Ideas and resources
I have always thought that an Advent Calendar of Crafts would be amazing….especially for my children who beg me everyday to do a new craft! Now I don’t have to figure out what to do each day, lilla a does it for you! Every day this December, lilla a will show you a new craft for your children to do…and if you just can’t wait, she also has a link to her etsy store where you can purchase the entire package! You can start with this adorable Christmas Tree of Rice.
Growing Up Ladybug and How to Become a Butterfly are both by Stepanka Sekaninova and illustrated by Linh Dao, and they came out at the same time and are on similar themes, so let’s look at them together.
Growing Up Ladybug is narrated by Mariella, a seven-spot ladybug. She talks about the parts of a ladybug, where they live, different kinds of ladybugs, why humans love them, their defenses against predators and the life cycle of a ladybug.
The drawings are cute if not always scientifically accurate, it’s not in such a way that’s likely to confuse kids (who probably already know that ladybug mamas don’t push their larval babies around in strollers, for instance.
It’s a good general description of the life cycle of a lady bug and why we like having them around.
About the book: 32 pages, hardcover. Published 2026 by Albatross Media. Suggested retail price $16.95.
Similarly, How to Become a Butterfly covers the life cycle of a butterfly, starting with caterpillars eating burning nettle leaves. (Here Amanda is the narrator.) The book talks about a few of the more than 18,000 daytime butterflies in the world as well as other creatures that live in the meadow (there’s that ladybug again, along with crickets, bees and other bugs).
It also covers some of the enemies of caterpillars like wasps and spiders, and the defenses that caterpillars use to try to prevent being eaten. It illustrates how caterpillars grow and change as they molt and prepare to pupate, and what a caterpillar looks like before and while it is forming its chrysalis. And while the book uses the word metamorphasis it doesn’t really talk about what happens between the caterpillar forming a chrysalis and the butterfly hatching.
This butterfly is a peacock butterfly, and once it hatches the book covers the parts of a butterfly and the life cycle. It also talks about nocturnal moths (though it says nocturnal butterflies are “usually called moths” when moths are actually a different species) and what butterflies do at night.
I’m maybe a little hard on this book because my daughter is a butterfly expert from way back, but it is still cute and good for the very basic basics of the butterfly life cycle.
Both books would be fun additions to your bookshelf for younger kids starting to learn about different animals or who have an interest in insects.
About the book: 32 pages, hardcover. Published 2026 by Albatross Media. Suggested retail price $16.95.
Thank you for kindly featuring my Advent Calendar! Wishing you a great month of Christmas.
Thank you! I love this. I have a 4 year old and this year is the year to get excited for Christmas countdown! I already have 4 different countdowns going 🙂
I have a virtual advent calendar on my blog (http://JoyfullyYoursSusannah.blogspot.com) where you click on a scrapbook embellishment and it takes you to YouTube to hear different children every day singing “O Holy Night,” and then return to the blog and click on the words “Click Me” and you download the embellishment. Changes every day, just like those that are NOT virtual!
This is great!! You should submit it to our scrapbooking editor…She would definitely post about it.. cute idea!