Ladybug Addition
Story Book Summer continues this week on the Bug theme – check out our book activity on Monday which spammed both our story book summer and our post for this months Virtual Book Club for Kids with Mad about Minibeasts play dough. Today I am really happy to welcome Kim from Life Over C’s to share some bug activities on the Bugs are Insects.
I’m excited to be with you today on Rainy Day Mum! Much thanks for the invitation!
We have a slight obsession with bugs at our house. I don’t have an obsession with them being in the house (yuck!), but the kids have an obsession with all the bugs in the courtyard. Crickets, roly polies, butterflies and the always fun lady bug! So when the invitation was made to write a post for Storybook Summer, one of our favorite books popped to my mind, “Bugs are Insects.”
We have read this book a hundred times plus one. Every time we read it we notice a different detail that we missed before.
I think it’s totally cool that my 1st grader can tell why not all insects are bugs.
To accompany the book, we did a fun lady bug addition activity with our play dough. Rarely is there a day that goes by that we don’t pull out the play dough for something.
My 1st grader has been working hard on learning her addition facts, so I set up a fun game for her to play.
We have included links to the products and books used in this activity. If you buy from these links we may earn a small commisssion.
You need the following materials:
Red play dough (we make all of ours)
2 dice (preferably two different colors)
Make your ladybug:
Shape the red play dough into the body of the lady bug.
Cut the pipe cleaner so that you have six ‘legs’ and a longer section for the antennae.
Stick legs and antennae into the body of the lady bug.
Draw a line down the lady bug’s back to separate the wings.
Place the big button with the antennae to create a head.
Now you are ready to play!
To play the game:
Roll both of the dice together.
Demonstrate the numbers rolled on the ladybug’s wings. If you roll a 4 & a 6, then put 4 buttons on one wing and 6 buttons on the other wing.
Now, add the two wings together.
For added practice with addition, you can have your child say the full math problem: Four plus six equals ten.
This added step helps to ensure that the concept is approached visually (the dice and buttons), kinesthetically (putting the buttons on, and verbally (auditory).
I hope that you enjoy both the book and the game as much as we did!
Kim is a world traveling, homeschooling, mom of four beautiful girls. She and her family live in the tiny country of Georgia, where they have been missionaries for 8 years. She blogs at Life Over C’s, where you can read all about homeschooling, kid crafts, and whole lot of fun traveling experiences.
Cerys Parker
Cerys is a marine biologist, environmental educator, teacher, mum, and home educator from the UK. She loves getting creative, whether it is with simple and easy crafts and ideas, activities to make learning fun, or delicious recipes that you and your kids can cook together you'll find them all shared here on Rainy Day Mum.