper towels
  • Large paper clips
  • Chenille stems (pipe cleaners)
  • Yarn (optional)

Lay some newspapers or paper towels on a waterproof work surface to prevent marker stains. Have the children color on the coffee filter with the markers. Then lightly “paint” over the marker with water. The colors should spread together. Allow the coffee filters to dry while you read a favorite story about butterflies. Then find the middle of one side of the coffee filter and start to feed the filter into the paperclip. Gather the center into the paperclip, forming a body. In the past I had used chenille stems (pipe cleaners), but found the paper clip forms a more stable body that allows for the attachment of the antennae, which is piece of chenille stem (pipe cleaner) twisted on. You can also attach a fairly long piece of yarn (1 ½ or two feet) so the butterfly can hang in front of a window or “fly” along behind a child. You might want to make a whole bunch.

coffee filter butterfly

By the way, did you know chenille is French for caterpillar? Seems appropriate.

If you want to add some science, take a look at some pictures of butterflies. Notice that butterflies often have spots or patterns at the edges of the wings. Some people have suggested that those spots help protect the butterfly because they entice birds to peck at the margins of the wings, allowing the butterfly to escape.

gulf fritillary

If you are ready for more, Enchanted Learning has a lot of butterfly crafts for the younger set.

For the older set, this video might give you some ideas.

Paperstudio.com making paper butterflies

Hope this gives you some good ideas. Enjoy!

Microcosmos Video Review

December 18, 2008 / / 0 Comments

It was raining yesterday, which made me think of our family’s favorite insect-themed video, Microcosmos. Why think of a video? I thought of it because this film has the most incredible footage insects in a rain storm. In one scene a ladybug shoots up into the air like it is on a trampoline when a raindrop hits the leaf it is standing on. In another, a cricket struggles against a torrent that would be a trickle to a human. These are scenes that really show how rough the world can be for something that is small. Even a raindrop can be a huge obstacle.

Microcosmos was made by some incredibly gifted French filmmakers. I was able to find the French version of the movie trailer on You Tube. We have a readily available version that has been translated into English. Unlike many other nature shows and documentaries, the dialogue in this one is very minimal. I found the music to be well, different, but the visuals are so astonishing that you should not let the music put you off if it isn’t your usual fare. This is only a brief snippet of some of the scenes:

The good news is that Microcosmos is still available in video or DVD, even though it was made in 1996.

Microcosmos (1996)
Starring: Kristin Scott Thomas, Jacques Perrin Director: Claude Nuridsany, Marie Pérennou Rating: G Format: DVD

Winged Migration (2001) was made by some of the same people and is also great for people who enjoy nature.

Starring: Philippe Labro, Jacques Perrin Director: Jacques Perrin, Jacques Cluzaud Rating: G Format: DVD

Life in the Undergrowth, starring David Attenborough also has awesome footage of creatures, but with a lot more information about what you are seeing.

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2026 Growing With Science Blog

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑