Ladybug Math

My sweet girl loves counting so I thought I should whip up a new set of math manipulatives for her to play and learn with!

I made a set of ladybugs out of milk jug lids (see where I got inspired at the bottom of this post). On each ladybug I put dots for her to count. On the inside of the lid I wrote the numeral. Then I made a paper leaf for her to match the ladybugs to the correct numeral. She can look on the inside of the lid as a way to self check. I didn't laminate the leaf since this was an impromptu project.

I like the idea so much though that I am going to make up a couple of sets for my preschool class. I was think of making several different types of leaves and maybe a few different types of bugs. I'll post more when I finish them.

My daughter got the set of ladybugs below for her birthday last year. They come apart so she can match the three pieces of the same color, and then count the dots, and 'read' the numeral on the bugs head. She has played with these for over a year and loves them. This morning I thought I would ask her to put them in order starting with one. We haven't really worked on that skill but she put them in order 1, 2, 3, and then needed help deciding if 5 or 4 should come next. I love toys that are both fun and educational!

And here's just a random picture of my sweet girl and me. We were doing a scratch art project at Kids Fest in Burlington. I am excited for summer full of fun activities as a family!!!

Where I got the idea to transform milk jug lids into ladybugs - http://vandenbrandewendy.blogspot.com/2012/05/knutselen-lieveheersbeestje.html