Living Montessori Now

Montessori Inspiration for Parents and Teachers

FREE Ladybug Do-a-Dot Printable (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download)

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We’ve been totally in love with our ladybug unit. We’ve had fun activities ranging from reading about ladybugs to hands-on ladybug learning activities, to growing live ladybugs. We continued our hands-on learning activities with a free ladybug do-a-dot printable. As usual, this printable is super easy to download and prepare.

Montessori-Inspired Printables at Living Montessori Now

My daughter, Chrissy Chitwood (a former Montessori child), and I are partnering to bring you a series of Montessori-inspired printables. The printables are typically themed and use a number of Montessori principles (although you don’t need to be a Montessori teacher or homeschooler to use them):

  • They use isolation of quality.
  • They use photographs or realistic images to emphasize reality. Whenever I can, I’ll tell you the specific name of the object or animal featured on the credits page. I didn’t go into great detail on this credits page, but it shows a photograph of a ladybug.
  • They typically use traditional Montessori colors such as red for consonants and blue for vowels.
  • They use lowercase letters, which are what we introduce letter sounds with in Montessori education. (Children tend to pick up the uppercase letters without being introduced if they’re introduced to the lowercase letter sounds.)
  • They often feature themed printable versions of Montessori materials.

Free Ladybug Do-a-Dot Printable for the Letter L

To download the ladybug do-a-dot printable, click here and then click on the file image in the upper right corner of the PDF to save to your computer (just choose where you want it saved).

Montessori-Inspired Activities Using the Ladybug Do-a-Dot Printable for the Letter L

Disclosure: This post contains some affiliate links (at no cost to you).

Ladybug Letter L Do-a-Dot Printable and Wooden Ladybug Transfer

Ladybug Letter L Do-a-Dot Printable and Wooden Ladybug Transfer

Ladybug Letter L Do-a-Dot Printable and Wooden Ladybug Transfer

Note: This is just one example of how you can use the do-a-dot printables. There are many ways to use our do-a-dot printables. Scroll down to see examples from previous posts. Just choose an activity that’s appropriate for your child’s age and skill level.

I used a Multicraft tray with  toast tongs and ladybug wood beads for a transfer activity.

You could add a tracing activity to the printable. If you laminate your printable, you can use an erasable crayon like the Melissa & Doug Learning Mat Crayons or Crayola Erasable Crayons. If your page isn’t laminated, you could add a pencil or colored pencil. I often do that. For a 2-year-old or other young preschooler who’s not ready to write letters, you can just leave off the crayon or pencil.

If you’re interested in the ladybug books we’ve used for our unit, see my post with the best laydybug books for kids.

Using Toast Tongs to Place Wooden Ladybugs on Ladybug Do-a-Dot Page

Using Toast Tongs to Place Wooden Ladybugs on Ladybug Do-a-Dot Page

Using Toast Tongs to Place Wooden Ladybugs on Ladybug Do-a-Dot Page

A younger child could just place ladybugs on the do-a-dot page (or use another type of do-a-dot activity), while an older child could trace the letters and even build the words with the Montessori movable alphabet.

For a child who’s ready for (or already using) the movable alphabet, you could have the child build the word first. My 4½-year-old granddaughter, Zoey, likes to use the movable alphabet to build the word and then analyze it with me. (We use the small movable alphabet. I have the movable alphabet from Alison’s Montessori, which I love. You can also get a movable alphabet from Amazon or make your own.)

Then Zoey traces the word “ladybug.” She likes to trace both the dotted lines and the solid lines. I also included the cursive “l” font card (subscriber freebie from our Montessori-inspired ladybug pack) so Zoey could see how to make a cursive “l.”

The wooden ladybug beads we used for the transfer activity are very versatile. You could just place the exact number of ladybugs needed in the container, but I added a variety so Zoey could choose her own design. A younger child could just use fingers to place the ladybugs, or you can provide toast tongs or another tool to transfer the ladybugs to the do-a-dot page. Zoey liked seeing which color ladybug was “caught” by the toast tongs each time. (I’m looking forward to using them for a ladybug color-matching activity when my grandbabies Sophia and Caleb are old enough.)

If you want to know how to introduce the letter sound for l, check out my post on how to teach letter sounds using Montessori principles.

Note: In case you’re wondering, Zoey’s dress is from Gymboree, my favorite place to buy kids’ clothes.

More Insect Activities and Resources

Montessori-Inspired Ladybug Unit with Free Printables and Activities

Montessori-Inspired Ladybug Unit with Free Printables and Activities




MONTESSORI-INSPIRED PACKS – SUBSCRIBER FREEBIES

Montessori-Inspired Ladybug Pack

Don’t miss our themed monthly packs! You’ll get  the link and password for the Living Montessori Now subscriber library with the current pack and all the past monthly packs if you subscribe to the Living Montessori Now weekly newsletter!

Free Do-a-Dot Printables and Ideas for Using Them

I love the versatility of do-a-dot printables! If you’re doing a month-long theme, you could easily change out the type of do-a-dot activity weekly to add interest. Here are four ideas of hands-on activities for any of our do-a-dot printables from my frog do-a-dot printable post (see post for details and materials used).

Just click on an image to go to the post with the related free printable!

Note: I’ve arranged the following gallery in alphabetical order, although some posts have two do-a-dot printables (and two different letters). Also, I don’t introduce letters in alphabetical order. You can find out the order in which I introduce letter sounds here. I deviate from that order for our unit studies, though, and focus on a letter that’s simply related to our unit. That’s in addition to our other letter work.

You can see all our free do-a-dot printables with the latest at the top here.

For complete themed alphabet do-a-dot packs, see our Animal Alphabet Do-a-Dot Pack, Spanish Animal Alphabet Do-a-Dot Pack, and Healthy Food Alphabet Do-a-Dot Pack available for purchase in the Living Montessori Now shop.

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