Ladybug Girl Addition Bugs

Books become even better when you pair them with fun activities!  See what we did to go along with this month's Monthly Crafting Ladybug Girl series Book Club selection!


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My bloggy pal Hilary over at Raising Fairies and Knights started a fun Monthly Crafting Book Club - a challenge to create activities to go along with some of the most beloved children's books.

We had some great fun last year, just take a look:


January Animal Action Dice Game for the book Barnyard Dance
February Cause & Effect Box for If You Give a Moose a Muffin
March - an alphabetical scavenger hunt for Dr. Seuss's ABC.
April handwashing fun to go along with The Piggy in the Puddle
May 5 Little Monkeys Fold 'Em Up for Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed
June pinecone princess & Cozy Sweater Warrior Paper Dolls for The Princess and the Pony
July - lantern craft for Curious George Goes Camping
August - mini backpacks & dress-a-doll fun for Froggy Goes to School
September - pumpkin fun for It's Pumpkin Day, Mouse!
October - monster shape-sort bags & other crafts for Have You Seen My Monster?
November - cozy paper quilt for Bear Stays Up for Christmas
December - snowflake activities for Millions of Snowflakes


This year, we're starting things off with Ladybug Girl






This is a special book for us because Gv's copy was given to her just after she was born by a very special former student of mine - one whose first name is the same as Gv's middle name.

(When you're a teacher, it's virtually impossible to choose a name for your child because it seems no matter which one you come up with, you immediately think of a "challenging" student who had that name. 

Or maybe the memories of students with that name are actually lovely, but you had fifteen of them over the years... 

So when you have a student whose name you actually feel good about using, that says they must be pretty darn special!)

This month's project was more of an activity than a craft, although since we created our own activity pieces, there was still a pretty big crafty element to it.


I drew the ladybug body & head onto a folded-up piece of black construction paper and Gv cut it out. Then I traced the body onto red construction paper, folded it up, had Gv cut it out and I snipped the red in half lengthwise. We added number stickers to the bodies and I used a black marker to draw dots on the red wings.

The idea for this project actually came to me pretty quickly, because it just made total sense to use ladybug dots for a number game.

If your child is still working on number recognition, then you could create single-piece wings with the appropriate number of dots on each for placement on the correct numbered body.

But if your child is ready for the next step, you can make them like this:



I'm calling them "Ladybug Girl Addition Bugs," but that's only because that title is much easier to deal with than their correct technical description, which is part/part/whole bugs.

You see, before you start discussing things like plus and equal signs with your youngster, you'll want to lay the foundation that larger numbers (wholes) are composed of smaller numbers (parts).


For example, these are all the possible ways to make five (although you can also include the 5/0, 3/2 and 4/1 if your child is ready to be gently introduced to the commutative property of addition).

There are so many options for playing with these little critters.  You can focus on all the ways to make just one number, like I did for the five up there, or you can find parts that make just even numbers, or odd numbers, or doubles facts, doubles plus one facts, or even play around a bit with the Fibonacci Sequence!


Part/part/whole for odd numbers through 5.

Doubles, which turn out to always be even - how fun to let your child discover this fact!


Another way to explore these part/part/whole relationships - adding the combinations in increasing order produces odd numbers!

You know something's a winner when it's being played with so much it can't even be put back into the box where it's stored.

That's just what has happened with these fun little bugs - they've made it back into their zippy bag each day, but have yet to get put back into the "game" box on Gv's shelf.

Yay for another learning-while-playing win!


I love coming up with book connections like these, how about you?  I'd love to hear!  Either leave a comment below or email me at lisahealy (at) outlook (dot) com.


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Check out the other amazing crafts that my fellow bloggers came up with for this month.

Come back next month and see what crafts and activities we come up with for Giraffes Can't Dance. Join our Facebook Group HERE to participate.



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Comments (32)

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These are cute! I love that you fit them in a Baggie! My biggest goto for storage are file folders and baggies. Right now, we are working on math facts. This will fit in nicely with our Afterschool studies! Thank you for letting us be a part of the Monthly Crafting Book Club! We've had a blast with the crafts and books!
1 reply · active 426 weeks ago
This reminds me of the kinds of home school activities we did when my kids were little, using a book connected to a learning game. Love it! I'm pinning it to my Home Education board for my home schooling friends. Thank you!
Blessings, Leigh
1 reply · active 388 weeks ago
Such a cute idea! I made an interactive bulletin board just like this one time when I was teaching preschool. I just love ladybugs. thanks for sharing with us at Together on Tuesdays.
1 reply · active 388 weeks ago
Was the book fun? It looks like it is, gonna have to check it out and see what the story is all about. The game looks like a good time too. So many combinations you could put together, so many hours of fun. Obviously Gv thinks so too!
1 reply · active 388 weeks ago
What a cute little book! I love the addition game. I bet kids will think it's fun to learn with the ladybugs :) Thank you for linking up at Together on Tuesdays.
1 reply · active 388 weeks ago
Awe, what a cute book. Makes me think of all the crafty things my boys and I did when they were little. Gosh, it seems like that was just a minute ago. Time is a relentless thing. -- Thanks for sharing, Lisa. :)
1 reply · active 388 weeks ago
I have not seen this book, but it looks fun and the ladybug activity looks great!
1 reply · active 388 weeks ago
What a great craft idea ( yet again Lisa!!) I wish you blog was around when my girls were growing up !
1 reply · active 388 weeks ago
A great way to tech the little ones. Pinned for later. Thanks for sharing at #OverTheMoon!
1 reply · active 388 weeks ago
So cute! Makes me wish I had kids! Thanks for sharing.

Ken,

Blogger's Pit Stop
1 reply · active 388 weeks ago
I love ladybugs. I have a really sweet story about them. When my daughter was born, ladybugs used her room for their nursery. Thanks for sharing on the #LMMLinkup.
1 reply · active 388 weeks ago
This is a super cute idea. With spring approaching I am trying to come up with a cute ladybug craft. I wish I had thought of this, its wonderful.
1 reply · active 388 weeks ago
What a cute and fun idea to practice numbers and addition! My kindergarten kids would love this too! Thank you so much for sharing at Sweet Inspiration, have a lovely Sunday!
1 reply · active 388 weeks ago
What fun lady bug books and craft - game idea! Thanks for sharing at the Inspiration Spotlight party. Pinned & Shared.
1 reply · active 388 weeks ago
I want to come to your house! Those crafts look so fun! Thanks for sharing this at Booknificent Thursday on Mommynificent.com!
1 reply · active 388 weeks ago
This is a great way to incorporate math!! (Goes well with Peg + cat!!). Too cute.
1 reply · active 389 weeks ago

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