Wow, what a fantastic field visit we had at the Muttart!  Thank you so much to our parent (and grandparent) volunteers who were able to join us.  Jenn and I really appreciated your help, especially since the Muttart was very busy, with people lining up to see the Putrella flower. 

During our field visit, Matt (our great leader for the day) told us the following tid-bits of information about ladybugs:
  • Ladybugs are insects (they have 6 legs, 2 antennas, a head, thorax, and abdomen).
  • Ladybugs can be different colours - in Canada we have 400 different kinds of ladybugs.
  • The number of spots don't tell us how old they are or if they are male or female. 
  • They are often referred to as "gardener's helpers" because they eat aphids.
  • They smell through their feet.


We then went to visit our first pyramid (the arid climate) where we talked about plant adaptations.  Using our sense of touch, we described how different objects felt, and related this information to plants.  For example, a cactus is "pokey" and "sharp" to protect it from getting eaten.  We saw a felt bush plant which is "soft" and "fuzzy".  At first the children thought this was also so it would not get eaten, but Matt informed us the fuzz helps keep the plant cool.  Lastly, we got to feel a jelly bean plant which had a waxy coating.  We learned that this helped the plant retain it's water (fight evaporation).  Matt squeezed the leaf and we counted how many drops of water came out - Morning Class: 10 drops, Afternoon Class: 17 drops! 

Our next stop was the feature pyramid where we learned about the roll bumble bees play: pollenating plants.  We learned that bumble bees and ladybugs have compound vision to help them find flowers.  We got to try on cool goggles that gave us compound vision and explored the pyramid with these on.

Next we visited the temperate pyramid which is similar to our climate.  Here we discussed the seasons:
Matt: "Summer turns to fall, then fall turns to winter, and then winter..."
Luka: "Winter turns to Christmas!"
Matt then informed us that ladybugs hibernate during the winter, so spring is a time when they come out to look for a home.  The children were then each given a ladybug in a container and were told to find it a home in the pyramid and release it.  The children each named their ladybug prior to finding it a home...

Morning Class Ladybug Names
  • Abd-ElRahman - Legrick
  • Amelie - Allison
  • Augustus - Spottsy
  • Finn - Buggy
  • Gabriella - Gabriella
  • Jasper - Climb-Climb
  • Kobe - Kenyon
  • Leia - Princess Leia
  • Luka - Black
  • Megan - Pinky
  • Nathan - Sebastian
  • Rayyan - Ladybuggy
  • Tobias - Spider


Afternoon Class Ladybug Names
  • Anna - Holly
  • Avery - Jill
  • Aroh - Jeriton
  • Cooper - Ladybug Finn
  • Dorine - Little Cute Baby
  • Elisha -Ladybuggy
  • Finn - Howard
  • Jesse - Cuckoo Head
  • Kinan - Howie
  • Lowyn - Unicorn
  • Seth - Goodsat


Lastly, we visited the tropical pyramid to see the putrella flower and talk about plants that grow foods we eat.  We saw a banana plant with small bananas growing on it, a small pineapple, a coffee plant (or tree, we aren't sure), and a cinnamon tree.  We learned that the putrella is very stinky to attract bugs to it, but it wasn't very stinky by the time we saw it.  Here's a little conversation between the children:
Avery: "We can't eat the stinky flower."
Kinan: "No, I already ate in the car."

Morning Class

Afternoon Class


Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.