One of my favorite invitations is a simple set up of exploring ladybugs. In my hometown of Alameda we love going to Encinal Nursery and getting ladybugs this time of year. After walking around the nursery and talking about all the different plants we grabbed our ladybugs and set out to explore.
To set this invitation we used our #gifted Excellerations magnifying Excellerations magnifying glasses from Discount School Supply, wood circles, leaves, flowers and sugar water spray bottle. At the nursery they told us the ladybugs have a better chance of staying in the area if you sprayed sugar water.
Simply let the child observe and explore the ladybugs with their magnifying glass on the different natural materials. With children in the early years the idea of science is to explore, observe, investigate, test their own theories, learn about the world, and nurture wonder and curiosity in anything they do. Our job as adults is to scaffold, answer questions, and intentionally provide developmentally appropriate knowledge when needed in order to support their process. Children are born scientist, they have a powerful capability of figuring out the world, therefore to continue to support their love for learning providing experiences such as this continues to ignite a child's curiosity and wonder.
