Free Noisy Insect Printables and Montessori-Inspired Noisy Insect Activities

I should have published a cicada theme in April or May this year, but I’m not used to focusing on cicadas. I’ve never lived where there were cicadas. But this is such a huge year for Brood X that I decided it was important to have a cicada theme even if they aren’t in my area.

And my grandkids are already loving our new unit! I’ve included a variety of noisy insects, though, to keep the theme relevant in any year. Along with links to free noisy insect printables used to prepare hands-on activities, I have a new Montessori-inspired noisy insect pack for our newsletter subscribers’ resource library!

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

Montessori Shelves with Noisy Insect Themed Activities

You’ll find Montessori-inspired noisy insect 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) Note: The Montessori-inspired noisy insect pack isn’t designed as a complete noisy insect unit but as supplemental materials. I design the packs using realistic images that I’ve often looked for when preparing a unit study (such as font cards and phonogram cards featuring the letter and phonogram related to the theme and math cards with realistic images that fit the theme and can be adapted for math activities at a variety of levels.)

You could mix your noisy insect themed activities among your shelves according to curriculum area. Or you could have a special noisy insect themed area something like the one pictured. My shelves at the beginning of our unit have a mixture of skill levels. Many of the activities can be adapted for a variety of levels. Many of these are designed for early elementary as well as preschoolers. 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.

Montessori Book Basket and Shelves with Noisy Insect Themed Activities

Even though I have books on shelves, I keep many books for our current theme in a book basket by the themed shelf. You’ll find a few of the books I’ve used here. I used a number of general insect books along with specific books for noisy insects, such as cicadas, crickets, grasshoppers, and bees (which I had from our previous bee unit). For toddlers and preschoolers, at least ¾ of the books I use are Montessori friendly (focusing on reality without smiling or talking animals or smiling or talking vehicles).

Notice the framed art print Studies of insects, beetles (1707) by Shitao. It’s a free download from Wikiart. I’m featuring this along with the artwork of Eric Carle, of course! We’re especially focusing on the artwork from The Very Quiet Cricket and The Very Clumsy Click Beetle, two fun books about noisy insects! (These two books have batteries to make the insect’s sound at the end. My grandkids are in love with them!) You can see the Montessori-friendly book Chirping Crickets on the top shelf. I like it for lots of easy-to-understand information that works well with The Very Quiet Cricket.

For our monthly featured art print, I purchased a Li’l DAVINCI art frame that opens in the front for easily changing a free art masterpiece printable or vintage illustration to fit with the month’s theme. The frame can be switched from horizontal to vertical without changing the hanger, which is perfect!

If you’re wondering about the rugs and rug box I use, both the rugs and wooden rug holder are from Montessori Services. I love the Montessori Services rugs and rug holder! I used to use an umbrella stand something like these. I loved that for 1-3 rugs, but I needed something different when I had more grandchildren and some projects that needed more than one rug.

Favorite Shelves, Trays, Baskets, and More for Montessori Homeschoolers

I often get asked about the trays, baskets, etc., that I use, so I published a post with many of the items. You can find lots of helpful resources here. They’re not all essential, so don’t feel you need to have everything. Just choose what’s best for your budget and your unique family’s needs. You’ll find more ideas in the Living Montessori Now Amazon shop

Noisy Bug Sing-Along Book with Insect Body Parts Card, Wooden Honeybee Puzzle, and Wasp Puzzle with Body Part Labels

Noisy Bug Sing-Along is a simple, fun book that focuses on the sounds of a variety of insects.

Free Printable: Insect Body Parts Poster from Science Through Photography at Teachers Pay Teachers

Free Printable: Parts of a Bee Labeling by Color or Word from A Little Pinch of Perfect

I used the parts of a bee labels with the Montessori wasp puzzle, focusing on the basic parts of an insect. I’ve already added the wasp from our insect specimen set. I’ll focus on more detailed parts of the wasp later.

My 3-year-old grandson, Caleb, with some help from his dad, put together the wooden honeybee and cicada puzzles that you see on the top shelf!

Wooden Cicada Puzzle with Cicada Life Cycle Cards and Gallery from The Ultimate Bugopedia Book

Free Printable: Life Cycle of a Cicada 3-Part Cards from Trillium Montessori (These are a subscriber freebie. You can sign up for the Trillium Montessori newsletter and resource library here.)

The open book on the easel is the National Geographic Kids Ultimate Bugopedia. Even though it’s designed for older kids, my 3-year-old grandkids love it! The photos are amazing! I just adapt the words as needed.

Katydid and Cricket Salt Writing Tray

Katydid and Cricket Salt Writing Tray with Noisy Insects Movable Alphabet Spelling

Free Printables: katydid letter “k” and cricket letter “c” for salt 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)

You’ll see a variety of simple letter writing trays in my previous unit study posts. I often used the wooden tray from the Melissa & Doug Lace and Trace Shapes. You can use whatever tray or container work best for you, though.

The sandpaper letters I use are available in print or cursive.

I typically now use this lovely spelling/alphabet tray from FamilyTreeWW on Etsy. I like it for writing more than one letter or spelling words.

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.

Sandpaper Letter K, Salt Writing Tray, and Katydid Font Card

Working with Sandpaper Letter K, Salt Writing Tray, and Katydid Font Card

I just used the manuscript print card with my 3-year-old granddaughter, Sophia, although they’re all available in either print or cursive in the pack. I like to introduce sandpaper letters in (from my post on what order to use in introducing letters to preschoolers). But I don’t worry about the order when I feature a letter or letters for our current unit.

To work with the /k/ sound, Sophia traced the sandpaper letter as shown while we focused on the /k/ sound and /k/ for katydid. I also showed her how to write the letter in the salt tray. Then Sophia worked on her own with the salt tray. She was able to write a good letter “k”!

The open book is the National Geographic Kids Ultimate Bugopedia. I just love the way it isolates so many photos with large, gorgeous photos!

National Geographic Kids Bees Book with Bumblebee Alphabet Cards in Print and Cursive

Free Printable: Bumblebee alphabet cards in manuscript and cursive (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 originally had the TIME For Kids Informational Text: A Bee’s Life, but I switched to National Geographic Kids Bees because it has more details about bumblebees, honeybees, and wasps.

Cicada and Soft C (and Hard C) Printables

Cicada Card with Soft C (and Hard C) Printables

Free Printables: ci cicada phonogram card in cursive (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)

Free Printable: Hard & Soft G & C Sorts and Mini Posters by Mrs Brownie at Teachers Pay Teachers (Note: I reduced the size of the poster when I printed it to fit on my tray.)

We’ll also be using the Soft C Maze by Mrs Holmes in Second at Teachers Pay Teachers

Cicada Work with Soft C and Hard C

This was a great activity for my 7-year-old granddaughter, Zoey, because we focused on the spelling rules for letter “c” words. She’s also very interested in learning about cicadas and has enjoyed our cicada books and cicada figures. She brought over the cicada from our insect specimen set for the activity.

I’m often asked where I got our cursive wooden alphabet letters. In this post, you’ll find the link to those along with links to other movable alphabets you can purchase, printable movable alphabet letters, and a variety of DIY options.

Cricket Number Cards, Miniature Crickets, and Bead Bars

Working with Cricket Number Cards, Miniature Crickets, and Bead Bars

Free Printable: Cricket numbers and number spinner 1-10 (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)

Last month, I focused on our DIY “teen boards” and the bead bars with seashells. This month, I used cricket fishing lures with my 3-year-old grandson, Caleb. The cricket lures are a soft plastic with no hooks. Caleb was fascinated with the crickets and asked more than once if they were real. He loved counting the crickets for each number.

You can also use the spinner for a child working with numbers 1-10. There’s even one for the numbers 1-5 only. For the teen numbers, I start with one ten bar, and we spin the spinner to choose the number for the units.

I Have, Who Has Bee Subtraction Game

Free Printable: I Have Who Has Addition Subtraction Minibeasts Insects Bugs Loop Cards Game by RoJM Teaching Resources at Teachers Pay Teachers (I just use the subtraction game since the addition cards don’t feature noisy insects.)

The bee erasers were the ones I used with our honeybee do-a-dot printable activity. I love these sweet little wooden bees for the activity, too.

More Activities with Purchased (and Some Free) Materials for Our Noisy Insect Unit

Montessori Shelf with Cicada and Locust Materials, Cicada Life Cycle Materials, and Noisy Insect Figures and Books

The gorgeous 13-page Cicada Nature Guide by Sarah from The Silvan Reverie is a great resource for preschool through elementary. If you’ve purchased the 2021 Forest Schooling Mega Bundle, you already have access to Sarah’s Cicada Nature Guide. Unfortunately, it’s not available elsewhere. I love the cicada vs. locust information and original illustrations to go with the cicada and locust from our insect specimen set.

Free Printable: Life Cycle of a Cicada printable from Trillium Montessori (These are a subscriber freebie. You can sign up for the Trillium Montessori newsletter and resource library here.).

The life cycle of a cicada figures are a bit different from the printables, but they still work well and add lots of interest!

The poster on the easel (reduced when I printed it to fit on our tray) is from Sarah’s Cicada Nature Guide. It’s great for elementary-age kids because it has more detailed life cycle information than most of the preschool life cycle printables and other materials have.

My grandkids are all fascinated by the insects on the tray on the right. They’re larger than the Safari Ltd. ones and include a cicada. I made a screen shot of the image on Amazon that shows the insect names. Then I printed it out and cut apart the insects. I included the cards on the tray for a matching activity. My grandkids have also created different activities for the insects, including scavenger hunts.

The book The Cicadas Are Coming has lots of close-up photos and detailed information about the periodical cicadas.

Cicadas Don’t Bug Me is a great introduction for preschoolers with close-up photographs and about two sentences per page.

The Big Book of Bugs doesn’t have as much information about noisy insects, but it’s a fabulous book about bugs in general. The whole series is amazing!

On the other side of the room is another shelf with the Eric Carle noisy insect books and two cicada activities with a cicada book.

We’re totally loving The Very Quiet Cricket and The Very Clumsy Click Beetle, two fun books about noisy insects! (These two books have batteries to make the insect’s sound at the end. Yes, they have batteries, and, yes, my grandkids are in love with them! Even though I have very few children’s toys or other materials with batteries, our books with batteries are typically very popular and engaging.)

Cicada Symphony with Cicada Life Cycle Cards, Cicadas of the World Cards and Montessori Globe

These activities use Sara’s Cicada Nature Guide with her Cicada Life Cycle Cards and Cicadas of the World Cards to match to the continents on the Montessori globe. I love that activity!

Cicada Symphony is written in rhyme and has lots of information about the Brood X cicadas.

Free Noisy Insect Printables

Montessori-Inspired Noisy Insect 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 Cricket and Cicada Do-a-Dot Printables (Montessori-Inspired Phonics Instant Download)

Free Noisy Insect Cutting Strips (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download)

Free Bee Printables and Montessori-Inspired Bee Activities

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

Free Honeybee Cutting Strips (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download)

More Insect Resources

Insect Books for Kids

Insect Science

Free Insect Songs, Sounds, and Rhymes for Circle Time

If you’d like ideas for calendar-based themes throughout June and July, see my June Themed Activities for Kids and July Themed Activities for Kids.

I hope you’re having a wonderful summer! 🙂

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