Montessori-Inspired Ladybug Unit with Free Printables and Activities

Who doesn’t love ladybugs?! Even though they’re actually predators, they’re just so cute. And they’re perfect for a summer unit.

Today, I’m sharing lots of resources for a ladybug unit: ladybug activities and free ladybug printables, including our new Montessori-inspired ladybug pack (subscriber freebie)! In addition to our new ladybug pack, I have a special instant download from The Montessori Company with a hand-painted ladybug culture card!

The links are for free ladybug printables for preschoolers through 1st graders. I don’t share coloring pages unless a page has a specific educational purpose related to ladybugs.

Montessori-Inspired Ladybug Activities Using Free Printables

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

Montessori Shelves with Ladybug-Themed Activities

My shelves with ladybug-themed activities include a free ladybug culture card designed by The Montessori Company. You’ll also find Montessori-inspired ladybug numbers, letters, and and more (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber)

I always have related books available throughout a unit. And this time, we even have a ladybug-growing activity! Fingers crossed that the larvae stay alive and become ladybugs!

You could mix your ladybug-themed activities among your shelves according to curriculum area. Or you could have a special ladybug-themed area something like the one pictured. My shelves this month have a mixture of skill levels. Many of the activities can be adapted for a variety of levels. If you’re a homeschooler, just choose the activities that work for your child’s interests and ability levels. If you don’t have room for all the activities you’d like to do, simply rotate them.

Ladybug Culture Card with Are You a Ladybug? Book and Movable Alphabet “Ladybug”

Are you a Ladybug? is a Montessori-friendly book that gives information about ladybugs in a high-interest way.

I’m happy to share with you this lovely ladybug culture card from The Montessori Company. I’m hosting the free printable as an instant download at Living Montessori Now. You can always access the free ladybug culture card here.

The description says: “Ladybugs are actually predatory insects that eat other bugs eating our gardens, like aphids!”

For interest, I spelled “ladybug” with the movable alphabet. My 4½ year-old granddaughter, Zoey, has been interested in analyzing and spelling the word.

Ladybug Life Cycle References and Activity Growing Ladybugs

I like Ladybug (Life Cycles) because it has colorful, detailed photographs and answers the questions children will often want to know about the life cycle of a ladybug.The open book is the Ultimate Bugopedia: The Most Complete Bug Reference Ever (National Geographic Kids). I love almost all the National Geographic Kids books, and this is a fabulous reference for a study of insects. I have a number of other ladybug books, too. I’ll publish a ladybug book post before long.

Zoey and I are so excited about our ladybug-growing adventure! I wanted something more versatile and natural looking than the original Ladybug Land, so I got the Insect Lore Tube of Live Baby Ladybug Larvae and an Insect Lore Bug Carrying And Catching Bag (Mesh Bug Habitat Unfolds to 8″ By 6″). It’s perfect for what I wanted. Zoey and I can easily watch the ladybug larvae, and it’s designed as a bug catcher for later nature walks.

I also have a Montessori Services clear acrylic tray with a magnifying glass for ladybug observations and dropper bottle filled with water to water the sponge that’s in a small container that I added to the ladybug habitat. Zoey loves to add the needed 2 drops to the sponge.

You can see our results here: Ladybug Life Cycle: The Joy of Growing Ladybugs

Ladybug Life Cycle Tray and Reader

Free Printable: Ladybug Life Cycle Readers from Blessed Beyond a Doubt

Free Printable: Life Cycle of a Ladybug Printables by Monique of Living Life and Learning at 123 Homeschool 4 Me

I used a Multicraft tray, Safari Ltd. Life Cycle of a Ladybug figures, and Montessori Services basket for the figures.

There are four levels of Ladybug Life Cycle readers in the printable, so it’s very versatile. This simple cut-and-paste activity is a good way to reinforce work on the ladybug’s life cycle.

L is for Ladybug Salt Tray

Free Printables: Ladybug Letters for ladybug writing tray (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber)

For the salt tray, I used the wooden tray from the Melissa & Doug Lace and Trace Shapes. You can use whatever tray or container work best for you, though. I added the ladybug from the Safari Ltd. Insects TOOB for interest. On the shelf, you’ll see that I used the manuscript letter “l” along with the cursive letter “l.” I like children to learn both, so I typically introduce both manuscript and cursive. There’s also a D’Nealian font in the pack, too, so you can use that if you wish.

If you would like help with introducing phonetic sounds, introducing objects with sounds, or beginning phonics in general, check out my DIY Beginning Montessori Phonics with Preschoolers.

Ladybug Beginning Sounds and Movable Alphabet Activities

Free Printable: Ladybug Alphabet Gam e from Make, Take & Teach

This activity was super easy to prepare! The activity is designed for beginning sounds. I cut out the letters for the beginning sounds, but I also printed out an extra ladybug (the last one with the 3-letter phonetic, CVC, words). That’s to make an activity for children who are working with the movable alphabet already.

For children who are working on beginning sounds, they can match the letters to the appropriate pictures.

For toddlers, you could have an extra set of pictures, too, for them to match pictures to pictures instead of letters to pictures.

The extra set of circles can be used with the Montessori movable alphabet for word building and reading.

Parts of a Ladybug Activity

Free Printable: Parts of a Ladybug from Life Cycle of a Ladybug Printables by Monique of Living Life and Learning at 123 Homeschool 4 Me

This is a extremely simple activity to prepare and reinforces any books you’ve read or work you’ve done with parts of a ladybug.

DIY Ladybug Cards and Counters and Odd and Even Labeling Activity

Free Printables: Ladybug Numbers and Odd and Even Labels (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber)

I love making DIY themed cards and counters to introduce odd and even and add interest and variety to cards and counters. I used these adorable wooden ladybugs. (Note: If those aren’t available, check out these wooden ladybugs.) You need exactly 55 ladybugs if you want to do the numbers and counters 1-10.

For Zoey and other kids who are already comfortable with symbol and quantity, I’ll typically use the cards and counters for hands-on addition, subtraction, and other mathematical operations. (See some of my other themed posts for ideas.) But this month, I used the odd and even labels.

I added a new page to the ladybug pack with odd and even labels that can be used with the cards and counters to reinforce the actual words “odd” and “even.” It’s a great way to be sure readers understand the concept of odd and even.

Completing Ladybug Cards and Counters with Odd and Even Labels

Zoey doesn’t need work counting objects to 10, but we did the activity to reinforce the words odd and even and for her to clearly see them in print. Zoey didn’t mind counting out all the ladybugs because she was so in love with the wooden ladybugs. She put them all close to the cards because they were “baby ladybugs” trying to get to their mothers. The ones with ladybug “friends” got “even” word cards, and the ones left over got “odd” word cards.

Zoey liked the word cards, too, so she put the ladybugs for each number on the appropriate word card “cars” when she finished with the first activity. I don’t mind pretend play at home with an activity like this when she already accomplished the activity’s purpose and is using the materials nicely, which she was. It was actually very cute, and she focused on this for a long time.

The Grouchy Ladybug Book with Sequencing and Matching Cards

Free Printable: Grouchy Ladybug Sequencing Cards from Preschool Post

Free Printable: The Grouchy Ladybug Printables from Homeschool Share

I love Eric Carle books! They’re not Montessori-style books with photographs or realistic animals, but they’re classics … and they’re amazing books. The Grouchy Ladybug is a great book for introducing reading time on an analog clock.

I just printed and cut out the cards from the two printables. Then I drew the correct clock arrows on each clock face and placed them in a Montessori Services basket. Older children could draw their own clock arrows.

The Grouchy Ladybug Sequencing and Matching Layout

The child can retell the story, matching the animal photographs to the animals and clock faces.

Free Ladybug Printables for Preschoolers-First Graders

Montessori-Inspired Ladybug Pack for DIY Cards and Counters, Number or Letter Matching, Number or Letter Basket, Bead Bar Work, Hands-on Math Operations, Number or Letter Salt/Sand Writing Tray, Letter Tracing, DIY Movable Alphabet, and Creative Writing (subscriber freebie, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password – or check your inbox if you’re already a subscriber)

Free Ladybug Printables and Montessori-Inspired Ladybug Activities

Free Ladybug Cutting Strips (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download)

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

Life Cycle of a Ladybug (subscriber freebie) from Trillium Montessori
Ladybug Life Cycle Packet from Preschool Powol Packets
Ladybug Life Cycle (subscriber freebie) Printables from Natural Beach Living
Ladybug Life Cycle Cards for Ladybug Life Cycle with Playdough from Fun Learning for Kids
Ladybug Life Cycle Printables from Teaching Mama
Ladybug Life Cycle Printables from 1+1+1=1
Ladybug Life Cycle Printables from Itsy Bitsy Fun
Ladybug Scissor Practice Worksheets from Itsy Bitsy Fun
Ladybug Printable Pack from Itsy Bitsy Fun
Ladybug Printables from Making Learning Fun
Bug Color Matching from The Activity Mom
Five Little Ladybugs Poem and Ladybug Templates from KidSparkz
Five Little Ladybugs Song and Fingerplay from Teaching Mama
Race to 10 Ladybug Spots Printable from Schooltime Snippets
Ladybug Apple Snacks Printable Recipe from Billy Gorilly
Ladybug Letter Match from Confessions of a Homeschooler
Ladybug Alphabet Match from I Heart Crafty Things
Ladybug Counting from Playing House
Little Ladybug Song Chart from A Teacher’s Touch
Number Recognition Activity: Ladybugs on a Leaf from The Measured Mom
Printable Counting Activity for Preschoolers: Ladybug Count & Clip Cards from The Measured Mom
Missing Addend Activity – Number Flip Cards from The Measured Mom
Printable Addition Game: Ladybug Roll and Cover from The Measured Mom
Ladybug Math Addition from Jenny at Dapperhouse
Ladybug Sudoku Puzzles from Gift of Curiosity
Roll a Dot Ladybug Page from Chestnut Grove Academy
Make 10 Spots Ladybug Math Activity from Preschool Powol Packets
Ladybug Count and Clip Cards by Preschool Powol Packets at 3 Boys and a Dog
Ladybug Math Activities (subscriber freebie from Look! We’re Learning
Ladybug Flash Cards 1-10 (could be used with manipulatives for 1 to 1 Correspondence) from Mr Printables
Ladybug Printables from KidSparkz
Ladybug Friends (includes a pattern for a cute, 3-dimensional ladybug craft) from Danielle’s Place
Ladybug Writing and Math K-1 for Likers of the Wise Owl Factory Facebook Page
Ladybug Printables (for a number of ages) from DLTK’s Crafts for Kids
Ladybug Craft from One Colorful Day
The Grouchy Ladybug Unit Study (subscriber freebie) from Proverbial Homemaker
The Grouchy Ladybug Craft from Buggy and Buddy
Free Ladybug Printables from Teachers Pay Teachers

More Insect Activities and Resources

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